Heart of Stone Studio Blog

How To Spot A High-Quality Cabochon

Hello, my name is Judy Kiriazis at Heart of Stone Studio and I’d like to talk to you about how to buy quality gemstones for the jewelry that you design or wear. 

I’ve been trained as a jeweler and have purchased gem cabochons for both my own jewelry designs as well as for my company Heart of Stone Studio, for more than 25 years, and I want to share what I’ve learned, with you.

While buying gemstones can be an exciting and fun experience, it also has a tremendous importance when it comes to enhancing the marketability and reputation of your own jewelry designs. The size, pattern, color, and shape of the stones you select will play an important role in helping you to create your brand, or signature look, as an artist.

There's a lot of jewelry being sold out there, and it's important that your work stand out. Beautiful gemstones not only attract the eye of the buyer, they also help to convey a level of quality that enhances your design and allows you to command a higher price point for your work.

As a metalsmith, I've learned that the investment of time and effort in making a stunning piece of jewelry calls for a beautiful stone to be its centerpiece. Otherwise, why waste your time with an inferior gemstone?

So here are my insider tips on what to look for when buying quality cabs. I’ll illustrate how characteristics such as color, pattern, and cut can make one piece well worth your investment, while other pieces—often from the same mine—are only worth passing up. 

First, look at color.

The color has to be rich and vibrant, and not dull.

Here’s a common Chrysocolla cabochon on the right. It’s has a nice triangular shape, but doesn’t have much of the  characteristic Chrysocolla aqua blue color.

On the other hand, this high-quality Chrysocolla cab on the left features rich, saturated shades of blue throughout the stone. You have to keep in mind that the miner is pulling tens to hundreds of pounds of rough material out of the ground, and only a relatively small fraction of it contains these colors. This is what you want to hold out for if you want to feature Chrysocolla in your jewelry.

Next, look at pattern.

The pattern has to be pleasing and interesting.

The stone on the right has a jumbled and muddy pattern, while the stone on the left has a well-defined pattern that is pleasing to the eye and stands out as something that is interesting and will catch people's attention.

Sometimes the pattern of a stone can be enhanced or diminished by its shape—A talented cutter can make a stone a winner by choosing a shape that enhances the pattern within. However, since many wholesale dealers base their prices on weight, the cutters who work for them need to cut the most stones they can out of a slab, to minimize waste.

Finally, look at types of cuts.

If you went to a gem show, you could immediately pick out the lesser-valued stones because they are either lopsided in shape or awkwardly cut. You want to look for pleasing, symmetrical cuts.

Ovals are usually a beginner’s cut, but it actually takes quite a bit of skill to cut this stunning, elongated oval of Sonoran Sunrise Jasper on the left. On the other hand, the stone on the right is an awkward shape that will not enhance a jewelry design.

Our Heart of Stone Studio website deals with the top cutters in the country, so we have a great selection of one-of-a-kind, artistic cuts like this.

 

 

In conclusion, it’s clear that there are several main characteristics to keep in mind when shopping for gemstones to set in jewelry.

They must have excellent color and pattern, good cuts, and must also be free of structural defects. And, they should contain the best characteristics for which that species of gemstone is known.

But, if you don’t know the top characteristics of a particular type of gemstone, how would you know what to look for? How do you know you’ll be getting your money’s worth?

Well there are two ways: One approach is to attend a lot of gem shows and be willing to risk making mistakes. Sometimes you'll find great deals, and sometimes you'll get taken. But after years of looking at hundreds, even thousands of stones, you'll get a good idea of exactly what characteristics to look for in each kind of stone you buy.

Or, the other approach is to find a trustworthy dealer, someone who does the hard work of sorting through thousands of gemstones and cherry-picking the absolute best of each type for you to select from. Someone with integrity, who can tell you what to look for and be upfront about the intrinsic value of each stone. Someone who guarantees your satisfaction with what you buy.

Where can you find a dealer like that? Well, at Heart of Stone Studio, we’ve done all the work for you. Stop by our website at www.heartofstonestudio.com and see our collection of top-quality cabochons for sale.

For more information, check out our YouTube video on this subject .

5 Ways To Diversify Your Jewelry Designs

 

Have you ever thought about expanding your jewelry offerings? Collectors and galleries love it when your work has a thread of similarity running through all its pieces. But maybe, just maybe, you might want to expand your jewelry line a bit in order to attract a broader customer base. Also, changing things up a little is a great way to get energized and challenged by your work.

What are some ways you can diversify? Here are some suggestions:

1) Try some new colors, either of stones or of metals.

Sheet, wire, and PMC is now being offered in more than just gold and silver.
Check out PMC for new colors in bronze. Gold is available in rose, peach, and green.

Copper is gaining popularity. Or, you can explore cold-joining new metals--such as niobium and titanium, or even steel, to more traditional metals. Or, consider new ways to add surface color, or even patinate the metals you have on hand.

 

And of course, the Heart of Stone Studio Website has a huge variety of stone colors:

For cabs, start at our Vivid Colors category page. For Drusies, browse both the

coated and uncoated druzy sections to see a variety of colors.

Web Tip:   Typing in a color in the search box on our home page--purple for example--
will instantly call up every stone on our site that has purple in it. 

 

2) Change the scale of your designs

If you're used to working large, try building some petite pieces and see how they do, and vice versa.  You don't have to produce a lot--even four or five pieces might be enough to attract the notice of your customers.

Web Tip:   You can search for specific sizes of stones by going to our search box andtyping in the size class that you want: tiny, small, medium, large, extra-large, Jumbo. (See our Shopper's Guide for the size range in millimeters for each class).

 

3) Design for the other sex.

If you're used to designing for women, you might want to explore adapting your designs and making them more masculine (or heavier in look, color, or size) for men.
Those guys accompanying their wives shopping might start to take an interest in your pieces. Don't forget that watchbands, bolas, bracelets, rings, even money clips or credit card cases might pique the interest of the male browser.

4) Add in a new price point.

If you're used to building jewelry that does okay at a certain price point, you might want to explore going down or up in order to win new customers. Adding a small (melee)  diamond accent is one way to instantly increase the monetary value of your piece, if it fits within your design aesthetic.

Heart of Stone Studio also can help if you want to create a lower-priced line that's still interesting and fun--Look for smaller stones or drilled pendants in our search box, or browse our faux gems to create a  lighthearted line that will charm your buyers.

5) Start small and test your market. You don't have to completely retrofit your entire production all at once. Just narrow your options down to one new idea at a time, and try making a very limited number of pieces. Consider setting them apart by displaying them separately or on a different background, compared to the main body of your work. Introduce them to your customers as a "new direction you're exploring" and be sure to note their reactions and get their feedback.  If they don't catch on right away, don't give up--just try a different venue. Pay attention to who does notice and purchase them--that might be your new target audience. Keeping your production numbers small to start is a good way to experiment without taking big risks.    

 

Whatever you do, it's important that your new additions still contain some "signature aspect" that will make your piece recognizable as uniquely yours. 

 

Have fun and let me know how it goes.

For more ideas on ways to market your work, check out

my book: Making It As A Jewelry Artist.  

Make Your Camera Your PVA!

As a jewelry artist, you have a personal virtual assistant standing by no farther away than your smart phone: Your camera. As you design and build your piece, your camera should always be at hand to help you out and keep a digital record of your work.

Here are some ideas of how your camera can help you:

*When selecting and arranging gemstones for a piece, photograph each of your possible combinations against a neutral background. Then load them to your computer and see how they look. You can use many viewing programs to view images side by side and pick your favorite.

*Not sure which way should be "up" in a stone you're using, or whether you want an accent component added on the side, the top, or at the bottom? Take a picture, then rotate it. Strangely enough, looking at an image on a screen sometimes can be helpful even if you can see the components in person.

*If you know how to use photo editing software, you can photograph a drawing of your future piece,
load it onto your computer, and play with changing colors or adding/subtracting design components. It's always easier to edit your design with the stroke of a computer command, as opposed to building several actual models.

*If you're building a new design, be sure to grab your camera at critical moments to record
how your piece looks at each stage of construction. If you're using a special tool at a certain stage, put that tool right in the picture as a visual reminder of what you used to get that effect.

*Whenever you're experimenting, stop and take pictures, whether or not the results are successful.
And if you like a certain outcome, draw a big star next to it before you snap your camera, so that it will stand out whenever your peruse your photo library.

*Most important, NEVER sell or give away any piece that you haven't already photographed with good, even lighting and an uncluttered background. Those photos might someday be your entry into art galleries or contests. At the very least, they will comprise your professional portfolio and remind you of how much you've accomplished!

Next month....How to take good, quick photos.

 

 

How to drill holes in stone or glass

I drill through glass all the time, and here's the setup that suits me best, and is the most efficient (it works great for stones as well):

I use a regular Dremel (or comparable brand) high-speed hand-held drill. If you don't already have one, you can get one at a hardware store. Don't get a battery-operated one because it won't go fast enough. Get one with a cord. You want the model that goes up to 30,000 rpm. The big warehouse chain stores often sell Dremel kits with lots of attachments, but you won't need that for this. Metalsmiths who have jewelers' flex shafts can use them instead, but I didn't want my flex shaft to be sprayed with water, so I invested in the dremel drill which I use solely for drilling holes.

Once you have your high-speed drill, you need to obtain a chuck that will hold tiny drill bits. Dremel now sells a universal chuck that will accept any size drill bit--it comes in one of those little Dremel accessory packages that you can find at the hardware store.

The next piece of equipment is optional: a drill press. Basically, it's just a stand with a special clamp that holds the the body of the drill in place vertically, and a lever handle to move the whole thing up and down. You can drill by hand, but the drill press saves you so much stress because it keeps the drill perfectly in place as you're boring through the glass or stone.

The last component that you would need to get is a diamond drill bit. I use 1.2 to 1.5 mm bits, and I buy at least three at a time because they are breakable. But they work the best and the fastest. You can probably get them from a local jewelry supply store or online. If you need to make bigger holes, I would still suggest starting with the smaller bit, and then enlarging the hole with a bigger bit. This approach allows you to "fine tune" the location of the hole. Plus, it puts less pressure on the stone that way, and you're less likely to break the stone.

Here is what I believe is the safest, best way of doing this:

1. After I've set up the drill and marked a tiny dot on the stone where I want to hole to go, I put the glass or stone piece in a small plastic tray (like something from a frozen dinner) and pour enough warm water into the tray just to to cover the piece. (If you're drilling glass, make the dot with a permanent marker, then rub a bit of clear solid deodorant over the dot to keep the water from washing it off).

If you are not used to drilling, you might want to put a small extra sheet of plastic under the stone or glass piece at first, to keep you from drilling a hole in the tray! I actually use a plastic phone jack wall plate because that has a couple of small holes in it already, so when the drill goes all the way through the stone, it will next hit the hole in the plastic plate and I can stop the drill before puncturing the tray underneath.

2. I put on my protective glasses and a face mask (ALWAYS wear these), and then put the tray at the base of the drill press. I get a comfortable, firm grip on the stone that keeps my fingers out of the way of the drill. While holding firmly on to the stone, I bring the lever down until the diamond drill bit just touches the stone. The drill is not running now; I'm just trying to get the stone in exactly the right position. I always check also by looking at the drill bit from the side, as well as from the front.

3. When I'm satisfied that the drill and the stone are exactly aligned,and then turn on the drill to a medium speed (for stone) or a medium-high speed (for glass). (The general rule of thumb is: the harder the material you're drilling, the faster the drill speed. Diamond bits usually work best at medium to high speeds. You'll soon get a sense of what works best for you).

4. I slowly bring the running drill bit down to the stone and apply very gentle pressure for maybe about five seconds. Then I lift the drill bit up slightly so that the surrounding water can rinse off the diamond coating and cool the bit. A second or two later, I bear gently down again, then lift up, then press gently but firmly down, slowly and gradually working my way through the stone. Depending on the hardness of the stone, it may take you about three minutes to get all the way through the stone, glass even longer. You Have To Be Patient. You might want to consider investing in earplugs or ear protectors because it's a very noisy process.

If you find that your hand is cramping or the stone is slipping out of your hand, lift the drill completely up and turn it off. It will be easy to correctly reposition the stone; all you have to do is bring the drill bit down (turned off), and you'll feel it slide across the smooth surface of the stone and catch when it enters the drilled hole. You can then turn on the drill and resume working. Again, if you apply too much pressure and try to go too fast, you will risk breaking the piece. Remember that you have to have water filling that drill hole at all times, or else the diamonds will spall off of the bit and render it useless.

If you're drilling stone, there's no guarantee that it won't break even if you do this method, because some stones may contain internal fracture lines that will break the stone apart with the pressure of a drill. So you should decide at the start whether you want to risk the stone or not. I'd suggest practicing on cheaper, throwaway stones at first. And, of course, stay away from drilling in "cracked" areas of the stone.

You can also do this without water, using special jeweler's lubricant instead, but water is the method that works best for me.  I hope it works well for you, too.