Fantastic Finds Info

I have been spending a lot of time being completely frustrated.  Working on the computer is both necessary and enjoyable–like working on the websites, Photoshop,  databases, bookkeeping, and writing articles.  I even  play games! However, almost every time I get really engrossed in a project, I look at my legs and they are swollen like weather balloons. ( I hope the weather service does not read this. They might figure out a way to use me as a substitute for their balloons.) When my legs swell up, the only remedy is to  get my feet higher than my heart.  They can be swollen for days or weeks. Meanwhile, my projects just sit there waiting for me to get upright again and I feel guilty for not getting things done.    So, I lie in the recliner chair and feel sorry for myself.

“Let me see your MacBook Pro for a minute,” I asked my daughter yesterday.  “What are you up to, Mom,” she asked. I put her five pound light power book on my stomach, opened the screen, pulled up my project and started working on it. However, after a while it did get heavy and I got tired.

“Have you seen those new airbooks? I asked her.  “I wonder what they weigh and if they get hot on the bottom.”

“I can see the wheels turning in your head.  What are you up to?”  she responded.  “Is it legal?”

“I think they have the new MacBook Airs at the university computer store,” I responded. “Let’s go see.” I came home with a 13″ MacBook air weighing a little more than two pounds and seated myself in the recliner again.  Laying back with my feet up.  I placed it on a pillow and began working away!  I don’t call it a MacBook.  I named it Skinny Minnie and designated it a “tummy computer” instead of a “laptop.”

People laugh at my set up. I don’t mind.  It is just one more thing I can laugh about and keep my sense of humor about my inconvenient disabilities.  When you laugh about things you can’t change, you can’t cry–and the whole world looks brighter!  Laughter is a wonderful thing.  It brightens the world just like my handcrafted Gemstone Creations.

It’s only natural for a mother to relive her youth vicariously through her daughter. As our children age, we compare their progress to that of our own – their interests, talents and even their temper tantrums and signs of rebellion. For a stylish mom, her daughter’s clothing and accessory choices are a point of special interest. At some point, the question of ear piercing will probably come up in conversation.

Most health experts encourage parents to wait until their daughters are old enough to discuss the question of pierced ears. In some cases young children are traumatized by the process because they don’t understand what’s going on. But children’s earrings represent a rite of passage for girls old enough to understand their significance. To make the experience particularly memorable, bring your daughter on her birthday. Consult a list or birthstone colors and meanings; this way you’ll be able to give her a unique set of earrings with her stone to commemorate the occasion.

If you’re an avid jewelry wearer and collector, you are probably aware that there are numerous little tricks and techniques for making your jewelry look its best. For one, you should always make sure your trendy jewelry is as sparkly, shiny, and polished as possible. If you’re wearing a metal product, make sure there’s no varnish. With a standard jewelry metal polish, scrub your pieces until they gleam.

Also make sure that jewelry is visible when you wear it. If, for example, you have a pendant on a medium chain, it might be prone to slipping under your blouse’s neckline where it can’t be seen or enjoyed. Or perhaps you have some pearl earrings, but they’re studs. If you have long hair, they can remain obstructed all day. For this reason, make sure you invest in pearl drop earrings. These will show even if you have long hair, and the natural light can illuminate some of the pearl’s beautiful luster.

When my sister graduated from college, my parents were so proud. She was always studious, but they really wanted to offer her something on her special day that acknowledged how much they admired her hard work over the last four years. Rather than going the traditional route and giving her something extravagant like a car or writing her a sizable check, they went a more sentimental route. They gave my sister our mother’s garnet earrings.

My sister’s birthstone is garnet, and she has always loved those fashion earrings. They were originally our grandmother’s, and she gave them to our mother on the day she got married. Passing them down, my sister officially became the third generation to enjoy the elegance and beauty of those stunning earrings. Every time I see my sister, she is wearing those earrings, and they look beautiful on her. I can tell she is reminded of how much my parents think of her every time she wears them.

“Someone turn that TV down.” I demanded in frustration.  ” I can’t concentrate and  balance this checkbook with that thing yelling at me!”  Then I realized that I was the only one in the house.  After muttering a few choice words,  I backed my wheelchair away from the computer, located the remote control and turned the monster down–but not before my eye caught  a demonstration of amateursbeing taught to set gemstone jewelry. “Looks like fun,” I told myself.  For a moment I dared to think that I could do that. Then all the excuses reared their ugly heads.  You are handicapped.  You are wheelchair bound.  You have severe arthritis in your hands.  Your hands shake sometimes!  I justified all of this kind of thinking with old generalization–You can’t teach an old dog new tricks, and this old dog was 83!  ”Oh, forget it!” I told myself out loud. But the idea just hung around, so I decided to prove once and for all that I could not learn this art.

“Teach me to make a ring like this I have on,” I pointed to the ruby ring on my finger.  The retired master jewelry designer I had called on for help looked at me like I was out of my mind. And to tell you the truth, I was thinking the same thing!

“Fay, you are 83 years old.  That is too old to learn this skill.  Find something easier.  It took me years to gain that skill, and I was a young pup then,” my friend cautioned.

“You are probably right,” I countered,” but pretend I am 30 and try anyway.I need to know if I can do it. I need to know if I can learn something that is brand new to me.”

In the next few months, I broke prongs, set stones crooked and made other boo-boos.  But I was challenged to finally do it right.  Then the fun began.  I spent hours actually enjoying myself in the sun room where I had set  up shop.  I was so proud of each item I made correctly! When my hands got shaky I just quit for a while.  When the arthritis caused my hands to ache unbearably, I dealt with the pain, and went on.  My mentor was amazed at my success!  So was I!  And so am I today after creating about 500 pieces.  Each one was unusual and each was unique!  And the most important thing–I made each one!  What a heavenly feeling!

You can’t teach an old dog new tricks?  Don’t be so sure. The older learner absorbs new skills in a different way than younger ones do.  They need more demonstration and  practice with the new addition to their store of knowledge.  But, old dogs can learn new tricks–and they do so with gusto!

PS: In past years this writer  was a recognized authority on adult learning ability.  I am sure she would like to hear your thoughts on the subject.  Do you think that old learners can master new skills?  Just try!

Having a late December birthday has its benefits and drawbacks. On the positive side, I almost always have the day off work because it coincides with a Christmas/New Year’s break. That’s one of the busiest and most exciting weeks of the year for me, and I’m lucky to get a few hours of sleep each night with all the holiday celebrations. On the other hand, my birthday was always lumped together with Christmas as a child.

It wasn’t until a few years ago that a new discovery swung my opinion about December birthdays firmly to the positive camp. My boyfriend bought me a blue pear shaped topaz pendant because it’s the December birthstone. Quite frankly, I knew next to nothing about birthstone jewelry at the time. Now that I’ve done my research, I’m planning to return the favor by getting him a men’s ruby ring come July.

Gold everywhere! There is a little known gemstone in the quartz family called rutilated quartz. It is a unusual stone. The gem itself is clear (or sometimes light yellow) with golden rods passing through it, criss-crossing in all directions. These rods are  bright gold and reflect beautifully on the clear background of the stone.

It occurred to me that with enough of these stones I could affect the gold market! What a prize! However, my fantasy came to a swift end when further study revealed  that these beautiful rods were only fools gold! What a disappointment!

One thing was saved out of my fantasy.  Let’s think about this a little bit more!  There are not many gemstones that are completely unique.  There are never ever two of them alike. Also, they are quartz!  Quartz is plentiful. That means that in terms of  gemstone prices, rutilated quartz will remain one of the lowest priced gemstones.  None of that distracts from  the beauty  of the golden clad gem that still makes up into gorgeous jewelry, unique gemstone rings, pendants and earrings.   So maybe I really have struck gold!

There are a few pieces of rutilated quartz rings and pendants in the Gemstone Creations Collection. When I find the right settings, I will be making more. So keep an eye on the websites!

In determining real gemstone values for unique gemstone rings, pendants or earrings, absolutely nothing can take the place of a expert human being eye-balling the gemstone in question.  When this information is not reasonably available, there are ways of establishing probable values of the stone you are interested in (+ or – 10% to 15%).

A Google search will guide you to all kinds of confusing sites regarding gem evaluation.  Most offer the services of a gemologist.  Some offer information about what to look for in doing an evaluation.  But I have found one service to be very useful and dependable:  www.gemval.com.

This group of gemologists use various factors about the stone you are concerned with, such as carat weight, color, clarity, cut and shape to determine the gem’s value.  The website is www.gemval.com.  Be cautioned, its accuracy depends on the accuracy of the information that the user feeds to the program.

GemVal Guide to Gemstone Prices Sep 1, 2010 … Online guide to gemstone prices for industry professionals. Gemstone current market values, pricing charts and trends, free online appraisals…

If you read the reactions of users to the data from this site you will find it is generally very favorable.  The site also offers other information about the gem, such as, refractive index, specific gravity, hardness on Koh scale, etc.  Of course, any subjective process working with statistical data and probabilities  such as GemVal does  cannot be 100% perfect.  But it has a good track record.

In the gem data offered by Gemstone Creations,  we use GemVal as the appraisal price.  But we point out that it is an approximation.  We also add a disclaimer to each of our sales stating that we are not  gemologists and we state the source of our gem data.  If we make an error (heaven forbid!) as an honest seller, we are anxious to satisfy the customer. Our contact info is available on the website as well as instructions for returning unsatisfactory merchandise.

I reached my limit on words!  Stay turned for more information on gemstones, their origin, value, care and treatment.  Be sure and visit our website often.  Our merchandise changes constantly. All items are one of a kind and sell out quickly.

How can you tell if a gemstone is real or not?  I have already told you that the most obvious characteristic–color– is of no help!   But there are other clues.

Pay attention to the language used to describe the gem.  If the stone is described as natural, you know that Mother Nature has taken eons of time to create the beautiful  gem inside the rock in the earth.  It took primitive man a long time to learn to mine it  and to figure out  the characteristics that would mark the stone as valuable.  But with a pick ax and a shovel, primitive man learned to get and to value the shining rock in his hand.

Today, if the stone is described as simulated, it has the looks of the gemstone, but none of its valuable mineral properties.  It could be made out of anything from glass to bits of other natural gemstones.  But it is just a look-alike!  Much of the costume  or fashion jewelry worn today uses simulated stones.  They are sometimes very beautiful—-and a lot less expensive!

If  the stone is described as synthetic, you have a real treasure!  These stones have the same color (or sometimes better color) as the natural ones.  They have the same chemical makeup. They have the same visual and refractive characteristics. They have the same specific gravity.  In every way they are the same as the natural stone–except in two ways–length of time needed for them to grow and the price you pay.  Because of these factors, many well known designers use as many synthetic stones as natural ones.   In almost any jewelry store today you will see as many synthetic stones as natural ones.

Simulated and Synthetic!  These are the two “S” you need to be aware of in selecting jewelry for your treasure chest!  There is one more thing that you need to know before you go shopping.  Whoops! I am writing too much again, so I will tell you about this in the next blog!

BE CAREFUL! If you are buying a TV or a washing machine it is easy to compare models, etc. and make good value decisions. But very few of us have the knowledge to make that kind of decision about gemstones. Sadly to say, both on the internet and behind store front windows there is a multitude of  corrupt merchants who will smilingly take your money without giving you fair value.  There is also a multitude of very honest merchants.  I wish I could always tell the difference!

The best defense the customer has is the appraisal services of a skillful independent appraiser. Never buy an expensive piece of jewelry without this!   Honest merchants will encourage you to seek this service.

An appraiser is a gemologist who has invested a fortune in instruments that measure various properties of natural gemstones and years in studying what to look for in identifying gems.  His services are usually expensive, but worth the investment.    There is nothing more heart breaking to discover that the beautiful unique gemstone ring you emptied your piggy bank to buy is nothing more than a piece of bottle glass!

I craft the jewelry pieces for Gemstone Creations.  I am fascinated by gemology and have invested time and money into the purchase of a microscope and many  other instruments to help me identify gems.  I spend a lot of time studying the characteristics of gems, so that someday I will be a gemologist.  But that time has not yet come, so I have found a substitute way to identify the probable value of a gemstone.

I have used up my word limit  for this blog, so in the next one I will tell you all about this valuable resource.  It is available to everyone and is just a few clicks away.  Stay tuned . . . . .