The Tragedy is Now a Success!

Hey, remember this post, about the chipped ruby in zoisite briolette? I finally made time to try my idea of building up the chip with modeling paste.  What I had on hand was molding paste, often used with stencils.

I sculpted a bit of it onto the broken area, with a piece of wire in the hole.  Then I removed the wire and let the paste dry for about 2 hours.  I proceeded to wrap the stone with sterling silver wire as I normally would and viola!

If you can't tell, the one on the right was the broken one.  The molding paste was white and a bit of it was showing, so I used a black sharpie to cover it up.  I am pretty pleased with these results.

Ruby in Zoisite or Oh, The Tragedy

I have posted about this lovely stone in the past, here.  I decided to go through my remaining specimens to find some additional pairs for earrings.  You know how I love to make pairs. I found several suitable pairs and listed one of them in my etsy shop.    Click on the photo to go directly to the listing.

I found a couple more pairs, one of which is causing me great consternation and frustration.  The top of one of the stones is severely chipped.  So badly in fact, that even after two attempts at wrapping it, I set it aside to wait for a better idea.

As you can see, that's a pretty decent pair, considering the random patterning typical of ruby in zoisite.  Here is a close up of the chip.  It breaks my heart.

I thought the wire wrapping would hide the chip, but all it really did was accentuate it.  I'm considering using some modeling paste to "build up" the chip area to give the stone the same shape as the other one.  If anyone has tried this, please let me know.  Or, if you have any other ideas on how I can make this work, please share.  Thank you!

Ruby In Zoisite

Ruby in Zoisite is a super interesting stone, that I don't see much of, even while gem shopping in Tucson.   It is the occurrence of ruby and zoisite crystals, all in the same specimen.  Zoisite is generally green with black inclusions and everyone knows that rubies are traditionally pinkish red.

These earrings feature gorgeous briolettes of Ruby in Zoisite.  I added a genuine ruby rondelle alongside to highlight the red component of the briolette.

As always, you can click on the photo to go directly to the listing for these one-of-a-kind earrings in my etsy shop.