Happy Mothers Day To Me

Yay today is finally the day that I get to play with my new gemstone identification toys. I bought this set a while ago, as a Mothers Day gift. My husband was not supposed to get anything else, but he did. I have no idea what it is, but I will not get it until the 13th. I have been waiting to break out these tools, and start investigating my stones, that I do not know what they are. Of course it takes practice, and time, to know what you are doing. The book Gemstones of the World, is available for sale at my other blog http://www.melissashumor.blogspot.com as I already have it, and do not need a second copy. It is in the archives, so be sure to look for it if you are interested in it. I also have the book Gemstone Identification Made Easy, that I have been reading, and studying. Most of the time I buy gemstones, already identified, but sometimes you just can not resist a great deal on a parcel of stones. I still want the refractometer, but that will be for Xmas, or maybe my birthday.

Happy Mothers Day, to all you moms out there. May you have a wonderful day.

Identify Up To 85% Of Gemstones

Ok the very first thing I learned from my new book, Gemstone Identification Made Easy, is that you can identify up to 85% of gemstones with these three tools: Dichroscope, 10X Loupe, and the Chelsea Filter. I have ordered these three tools, and they will be my Mothers Day gift this year. I also want a Refractometer, and Ultraviolet Light, but they will have to wait. I have a microscope, but it is not a jewelers microscope, which are more handy for identifying gemtsones. Anyway I want to talk about the 10X Loupe. Of course I am sure everyone who does jewelry, knows about this instrument. It is simply a magnifier with 10 times the power. They come in other powers, but this is the one most widely used. It lets you see into the gemstone, to see inclusions, cracks, scratches, cleavage etc. It does take some practice to get used to knowing what you are seeing, and a dark field 10X loupe is even better. One very important thing I learned, that I did not know before, is that you should never buy a 10X loupe in any other color than black. I am sure you have seen pretty gold, chrome, red, blue, and even green loupes. I was curious to know why, as the book did not detail, so I did a little research. I found out that they black casing loupe will prevent reflections. The other colored loupes can interfere with colors, and can lead to mistakes when identifying your stones. This is a necessary tool, for anyone who wishes to identify gemstones, and they are pretty affordable. Most you can get for less than 50 dollars.