 |
| Spinels rings in a beautiful color array. |
Spinels are pretty unknown gemstones since they are quite rare and therefore not really commercialized much. They are more commonly used by small scale jewelers in one-of-a-kind designs. Spinels, a MgAl2O4 magnesium aluminum oxide, are usually mined in Sri Lanka and Myranmar and often found among corundum deposits like sapphires and rubies. Blue and red spinels actually have been mistaken for rubies and sapphires. Their excellent hardness of 8 on the Moh's scale and their high clarity makes it a great gem for everyday wear jewelry, even rings.
They come in beautiful pastel shades of pink, red, orange, blue, purple, brown and even deep black. Most of them have a great sparkle too. I collected some beautiful pastel colored spinels over the years and finally found some time to carve up some waxes and cast rings for them.
 |
| carved waxes for solitaire rings with Spinels |
A couple of these I cast in a new Sterling Silver alloy, Continuum, which is suposed to be a harder sterling silver and suitable for more valuable gemstone settings. Others were cast in Silver/Palladium alloy and a special deep red one in 14k yellow gold.
Sterling Silver ring with a very sparkly round pink Spinel in a half bezel setting.
Oval faceted light lavender colored Spinel is set in a full bezel setting in this elegant sterling silver engagement ring.
An oval gray purple Spinel in a full bezel setting in this new sterling silver alloy.
This cushion cut medium blue Spinel was set in a full bezel Silver/Palladium ring.
Unfortunately this red purple spinel ended up sitting a bit rotated in it's setting and is therefore not for sale. If I find time I may try to fix it or just keep it for myself. It does look very nice with some other recent test rings with black diamonds and moissanites. Those little screw ups are sometimes my way to get some new bling for myself - not that I try it on purpose.
This deep red spinel has more fire than the picture can convey. It deserved to be set in 14k yellow gold to complement the warm gem color. Ring has a soft satin brushed finish. The half bezel setting lets some additional light into the gem, bringing out it's blood red color.
You can find all these and other spinel rings listed in my Etsy shop.
