What amazes me, of course, is that anyone would ever by CZ
"jewelry" in the first place."
There a quite a number of us out there making and selling pieces
that include synthetic stones, CZ included, at very high prices.
People buy them because they are beautiful. I do a line of bracelets
that cost the purchaser about $700 - in diamonds they’d cost upwards
of $700,000. I use the stones because I like the aesthetics. Diamonds
are just expensive pretty baubles. CZ’s are cheap pretty baubles -
but if they get the respect of the goldsmith they look wonderful.
But I use and respect rubber, iron, plastic, glass, titanium,
niobium, aluminum, steel, bone, teeth, cats claws, pmc, clay, copper
and so on.
I know a prominent jewelry who makes and sells very “in your face”
diamond jewelry who also sells the same jewelry replacing the
diamonds with CZs. The customer puts the “real” stuff in a safe
deposit and wears the CZ stuff. Why would this sort of person would
buy diamond jewelry in the first place if they don’t wear it
surpasses my understanding. K P Kelly
Hey, for many (myself included) who appreciate sparklers but don’t
have the bucks, CZs (also known as “slee-zees” ) satisfy the need
for glitz. I do like both colored diamonds and colored CZs for their
sparkle. I think the purple/lavender CZs are prettier than amethyst
especially when the stones are equally grungy.
However, when buying or making the heirloom quality piece, diamonds
are my choice.
Judy in Kansas, where the weather is absolutely gorgeous! Won’t
last though.
Why not? CZ’s are very pretty and durable. The only thing they are
not (other than dug up) is expensive. One might reasonably argue
that rejection of CZ’s is just buying into DeBeers’ hype.
Personally, I don’t use them for the same reason that most customers
won’t buy them-- their image as cheap and flashy. Diamonds are
expensive and flashy. That’s about it, really-- it is all about
mythology. A beautiful piece with diamonds in it would actually be
just as beautiful with CZ’s. But we all have to function within our
culture as we find it, pretty much.
I think a lot of this “to CZ or not to CZ” is a matter of one’s
philosophy in making the particular piece. There seem to be two
different philosophies:
Are you “building” a lovely piece, and want to use the jewels to
complement it? Or
are you building a piece to complement the jewels?
If you want the jewels to predominate, then use the very best, and
don’t try to overpower them with a lot of frou-frou. If you want
your artistically designed piece to predominate, then perhaps CZ
would be “good enough”; as you don’t want them to overpower your
piece.
My two cents…my husband could have bought me a $13,000 diamond
engagement ring, and he would have had I insisted. However, being a
practical person, I could see other places to put $13,000 other than
my left ring finger. So, I bought a very nice, 8mm WHITE ZIRCON,
and a white gold 6 prong setting, all off of EBAY, and had a local
jeweler set it for me for $24.00. All in all, I have a $13,000
dollar look alike, for under $200.00! I love the ring, I am not
paranoid to wear it, and my husband still looks good! I also have
a CZ ring set in white gold, but I do not wear it often as it is not
as durable as my zircon.
Christina Sizemore Greenlaughter’s Simple Charms
Christina Sizemore–artist
Greenlaughter’s Simple Charms
webstore coming soon!
“It’s art for your glass”
Jewelry can be enjoyed and worn without it's needing to cost lots
of money or fool viewers into thinking it did cost lost. It can be
worn just because it's fun or attractive.
Thanks, Peter. I promised myself I wasn’t going to get into this
thread, but you’ve pointed to another one of those arguments I cant
help wanting to “unpack”, e.g. why would anybody want to buy
Swarovski crystal (my personal favorite), Czech glass, Japanese
Delicas…? Maybe it has something to do with the semiotics of
adornment…? Or why would anybody want to buy copper “art” jewelry?
Maybe because it’s art? Does using CZ mean it isn’t? Maybe we have to
call it “synthetic art”?
I also have a CZ ring set in white gold, but I do not wear it
often as it is not as durable as my zircon"
Fear not, Christina! Wear the CZ often as it is much more durable
than your zircon. You’ll probably get a bunch of responses on this,
but CZ has a hardness of 9, second only to diamond and equal to
sapphire, while zircon is only 7 to 7.5. Also, zircon is known for
its exceptional brittleness. Anyhow, CZ is really inexpensive, so if
it does eventually wear it’s cheap to replace. Jerry in Kodiak
but CZ has a hardness of 9, second only to diamond and equal to
sapphire,
Look it up again, Jerry. C.Z. is 8 on the mohs scale, same as Beryl.
Not a 9, and softer than sapphire. And it’s also a bit brittle,
though not as bad as zircon. zircons are known more for the tendency
of facet edges to 'crumble" and abrade, than for actually chipping.
The heat treated blues, in particular, do this.
I make silver jewellery with CZ stones set into it. It’s an
inexpensive alternative to diamond. If I use diamonds, neither would
I be able to afford to make the jewellery or would my customers be
able to afford to buy it. White Czs are very attractive stones. Who
cares if they are a cheap alternative to diamonds!
I also have