Combining Stones in Jewelry

Advice for Combining Stones

A Gem in the Hand

If you’re interested in combining stones, I have one piece of hard advice for you. Choose your combinations from colored gems that you actually have in hand. Subtle variations in shades of color make a considerable difference in gem compatibility. You can’t accurately visualize this, since gems often come in different shades. Additionally, images in print catalogs or online can’t reproduce the subtle tones of the individual stones they depict.

Explore Gem Combinations with Customers

On several occasions, customers have come to me with certain gem combinations in mind. As it turned out, they didn’t go together well. However, we tried combining stones side by side and found some surprising pairings. (In fact, I find this is one of the most enjoyable activities of being a gem dealer).

One customer wanted a jewelry piece made around a green tourmaline stone with pink tourmalines as accents. Now, green and pink tourmalines usually go together well. The ones I had in stock, however, did nothing for each other. The green gem made the pink ones look sad, and the overall combination was just drab. Since the customer was most interested in the green…