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TaoGem offers inexpensive gemstone cabochon supplies for designing custom jewelry. Interesting Unique and unusual loose cut gemstones. Beveled and polished gemstone supplies for the artistic designer who truly is searching for something special that will support his or her own creative perspective. Standard run of the mill cabochons are readily available on the internet. Our Gemstones offer many art, crafts, and gemstone jewelry design possibilities. Custom lapidary orders are available upon request for most gemstone material.
Interesting, unique and unusual matched earring cabochon pairs.
Special attention given towards cabochon designing for the purpose of bezel type settings. Most all cabs have nice beveling.
Read the
"Advantages for Gemstone Jewelry Designer who Develop Relationship with Lapidary Shop" blog post that tells about the importance and advantages when considering TaoGem as you lapidary shop. Designers that make their first time special request cabochon order receive 50% off the first custom cut stone.
TaoGem's Lapidary / Gemstone Community Forum offers support for this site as well as a wide variety of discussions related to the gemstone arena. Our Gemstone Community offers something for everyone involved at every level and within any gemstone related niche, including Cutters, Wholesalers, Resellers, Designers and many others.
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If you ever have any questions about anything at all, please use the contact form. As a rule, you should receive a response within a few hours.
Of course, be sure to check what is presently available in the store inventory too!
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Be Sure To Shop My Gemstone Cabochon E-Commerce Store ! 
TaoGem Gemstone / Lapidary News Letter and Minerals Update
Hello from TaoGem !
Lots going on in the world these days. These uncertain and financially difficult times can put pressures on jewelry designers and cutters. Trying to balance our everyday responsibilities with our families and for some of us, still trying to continue investing in our online gemstone / jewelry businesses. Then for others interested in gemstones and jewelry design from a hobby perspective. It can be difficult to spend even a few dollars on necessary materials like gemstones so as to continue those treasured pastime interests.
Believe me when I tell you how I understand because these same concerns touch me. From both the added trials and tribulations of an online business, and every day life expenses.
Many of you have been doing business with me for almost two years now. You have come to know that I did not start my gemstone business because of dependence on the income. I am sort of in between doing this as a hobby and online business.
It is that versatility that allows me to be as inexpensive and flexible as I have been. Wisely choosing the mineral rough I purchase so as to be able to yield maximum cabochons from each piece and in turn passing on considerable savings to designers.
The importance of purchasing the most material for a minimum investment. In turn making it possible to do my part in the jewelry design chain.
TaoGem continues to pass on the highest of quality gemstones for better than fair prices. Hopefully doing my part will make it just a little easier for designers to sell their jewelry. More important, the designer can pass on significant discounts to customers.
Ok, lets talk about what is going on TaoGem and new minerals available !
I think everyone is familiar with how to check the store for recently added items by using the “recently added products tool.” . Here is a selection of my most favorite of minerals that have come in recently.
This stunning Sanora Sunrise (Chrysocolla). In both the multi colored blue, red and black, or straight Cuprite orange.
Another new one just in. A very rare and almost impossible to find is this red Imperial Jasper.
This green Imperial Jasper. Available in both mostly solid and banded.
This Australian Malachite and also a Chatoyant Feather.
This extremely rare Willow Creek Imperial Jasper from Mexico. This is the best of Jaspers on the Planet.
Finally, I also just got in some great looking Morrisonite. This as well as the Willow Creek are just now going into the saw. You can do a store product search in a few days to see some cabochon examples. Although, with the exception of a few cabs in store, these two minerals will be available for cabbing requests only. These are not minerals that one just starts to randomly cut. Both are exceptional grade Jaspers. Contact me to discuss pricing and delivery time.
Morrisonite
That covers my favorites. Of course there are a ton of other minerals available. Many of you take advantage of special requesting cabochons to suit specific pieces you design.
A reminder to newer customers that I do not charge additional shop rates when requesting a special shaped cabochon. Many customers enjoy being able to custom order really uniquely shaped gemstones so as to be able to complete interesting pieces of jewelry. This is a lot of fun. For both of us !
Also… A couple of nights ago I made the decision to pass on even greater savings to customers. I reduced prices 20% on about 80% of inventory. There is a new “featured products” area added and also a “special products”.
Syndicated feeds have been added for extra convenience so you can monitor store activities like those of TaoGem via your news reader like Google. The three most active feeds to subscribe to your news readers are “new products” store wide, “featured products”, and “specials products”.
I integrated a secure SSL certificate for the site too. This guarantees all personal information provided to the site is completely safe!
Many people including myself have become most familiar with using PayPal as a method of payment which of course TaoGem has always offered. I did add Google Check Out as a secondary Payment option.
Customer referrals!
Feel free to take full advantage of it. For every new customer that is referred from those of you that have an existing account with at least one purchase on record, you will receive a $15.00 store credit for sending them to TaoGem! Simply ask the customer to include a note with your name with their purchase. I will contact you with your store coupon details.
Hope this news letter and minerals update was helpful. feel free to contact me with any questions.
George / TaoGem
Lapidary / Gemstone Community Forum - Recent Posts
Lapidary / Gemstone Community Forum
Live information from Lapidary / Gemstone Community Forum
I just got this
Creative Gold and Silversmithing book.
Lots of info for jewelry making. Different techniques that include mountings, settings, and wire. Chains and hi...
I have this
Introduction to Lapidary.
It was published in 1967. All the information is excellent. The only ...
I just wanted to share these
books from theImageOne top picks.
The weather has really been very strange the last few years. Hope the weather treats you better!!
Yes. Tomorrow I shall attempt to do the glueing. It will be a little different from the others. I will post how the experiment does!
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Share Our Finished Cabochons
Lapidary / Gemstone Community Forum - Share our finished cabochons
Live information from Lapidary / Gemstone Community Forum
Quote from: mirkaba on
Yesterday at 06:48:44 pmHopefully the gold in the vug will be outstanding enough to leave alone.....Bob
That would be my first choice for sure.
Once any resins are applied to your beautiful gold d...
Glad I asked !
Processes for using Opticon have come up several times here. Sometimes quite different from one another.
Yours is yet another, different and interesting technique. Next time the need comes up, I am going to go through your steps.
Thanks ...
The coloration in the fracture is just the lighting angle. I really clean the completed and polished cab (usually in my ultrasonic), wipe off any finger prints with denatured alcohol and place it in a small aluminum muffin pan cell. I place this under ...
The before shows coloration within the fracture. Have no idea what it was, but being such a tight looking little crack, how did you remove that coloration prior to filling with the Opticon?
Also.... Looking like it is such a tight and small crack, how ...
The appearance of the Opticon surface will always be evident due to the differences in hardness and optical characteristics as well as the area covered by the Opticon, so it is up to the individual as to what appearance they can tolerate. If you are c...
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Rough And Slabs On The Bench
Lapidary / Gemstone Community Forum - Rough on the bench and slabs off the sa...
Live information from Lapidary / Gemstone Community Forum
I posted my last post before reading the post that Bob added while I was typing mine.
It also lyes in the 400 and 600 grits for me too, and I do mix it up with worn belts as Bob suggests.
Although, I have not had luck with the "pushing rather hard" tec...
Quote from: travelerga on
Yesterday at 05:41:42 pmflat spots rule here at my house. It seems that jaspers are the easiest for me to cab and clear agates have the most visable flat spots. ah time will heal my inequities,
...
I'm more inclined to trade my Obsidian than to sell it.
The "secret" to removing flat spots lies in the 400 to 600 grit sanding operation. You need a WELL worn, soft, flexible sanding wheel or belt. You push the cab into it rather forcefully. If there ...
Bob,
living here in the land of sand and gnats we don't have obsidian, if any of the pretty slabs are for sale I would like to get in that line also.
mike
flat spots rule here at my house. It seems that jaspers are the easiest for me to cab and clear agates have the most visable flat spots. ah time will heal my inequities,
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Custom Gemstone Jewelry Design
Lapidary / Gemstone Community Forum - Show Your Custom Jewelry Designing Photos
Live information from Lapidary / Gemstone Community Forum
Due to the fact that neither Rena or I really know rocks very well, all we know is this is a dendrite of some sort!
Am I mistaken? Looks like a Montana agate.
If Rena or someone else can confirm, then Rena may want to add this one to our
Montana agate entries along with eve...
Here is another jewelry piece Rena has just finished.
Very nice, my first thought was not feminine, maybe a bit mid evil, it would depend on the outfit they were wearing. I think its cool and your work is outstanding!
I agree !
Really unique wrap..
Nice one Rena !!
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TaoGem Gemstones Blog - Recent Entries
TaoGem Gemstones
inexpensive wholesale interesting unique unusual loose cut gemstone cabochons supplies for designing custom jewelry
Not too long ago I fumbled my way through silver soldering my first piece of jewelry.
It hardly qualifies me as a Silversmith, but sure felt good !
Over the past few days I managed to silver solder some bezel tape around a couple of more. The one is a Carved Agate Cameo, and the other is [...]
With a lot of help from a member (Doug) over at Creative Shop Talk online business development site, I was able to successfully add an auction module to my ZenCart store.This is going to really be a whole lot of fun.
The opportunities for bidders to win items at a fraction of normal store prices during [...]
Buffing and Polishing Procedures Are The final steps required for finishing all metal articles. Buffing removes sanding marks and smooths out the metal in preparation for the final polishing. Any pits, scratches, or minute file or sanding marks overlooked when buffing are only accented by the polishing step. Polishing adds only color, brightness, and luster [...]
Quartzsite 2009
Shows 2009
Quartzsite, in western Arizona, just 20 miles east of the Colorado River on I-10, Quartzsite has been a rockhound’s paradise since the 1960s. These days, it is also a mecca to well over a million visitors each year, most of whom converge on this small town in a wave of RVs during the [...]
For two weeks every winter, the world meets in Tucson as it becomes a bustling, international marketplace of buyers and sellers at the Tucson Gem, Mineral & Fossil Showcase.
The “Gem Show” is much more than a single event at one location. Rather, there are thousands of participants and attendees at nearly 50 sites around town. [...]
I recently bought what was described as a Munjina Jasper. After some discussion on our forum, it was thought that in fact it was not Munjina Jasper, but Noreena Jasper.
I did a Google search and they sure do look a lot alike. Come to find out that another member, ImageOne (Ron), cleared up the confusion. [...]
After some trials and errors, and lots of help from other forum members, I was finally able to complete my first bezel gemstone pendant.
There were some difficulties going through the first soldering.
Any way, worth a blog post!
If your here, show me some love and tell me how you like it. I am always interested in [...]
In a thread started by Alana over at CST. “I believe these are some hard times for our business right now” we seem to have discovered common sales experiences in regards to a greater percentage of International sales recently as compared to National. Possibly a connection to the present Global Recession.
I can speak from personal [...]
A follow up from last weeks entry about Morrisonite Jasper. We have talked a bit about this Morrisonite as well as some outstanding Willow Creek Jasper on our community forum as well.
After purchasing from Rare Rock and Gem’s site the other day, would like to share yet more of this great looking mineral. Have not [...]
Many of you have been doing business with me for almost two years now. You have come to know that I did not start my gemstone business because of dependence on the income. I am sort of in between doing this as a hobby and online business.
Lots going on in the world these days. These [...]
We had a new member join up to our forum who sells Morrisonite, Willow Creek, Bruneau, and other rarer Jasper type minerals. His site is called Rare Rocks and Gems.I received a package today from Philip. My mouth hit the floor when I opened it. From time to time will receive exceptional mineral rough / [...]
TaoGem Gemstones
It can be a real struggle for a gemstone jewelry designer to design that unique piece of gemstone jewelry. Most designers do not have a working relationship with a specific lapidary shop. This means that the designer is limited to picking out gemstones to work with at random off the internet or perhaps [...]
I was thinking today about the different people, places and things that came into my life when I first became interested in learning about gemstone cabochons.
Searching for every imaginable educational and how to type sources of information that would help me get started. I had absolutely no knowledge at all, with the exception of having [...]
I do enjoy working with the mineral Chrysocolla.
This particular Sanora Sunrise was new to me. Because of having much success lately with different Chrysocolla’s, I knew that I wanted to give this a whirl. My only first concern was because the seller had so much of it for sale, that there may be a chance [...]
Everything I do in regards to sanding all the way up to the polish has always been done with silicon carbide type abrasive belts.
In the final couple of sanding stages, I will take it from a 600 grit that is for the most part new, to a rather worn 600 grit. Just to give it [...]
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