Gemstones for your handmade silver piece in Sanur
Choose a stone from the tray at our Sanur bench, then set it into the ring or pendant you have just finished. IDR 200K per stone, added to any class. Most guests decide once they are sitting down and can hold the colours up to the daylight.
Zirconia
Clear, and all sparkle
The most light you can get for the least money, which is why it is the stone most first-timers reach for. It is cut with diamond facets, so it throws white flashes the moment you step back into the Sanur sun.
Energy
A clear head and a fresh start
Pairs well with
A first ring, a slim pendant
Tanzanite
Violet-blue, from one hillside only
Every tanzanite on earth came out of a few square kilometres in northern Tanzania, and the supply is nearly finished. Tilt it and the colour walks from blue to violet. Guests tend to pick this one when the piece is marking an anniversary.
Energy
Intuition, and turning a corner
Pairs well with
A statement ring, a drop pendant
Sapphire
Deep blue, almost unbreakable
Only diamond is harder, so a sapphire shrugs off sand, saltwater and years of washing up. If you want the piece you make today still on your hand in twenty years, start here.
Energy
Steadiness and loyalty
Pairs well with
Engagement rings, signet rings
Green Emerald
Wet-season green
No photograph does it justice. The green only really opens up in daylight, which is why we hand it to you by the window. It is softer than sapphire, so we bezel it: silver walls all the way round, nothing exposed.
Energy
Growth and starting again
Pairs well with
Pendants, earrings, bezel-set rings
Garnet
Red, with wine in it
Warmer and deeper than ruby, and far kinder on the budget. Against polished silver it reads almost black until light gets behind it. A quiet favourite with the couples who sit down at our bench.
Energy
Warmth and devotion
Pairs well with
Rings, cufflinks, charm pendants
Peridot
Olive green, lit from inside
One of the few stones that keeps its colour under lamplight as well as sun, so it still looks alive at dinner. Cheerful rather than loud, and very good against silver we have darkened on purpose.
Energy
Lightness and good luck
Pairs well with
Stacking rings, small pendants
Moonstone
A blue sheen that moves
Rock it under the light and a band of blue slides across the face. It has been worn at the start of things for centuries, and it is the stone children in our kids class choose most often.
Energy
Calm, and new cycles
Pairs well with
Cabochon rings, pendants
Larimar
Shallow water over sand
Mined in one corner of the Dominican Republic and nowhere else, patterned like the lagoon off Sanur beach at low tide. It is a soft stone, so we set it low and protected.
Energy
Sea calm and plain speaking
Pairs well with
Pendants, earrings
Turquoise
Sky blue, veined with brown
The travellers stone, carried by people far from home for thousands of years, which makes it an honest souvenir of a trip. The dark veining runs differently through every piece, so no two come out the same.
Energy
Protection on the road
Pairs well with
Wide bands, pendants
Tourmaline
One stone, any colour
Green, pink, watermelon, near-black: tourmaline covers more ground than anything else in the tray. Ask for it if you want a colour nobody back home will be wearing.
Energy
Grounding and steadiness
Pairs well with
Rings, bar pendants, earrings
Why stone setting suits a Sanur morning
We run a second studio in Kuta, and the two rooms attract very different days out. If you are choosing a stone you intend to wear for years, Sanur is the calmer place to do it.
Who sits down with the tray
Mostly families on a slow Sanur holiday, couples back in Bali for a second or third time, and guests staying along Jalan Danau Tamblingan who simply walked over. Children from about eight upwards manage a cabochon setting perfectly well with a smith guiding their hands.
Quiet enough to hear the hammer
Sanur keeps the east-coast pace: no clubs, no traffic noise coming through the door. We take a small number of guests at a bench at one time, so nobody queues for a torch and nobody hurries you into picking a stone you are unsure about.
On the sunrise side of the island
Ten minutes from Sanur harbour and the fast boats to Nusa Penida, around twenty-five from the airport, and walking or cycling distance from most Sanur hotels. Plenty of guests come in after sunrise on the beach and are back at the pool by lunch.
How a stone gets set at our Sanur bench
Choose your stone
The tray comes out before you start cutting. Hold the stones up to the light, ask us how each one will wear, and change your mind as often as you like.
We prepare the setting
While you shape your piece, one of our silversmiths builds the bezel or the prongs that will hold it, sized to the exact stone you chose.
You set it yourself
Hands on the tool, smith beside you: you press the silver over the stone, then polish it. It is set for good before you leave, and it leaves with you.
Ask which stone suits your piece
Tell us what you are hoping to make and the dates you are in Sanur, and we will send a photo of the tray we have in stock that week.
New to this? Start with our guide to silver jewelry classes in Bali.