lostponys Dull-Eyed Twinkle-Eye Pony Bright Eyes re-Twinkled with cubic zirconia

[lostpony]

Unless I am sadly mistaken (in which case don't dispel my illusion! noooo), cubic zirconia is a lab-created diamond made with a huge hydraulic press that creates the same conditions that in the earth's crust creates a natural diamond.

It is 10 on the hardness scale and you can feel the hardness when placed in contact with your teeth...and the pawn shop's gem scanner identifies zirconia as lab diamond, as least that is what they told me.  I didn't do it to these but in the past I wasn't able to scratch them with anything available so they are very hard. 

Zirconia have been coming down in price for years and though they do cost quite a bit from a jeweler you can't get $1 for them at pawn...there is nothing "cube"  about cubic zirconia that is just a trade name and they have the same crystal structure as natural diamond, am I misinformed?

At any rate if there is a difference between cubic zirconia and lab diamond then these are in fact cubic zirconia.  Which is still sparkly and doesn't get dull...and still better than plastic, so there <stamps hoof>.

Oh yes and the size.  I have no hard information as to how many carats, I know what 1.5 carat looks like and to me these look like more than 5 so I am estimating 4, what size do you think they are??  Or do you even see natural over 3 even in a jewelry store?  Please advise, thanks so much!

[shelvesofwhimsy]

Unless I am sadly mistaken (in which case don't dispel my illusion! noooo), cubic zirconia is a lab-created diamond made with a huge hydraulic press that creates the same conditions that in the earth's crust creates a natural diamond.

It is 10 on the hardness scale and you can feel the hardness when placed in contact with your teeth...and the pawn shop's gem scanner identifies zirconia as lab diamond, as least that is what they told me.  I didn't do it to these but in the past I wasn't able to scratch them with anything available so they are very hard. 

Zirconia have been coming down in price for years and though they do cost quite a bit from a jeweler you can't get $1 for them at pawn...there is nothing "cube"  about cubic zirconia that is just a trade name and they have the same crystal structure as natural diamond, do I misunderstand?

At any rate if there is a difference between cubic zirconia and lab diamond then these are in fact cubic zirconia.  Which is still sparkly and doesn't get dull...and still better than plastic, so there <stamps hoof>.

(Sorry the jeweler in me is coming out )

So actually cubic zirconia is very different from a lab created diamond, and a diamond.
It has a different chemical structure than a diamond although it is still very hard.

A lab created diamond has the same chemical composition of a diamond (carbon), but was not mined.

We have a diamond tester at the store and it can tell the difference between a diamond and a CZ. They are a 8.5 on the hardness scale, but they are quite sparkly and have come down in price in recent years. You can get a nice CZ for about $10



"Cubic zirconia (CZ) is the cubic crystalline form of zirconium dioxide (ZrO2). The synthesized material is hard, optically flawless and usually colorless, but may be made in a variety of different colors. It should not be confused with zircon, which is a zirconium silicate (ZrSiO4). It is sometimes erroneously called "cubic zirconium"."


"Lab created diamonds, also known as cultured diamonds, are grown in highly controlled laboratory environments using advanced technological processes that duplicate the conditions under which diamonds naturally develop when they form in the mantle, beneath the Earth’s crust. Once grown, cut and polished, these diamonds look identical to our natural conflict free diamonds, and are in fact chemically the same as diamonds obtained through mining. "



But...this custom still looks awesome! I think using such bright gems was a great idea!! They do sparkle!

[lostpony]

Ooooh ok fine be that way and make me learn stuff!  and steal my fake diamonds.

Edited to correct my misunderstanding, thanks!

(you sure your boss isn't just worried I'm cutting into his action? hahaha)

[shelvesofwhimsy]

Ooooh ok fine be that way and make me learn stuff!  and steal my fake diamonds.

Edited to correct my misunderstanding, thanks!

(you sure your boss isn't just worried I'm cutting into his action? hahaha)

I'm sorry!! I do actually have quite a few CZ earrings haha. They look so good and are like 1/100 of the cost haha.

Hahahah hopefully my boss doesn't catch on

[lostpony]

Better it happened here than next time I'm cat burglarizing the museum or something.

But I'm never, I mean, always wrong....oh well.  Good to know!

So much for my idea that now kids can have a 10 sample in their geology kits....still waiting.  I don't remember what the 9 was anyway.

Hey another member in my neighborhood!  I just found out I missed a pony meet in Burlingame, I thought there was nothing in the West and there was but I missed it! aww.

[WingsOfMasquerade]

These are FANTASTIC!
The sparkle is just amazing. Such a hard substance (wherever it may lie on the scale) certainly outsparkles plastic by a mile. This surely beats other TE fixes I have seen including my own. (applying metal leaf over grinded eye was a method I did) Bright Eyes name is now extra literal. She's so beautiful in the photos.

You could certainly do this for other TE's who have colored stones (I think Zirconia comes in a few colors other than clear)
Blue for Whizzer
Green for Mimic & Masquerade
Red for Tictac Toe
Reddish...pinkish...for Locket
Fizzy ?

and so on.
There are plenty out there with terrible shape TE's I've got a Whizzer that has pavement grind on one & had a galaxy where it looks like the TE bit was crushed. It was all white and terrible divot in it. If the stones stay in real well or are good with glue, TE's may now be repairable/upgradeable with the idea you have brought to it. Very cool!

[lostpony]

It's a great wealth of information shelvesofwhimsy has given us here and I'm so glad she corrected my misunderstanding that CZ is the "cultured diamond" made by immense hydraulic presses.

Further, it is clear to me that the literature she is quoting must be DuBeers:  "...our natural conflict free diamonds...".  Oh....no such thing as natural conflict free diamonds...inappropriate to rant about here though. 

Yes, CZ is available in colors and quite pretty ones but I have not personally come across them this big in colors, I am sure those will cost a little more but great idea WingsofMasquerade!

Bright Eyes' new eyes are set as earrings and the entire setting is both resting in the recessed groove that runs around the eye-hole and the earring's post pokes through the back of the eye socket and is quite secure there without using any glue, or in this case even the earring backing because it was too challenging to get it onto the earring post inside that tight little space in her head.  You could use rubber-lined tweezers or needlenose pliers to install the backing, and/or use glue, or a screw-backed setting but none of that is necessary; I carried her around in a coat pocket and nothing moves or falls out.

Further, a side benefit of doing this is that you get a spare set of the original eyes to replace the pavement-ground one if you want.  You did metal coating?  You might be able to do something like that better while the eye is out.

Removal/replacement procedure:  Put the head in boiling water until soft.  This only takes seconds.  Take the head out of the water (with tools, I used chopsticks to avoid being scalded) and let it cool only a tiny bit to put your finger inside the head without getting scalded, but cool it only as much as absolutely necessary so it is still soft (it will be uncomfortably warm for your finger).  With the eye pointing up, push your finger up from behind the eye and the eye will pop right out of the socket.  The eye has a second, much larger diameter circle that sits deeper under the surface than the first circle just under the skin, but the whole thing will push right out and then just make sure the pony material returns back to its shape, pushing it back in if it does stick out (mine went back into original shape on its own when I stopped pushing).  I saw no evidence of any glue in there...I don't know if any glue might be present on other ponies and if so that will increase the difficulty.  Then just poke a hole in the middle of the back of the eye socket with a pin, then push the earring post into that hole until the whole setting goes all the way into the socket.  You can put your finger in the head and on the end of the earring post to insinuate it around as needed to get it to seat into the groove around the eye, and re-dunk the head in the hot water if needed to soften it if it has become too stiff.  Once the setting with its stone is seated in the groove, and nothing is pushing on the post, let the head cool and it will stay put without any problem, or you can add the backing or, before pushing it in add some glue of your choice if you want which you will have to keep from getting onto the visible areas.  You could put the glue on the backing as well and have the extra security with less risk of the glue being visible.  The stone is particularly secure in the earring setting because the eye socket surrounds the prongs.

I used a multi-pack of many pairs of earrings of different sizes so it was easy to match up the right size.  If you don't have that luxury you could use a caliper on the extracted eye and go get the earring that with its prongs match the eye to buy the right size.  I originally tried a larger size and fit it in without its setting but though it was super-luxurious (like a dark pool of water), it was too far in and looked a little dark and sunken and wasn't as secure without using glue or something, so I switched to the next smaller size and kept it in the setting and I was quite satisfied with its position and security. 

I took Bright Eyes to church with me and after the sermon which was about the God-shaped hole in our hearts, I said I thought it was a pony-shaped hole and showed her off.  I was asked, whose pony is that?  I said, Mine.  I was asked, why do you have a pony?  I said, Cuz and gestured to Rainbow Dash on my T-shirt and the answer was, Ohh.  No disapproval.  I love my church family.  My point was, the stones are secure and don't move or fall out.

Thanks again everypony for enjoying my eye upgrade!  I hope others try it and make it a standard option....maybe this will eventually become the "pony eye" size earring and you will be able to shop for it by that description on ebay...
 

[Galactica]

Wow! They look like they could shoot lasers!

[lostpony]

That's a feature to think about...now how to go about adding it...

[puuush]

A really luxurious look. I love the bright sparkle. And thanks for all that information. I'm sure to look out for earrings and try it myself. Stunning!!!

[Chelsea7]

OH MY WORD, THIS IS FABULOUS

I want to do this with my TE Bright Eyes!! She looks amazing
Imagine real diamonds.. 

[lostpony]

I just measured and for anypony who wants to try this the size of the stone that fits is about 10mm across at its largest diameter including setting.

The stones pictured here are about 9mm across or so but 10mm total including the prongs of their settings.  I tried naked 10mm stones and those worked too but weren't as secure and some of their sparkle was obscured by the pony material (which gave them a darker, more of a deep-pool sort of look that was really nice too) so I switched to the smaller stones. 

If you don't have cheap Zirconia at a Walmart or something like that near you, 10mm earrings are available on eBay all the time (for about $20 or less for zircs)...the Walmart price can be s cheap as $3 and I'd like to see people try alternate sorts of gems...anything in a modern round cut in an earring setting with an overall diameter of 10mm will work exactly like this and nonprecious stones like turquoise or obsidian would be totally amazing too, don't forget to post pictures!!!

Next time I am in Antwerp I will shop up a set of real diamonds and try those out

[pop-girl]

She looks beautiful! 

[Mana_Mihara]

That sparkle! It looks awesome.

[Radiance]

Wow! Amazing eyes I have some baity TE ponies that desperately need new eyes. I really want to try this!