It is the 5th edition of the bench blog and as with last week, I actually haven’t done anything hands on this week!
This is because I not only had really bad headaches at the start of the week but was also more focused on getting my course finished and recording a YouTube video. So lets take a look at what I have been up to this week.
Introduction to Diamonds is Finished!!
So over the last few weeks, I have been working on creating an Introduction to Diamonds online course and this week I have finally finished it! It consists of 4 videos, looking at the 4 C’s of diamond grading and I have been constantly worried that I haven’t included enough information but for £49, I think it is a pretty good starting point.
I am hoping that if the course does well, I can re-invest the profits into the course and purchase a gemmological microscope and also some more stones, so that I can add some videos to the course and make it better than it already is.
Even though I am used to recording videos for YouTube, doing videos for a course is a completely different challenge and has been a little stressful but all the work has definitely been worth it.
New YouTube Video
I have been spending a lot of time in front of the camera this week as I am really trying to grow my YouTube Channel and this week, I actually did two uploads.
The first was looking at Why Are Diamonds so Expensive? This was a fun one to make as I look at the reasons why Diamonds cost so much, with some interesting facts and figures thrown in along the way.
The second was a my first YouTube Shorty video, which is YouTube’s attempt to capture some of the TikTok audience. They are videos that are less than one minute and in my one, I test the diamond myth that fake diamonds float. Filming a sub 1 minute video, when you are used to doing long ones is quite a challenge!
Another Massive Gemstone!
So in last weeks post, I talked about my acquisition of a 127 carat Smokey Quartz, which was the second largest gemstone I had ever bought but I trumped it this week with this 251 carat Smokey Quartz!
As you can see, this stone is huge and serves no purpose other than a great collector stone. It does make me wonder why gemstones are cut this big as they aren’t really suitable for use in jewellery, especially as this can only be used in a pendant and that would be very uncomfortable to wear over a long period of time.
For my next big gemstone, I would like something different to a quartz as 4 of my 5 biggest stones are all members of the quartz family (with the other being a CZ). Will have to see what comes up for sale though.
Conclusion
It looks like I really haven’t done much this week but honestly, filming and editing videos can take hours to do. Even my new YouTube video, which is only 8 minutes long, probably has around 5 hours of work gone into it and the 45 second short video, has around an hours worth of work in it.
Plus getting the course all set up properly has also taken time to do and combine that with running my other business, has meant that I haven’t really had the time to do any hands on work or even CAD work. Hopefully now that the course is behind me, I can put some more time into the fun stuff!
I'm Paul Haywood FGA DGA, a fully qualified Gemmologist and Diamond Grader from the Gemmological Association of Great Britain and a lover of all things jewellery.