Chips, but not the Eric Estrada kind

I suppose you could say that after today, my "honeymoon" period as a jeweler officially came to an abrupt close. Crap happens every day in a repair shop and there's not much you can do to avoid human mistakes. I'm trying to keep my aggravation in perspective here, but it's difficult.

I chipped my first stone today.

Crunch. Not unlike the sound a Cheerio would make under one's shoe.

Let me rewind a bit. I have, in fact broken many a stone during my tenure as a bench jeweler, but they were always little teeny ones, replaceable, with few worries. This one was a 1.44 carat emerald cut aquamarine I was setting into a white gold ring. Oh, and I was so careful!!!! I mean, I was checking it every time I moved a prong, keeping it straight from every angle, polishing up my toolmarks in the metal, and on and on and on.

(insert primal scream here)

At times such as these, I remind myself of a long-ago conversation when my mom told me that we should be grateful for the industries we work in instead of being brain surgeons. The worst thing I could do would be to ruin someone's surprise engagement or inconvenience a wedding. There will be no deaths or critical injuries due to my chipping this stone. It will cost my shop around two hundred bucks or so and the customer will probably be mildly annoyed, but that's pretty much it. The planets will remain in alignment (i suppose Pluto can do as he wishes), no meteor will wipe us out like the dinosaurs, and life will continue on as it has.

Thanks, momma.

Still sucks, though. I should have knocked on wood the other day when I was telling someone that I had never chipped a stone while doing a head and set. I can't help but remember back when I was in college and I told someone that I had never gotten a speeding ticket. Within two hours, I got pulled over by a state trooper for going 70 in a 45, having expired tags, and being too panicked and disorganized to find my car insurance.

I can either blame the cruelty of fate for this, or the simple fact that I've been out of the shop for a week and a half and sort of lost my mojo. And half of my tools--most of which I'm still hunting for. I'm counting on tomorrow being a better day. I'm sure all the little tourmalines and sapphires and diamonds are counting on it too.