Post subject: New GIA student - learned I'm colorblind!
Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 9:02 pm
New to the Forum or The Quiet Type
Joined: Sun Feb 03, 2008 8:39 pm Posts: 7 Location: San Antonio, Texas
I started GIA G.G. program last fall and just had a regular visit with my ophtalmologist. I learned that I am green-red colorblind. Does anyone know how this can affect my chosen career as a gemologist? Thanks for any information or advice you have!
That's got to make color matching and grading harder, JeweledWhiskers, but maybe you naturally learn to work around it. My favorite artist, Henri Peter, is colorblind, and it doesn't seem to stop him. I would be interested to find out how it affects your color grading, though, so do keep us posted.
Joined: Sun Feb 03, 2008 8:39 pm Posts: 7 Location: San Antonio, Texas
Crystal Star:
Thanks for welcoming me to the forum. I'm such a newbie and very glad to find this forum and site. I will keep updates as I learn more about grading and more from my opthalmologist. He's supposed to be getting me more info and how to work with colorblindness. One of our jewelers is colorblind as well. He occasionally has to get assistance on some colored stones...usually they are identifed prior to him receiving them.
By the way, I'm originally from LR, AR. Nice to see an Arkie on-line.
I'm part gypsy, JeweledWhiskers, and love living in Arkansas, but I'm a transplant from Texas who was born in NY. Of course, that means my accent is totally unrecognizable at this point.
Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2005 12:22 pm Posts: 21602 Location: San Francisco
Hi and welcome.
I think that your situation with being slightly color challenged might turn out to be an asset.
You will go the extra mile to make sure that the properties of the stones you are identifying are correct.
You will not look at a stone and think you can identify it on sight alone.
Thats a real GOOD thing.
Joined: Sun Feb 03, 2008 8:39 pm Posts: 7 Location: San Antonio, Texas
Barbra:
Thanks so much for the encouragement. I hope to learn to trust the science of gemology and not so much my visual perception. However, I am afraid of the vision side. I will need to learn much more about testing of stones!
BTW, I started looking through your free online gemology course. It has provided me with more concise and pertinent information that I have found yet. And, it is so wonderfully organized!
Joined: Sun Feb 03, 2008 8:39 pm Posts: 7 Location: San Antonio, Texas
One other question...do you think I will have more trouble discerning colored stones or diamonds. It seems that the diamonds may be more difficult, espcially in the D-F ranges. Any thoughts on this?
Joined: Sat Aug 11, 2007 8:37 pm Posts: 60 Location: Las Vegas
Being colored blind wont be a problem for diamonds because you are grading tone and saturation not the hue. Someone told me the best color grader for diamonds he knew was color blind.
Joined: Sun Feb 03, 2008 8:39 pm Posts: 7 Location: San Antonio, Texas
Loving the encouaging words! I was terrified that I would not be able to become a gemologist because of my colorvision, or lack there of. I cannot tell you guys how much I appreciate the feedback. I just knew my dreams of a GG were shattered!
Loving the encouaging words! I was terrified that I would not be able to become a gemologist because of my colorvision, or lack there of. I cannot tell you guys how much I appreciate the feedback. I just knew my dreams of a GG were shattered!
THANKS SO MUCH
Hi everyone, a brand new newbie here. I don't mean to bump up an old thread, but I am in the same exact shoes as JeweledWhiskers were a few years ago.
Color vision had already ended my 5 year pursuit of another career. Just like JeweledWhiskers, I don't want to hit a dead end on a possible career that I'm currently pursuing too.
I too have color deficiency, and just yesterday I realized how important it is being able to identify colors of gems. I'm abroad right now, and none of the jewelry educational institutions accept students with color impairment for their version of the Graduated Gemologist. I'm registered for an upcoming GG class at GIA, but I want to make up my mind on whether I should take the class or not.
I would say my color impairment is level is a little worse than the median level. I can see the darker shades or red and green just fine, but colors like purple, brown, and sometimes lighter shades of pink, and grey gets confusing to me.
Now, my question is: if I were to go thru with the GG course, will I be able to fill in the position as a buyer for my employer? Can I still identify and grade gems on my own?
Can gem type and quality be determined even if the color can’t be determined?
Are there any other people with color impairment that has gone through the GG course? Are you still in the jewelry industry?
Thank you for reading through the post, any feedback or PM will be appreciated!
Post subject: Re: New GIA student - learned I'm colorblind!
Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2014 12:44 am
Gemology Online Veteran
Joined: Sat Jul 14, 2012 5:11 pm Posts: 657
Hi Jerry, have you asked your employer how they feel about your colour imparment? I have worked in 2 careers where colour vision was considered essential, and failure to pass the Ishihara test, ment cancellation of my certification. Neither of these paths was gemology, but if I personally needed to employ a person to either I.D, or buy/sell gems, they would need to have full colour vision. Barry.
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