Something else I have decided to do is retexture all my jewelry and do several other improvements to it. Everything's getting new metal textures, and cabochons (and other round things) will now be spheres, not cylinders. Most faceted gemstones are getting new textures, too -- the only ones I might not change are those with both round and square gemstones, because getting the old round and square textures to match was the biggest pain in the butt ever*, and I've got enough to do right now. But everything else is getting an overhaul.

Here's a visual comparison. The old gem and metal textures:


The new ones:


I've used low shininess on the new metal, too. Unshiny metal looks too static to me, while shininess makes textures look bad; I've tried to strike a balance between the two, using just enough shiny to make the metal react to its surroundings while not so much that the texture is totally overpowered.


* Excluding, of course, Blender.