Advice! Custom Ring, Fancy Blue vs Light Fancy Blue

[starrylight]

I'm glad you didn't get too offended, I hope, about our opinions. It's also great to hear the inspiration behind a piece since we know nothing about either of you other than that she wants something unique. Now that I've heard the thought process, I think my options were too swirly and/or floral.

In my personal opinion, the best way to approach this:

A rock between two trees

Is to have a wooden engraving like the one on the men's band:

on the sides or shanks of the ring and maybe add a couple accent side stones.

In terms of the original design, I believe it was inspired by this:


I think this design actually works well. Fairly delicate, but still unique. Part of the reason the design works for me is because the elongated emerald cut is gradually tapered down (see red line).

Compare this to yours:

The part I have circled in orange also just juts out instead of being part of a tree. I was confused by it until I saw the inspiration.

Personally I think you should reach out to the original designer and see if he will work with your stone.

 

[chrono]

Starrylight,
The design makes a lot more sense now that you pointed out the original inspiration picture. Your comments are also spot on as to why the CAD looks awkward and draws the eye away from the centre stone instead of to it.

 

[tyty333]

Good find Starrylight...if that was the inspiration, I wish he would have posted it. I find it much more pleasing.
I do think he should go back to the original designer. Your comments about the shape leading yo to the main
stone are spot on. I feel like this design still needs lots of work.

Edit - as far as help I think you need to get rid of the north branch on the left side and the corresponding south branch
on the right side. How big are the blue diamonds suppose to be? The ones in the inspiration ring look small like a few
pointers. Yours look like they are bigger to me. Smooth out the kinks in the shank. I would start with those changes
to see if it helped refined the look.

I am worried that your branches are going to look more like this ring instead of the delicate inspiration ring (that's why we have
suggested you go to the original designer of that ring) .


http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://image.dhgate.com/albu_352321270_00/1.0x0.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.dhgate.com/product/new-exquisite-charming-branch-design-platinum/160263936.html&usg=___vokzgwIhEsFNPKLlyOfYYEBYpw=&h=750&w=750&hl=en&start=14&sig2=6S8S1lunTydTTEZXlqRMgw&zoom=1&tbnid=0dr6i4-KxYhgUM:&tbnh=141&tbnw=141&ei=gHN2U4qMOde2sAS6hoDQCQ&sa=X&ved=0CDgQrQMwDQ&ptbm=isch&q=ring+with+branch+design

 

[burgerparty]

I'm glad you didn't get too offended, I hope, about our opinions. It's also great to hear the inspiration behind a piece since we know nothing about either of you other than that she wants something unique. Now that I've heard the thought process, I think my options were too swirly and/or floral.

Thank you for your reply, I went into this expecting criticism, so I'm not surprised. Unfortunately using the designer of the ring that partially inspired mine is not possible, I have pushed 3 through about 3 designs that I was most interested in into the ring (which I know is part of my issue).

I do see what you mean though and I tend to agree, I really appreciate your constructive arguments here. I had the ring beefed up a bit to improve durability a tad. So in reality my goals are to maximize durability while pushing the ring into a design which is a bit more eloquent. Since I'm using a round stone I tried to remove some of the structure which lends itself so nicely to an emerald diamond, which is why the S curve was added . I'll speak more to this later since i won't be near a computer for the next few hours.

 

[burgerparty]

I am worried that your branches are going to look more like this ring instead of the delicate inspiration ring (that's why we have
suggested you go to the original designer of that ring) .

Wow, yes, I definitely don't want them to look like that ring you have posted. I know they'll be brought down but I don't want the 'can' look.

 

[starrylight]

Can you post a couple of the design inspirations and say what you like about them? The posters on here are great and might be able to help.

I would still contact the Etsy maker, he states that "I have made lots of custom pieces ranging from engagement rings". Since your design is similar in framework, having the original CAD files and making changes to those would be far simpler than attempting to make them from scratch.

How about something like a split shank ie: but one of the two curving portions on each side is a branch?

Grr! Unique requests are so difficult when the recipient gives no indication of preference! It's hard to walk the line between something being "classic" (and thus wearable for the rest of her life) and unique.

 

[Magpie4426]

OP, would you consider using marquise stones instead of rounds for the sidetones? I think the leaf shape of the marquise speaks more to the branch/tree motive you are trying to create than the rounds do.

 

[GeorgeStevens]

The center stone of a ring should be the biggest and best and most expensive of the stones, surrounded by relatively cheap stones. A blue diamond costs anywhere from 10X to 50X a colorless diamond, so the blue must be the center stone. Using blue sidestones will make it obvious that they are not natural, and this will severely detract from the ring. There's a lot of really bad costume jewelry out there - don't spend good money making more of it.

As for lab-created fancies, buy a light color. Lab-created stones tend to be very high in saturation, so to make it look natural, go light. Avoid fancy vivid/intense/deep lab-created diamonds. And look for as-grown color rather than irradiated color.