Brilliant center with step cut halo?

[decodelighted]

Date: 3/10/2010 5:12:31 PM
Author: stepcutgirl
Deco-You are quickly becoming one of my fav ps posters. You give me the info and opinion I am in search of. Once I got that email today I was so confused from all the step cut info that I wasn''t sure this would work either! I''m very happy to hear you think it would. Now..if only it comes back in my price range...but i don''t really see how it can.

Aw thanks Stepcutgirl. Some folks like their "skinny" straight & some prefer it sugared up a bit. Did you see the french cut band posted today? It was so helpful to see it from many angles. I can only compare it to my own channel set baguettes but it seemed so much more consistent and livelier. Sending Discount Dust your way ....

 

[Gypsy]

I think french cuts are a good idea. But what I would do is call Leon and ask him what he would suggest. Tell him you want a halo of white diamonds, but not rounds. You never know!

Here is a plain shank halo by Leon. http://www.artofplatinum.com/4images/details.php?image_id=550

I also wanted to chime in and say that if you do go for a plain shanked halo similar to mine, I really love this halo. I like the tiny ring of metal around the center plus the tiny prongs, and the way the melee are set. I think this would look stunning with a plain shank. The style name is Sarah, btw.

 

[stepcutgirl]

Thank you Indy and Deco for the discount dust!

Deco-I did see it and I

it!

Gypsy...I love that ring...the all over pave is more than what I might want but the style of pave and the look is amazing!


I asked BGD for a quote on my french cut ring idea...Lesley let me know she got my pictures but never sent a quote or responded back to me even after I sent her an email to make sure they had everything they needed from me for a quote.

ETA-I did contact Leon...he came back with a 9k quote!

 

[Gypsy]

9K. Yeah, that sounds about right. I'll tell you something, my personal opinon on settings like that by Leon is that he doesn't like doing them, so he qoutes high. I think most of the qoutes you are going to get are going to be high... but I think Leon pads step cut halo prices by a couple of thousand to make sure that either he is well compensated for the pain in the neck they are... or that people just forget about it. You need someone with custom diamond cutting ability. The reason those are so freaking pricey is that all the little diamonds have to be individually calibrated and cut to fit together like a puzzle. Complete and utter time sucker-- so LOTS of labor, and hence MONEY.

If you want to give BGS another shot, give Lesley a call. She's usually available via phone. I don't think she sleeps.

I like the Sarah (one I posted above) too, and I think it would adapt well to a plain shank instead of a pave shank.

ETA: I was just on the BGD site, apparently they had some issue with computers and were down for a while and some emails didn't get through.

 

[stepcutgirl]

I really like that Sarah one, i will keep it in mind if the frenchies end as I suspect they will with the vendor I''m talking to.

I saw the announcement about BGD with the email thing. I sent her pics and follow up emails last week. I tend to think one of two things either they are so busy that she just forgot or I have asked for so many quotes that they are sick of me! If I know the french cut route is a no go then I will call.

 

[stepcutgirl]

Gypsy-I saw the Sarah on BGD website...but did someone on here have that made? I don''t recall seeing it on here.

 

[MakingTheGrade]

Ok, so I know nothing and have no experience with Halos.

Just wanted to say that I can''t wait to see your finished ring with your gorgeous blue sapphire!

I also loved the french cut Leon band posted today in SMTR

 

[PumpkinPie]

I had to say how much I LOVE your sapphire - it is the most perfect blue! I hope you find the perfect halo setting for it

 

[ma re]

Here's an idea that might make your options more realistic - setting the french cuts on their tips! So you have one tip of each of them pointing to the center stone, the other one pointing outwards and each is connected to the adjacent ones by a left and right tip. It would be like a contemporary version of a Princess Diana halo. Sure, you'd have some negative spaces (empty spaces) between them, but you can fill that out with some design element. That way you would have some kind of a halo, but you wouldn't need a specialty cut stones or setters experienced with unusual techniques. Might be worth a shot.

P. S. The above idea could also look good with asschers (if not even better than with frenchies because of clipped corners), but finding them so small would probably be tricky.

 

[stepcutgirl]

Thank you Maieve and MTG!

That''s a very interesting idea Ma re. I think that if the french cut thing doesn''t work out, I''m gonna go plain solitare or half point square halo with plain bands.

There is some good news. My Sholdt settings are at the jewelers waiting on me. So, at least I will know when I try them on tomorrow if I want a solitare or a halo for sure.

 

[packrat]

I hope you are able to get exactly what you want! Are you not doing the green around the blue now? I''m a bit out of the loop.

 

[stepcutgirl]

I was never doing green around blue! The original was a diamond center with green halo and I had it photoshopped for me into blue center diamond halo. Confusing, I know.

Thanks! I will get something I love, now if only I could figure out what that is...

 

[packrat]

haha oops-I''m more out of the loop than I thought eh?? Jeez-I think I even posted how cool I thought that would look in another thread of yours earlier..bwhaha just ignore me when I don''t know what I''m talking about SCG!

 

[stepcutgirl]

Date: 3/11/2010 4:56:51 PM
Author: packrat
haha oops-I''m more out of the loop than I thought eh?? Jeez-I think I even posted how cool I thought that would look in another thread of yours earlier..bwhaha just ignore me when I don''t know what I''m talking about SCG!

 

[stepcutgirl]

Um...ladies. I have some news...YOUR DUST WORKED! I got the quote back, it''s a little more than I wanted to spend on a setting...but it''s not completely out of the question expensive. So...is this a blessing or a curse?

I have talked with the bf about it and he just isn''t a halo man. At all. But the half point halos with the plain band like Gypsys he sorta almost likes because he says there isn''t so much going on that it looks too over the top. I can have whatever setting I like but I want him to like it to!

Would a half point french cut halo look ridiculous? Would it just look like little princess cuts? Yes, these are questions I should ask the vendor who gave me the quote. I will. I ust want input first. I''m going to see the Sholdt settings today and I don''t want to bombard the vendor with questions just to come home and say nevermind, I decided on no halo anyhow.

 

[ma re]

Date: 3/12/2010 10:29:15 AM
Author: stepcutgirl

Would a half point french cut halo look ridiculous? Would it just look like little princess cuts?

No, they would look more scintillating and much more lively than princess cuts of the same size, due to a more simple facet pattern. A princess cut fashioned so small would probably just look like a white dot, cause it would have way too many facets for that size.

 

[decodelighted]

Interesting! Well small princess cuts don''t look too bad really. I like them better than LARGER princess cuts

. I have a channel set cross with tiny princesses in there and its very sparkly & consistent looking. French cuts would probably look a little different - more antique, a bit more black/white chunkiness. A different *texture* of light if you will. But for some it would be a subtle difference between a princesses & frenchies ... people with a more experienced eye might notice it more.

Check out pictures of Tacori''s channel set princess wedding band & compare to the frenchie band from earlier this week. Maybe that will help you visualize. Maybe I can find a picture of my cross.

Can''t wait to see what you decide. Selfishly I''d love to see a frenchie halo executed (and so would all of PS probably

). But Sholdt rings are high on my faves list too so it doesn''t seem like you could go too wrong, yanno?

 

[stepcutgirl]

Thanks Ma re and Deco.

I did go find Tacori''s wband. To me it looks quite similar to pancakes frenchie band. And those are blown up pictures!

 

[Dreamer_D]

Gypsy That halo is killing me! Totally perfect in every way! I love the little bezel of gold around the diamond. Delishious.