Chrysoberyl ring help

[packrat]

Do you guys cringe when you see a thread of me asking for help for the hundredth time?

Michael''s got the chrysoberyl rough and was hopefully going to start cutting soon. He thinks it may end up being bigger than what I''d planned, which was 7x5. He''s thinking it might be around 8x6. He''s not for sure, obviously, until he gets in there, but just in case, he''s wondering if he should get the biggest stone he can from the rough. I know it''s possibly only 1mm each direction bigger, but is that going to be too big? I don''t want it to look costume-ish. If it was a solitaire I wouldn''t care but with the side stones..

The sides I''d thought to do 5x3.5''s, so if the center ended up bigger, would the sides look out of proportion? If they''re too much smaller than the center, the rails seem like they would have to curve down too sharply, I don''t think I''d like that. I like the proportions of the stones and the rails in the picture-even tho my version is a bit whackadoo.

So then my other question..will white zircon sides out perform the chryso center? I want the yellow to be the center of attention but I do want the whole piece to flow together and not compete against itself if that makes any sense. I''ve never seen zircon or topaz IRL before. I did see some white topaz on Bespoke''s website and I thought they were pretty. Michael said the zircon would look better. I did read that chryso and zircon are both doubly refractive, if that has any bearing on it, I just thought it was interesting b/c I didn''t know that. All 3 stones will be supernovas.

Thanks for you help! Again.

 

[Kismet]

If it helps any, my demantoid is about 8x6 and the sides are 4x3.

 

[D&T]

Packy- I love the chrysoberyl idea, however I think it might be too large with all three stones combine though especially if you are wanting to set E/W since I think you mentioned your ring size was no more than 4.75? is that correct. Do you have any other options, any other design idea?

 

[packrat]

Thanks Kismet-I''ll go browsing for your ring again!

D&T-this will go on my middle finger, so it''s for a bigger finger. I was going to put it on my right ring finger, but I think I''ll do another solitaire project for that one

..my middle finger is about a 6 give or take depending on how hot it is and my extra pounds.

The 3 stone I have now has a 6mm and two 5mm''s and is a 4.25. So that''s 16mm of stones. Would a size 6 w/17mm to 20mm of stones be ok, going by that? Or am I not coming at this the right way? I don''t want them to touch my other fingers but do want nice presence on my finger. When I flip people off I''d like them to take notice of my ring...hahahaha kidding.

 

[chrono]

I don''t think 8x6 mm will be too big if your sides stones stay small enough and if you feel confident enough to pull off a flashy ring.

 

[Kismet]

Here''s a fairly decent handshot. The ring is size 7.25 and is slightly big on my left hand.

 

[packrat]

Thanks Chrono..I think I''d want the sides to be not too much smaller than the center-just a couple mm''s, so I''d end up wanting to increase the sides to like 6x4''s or something.

Thanks for the picture Kismet-I so love your ring! How high does yours sit off your finger?

I dug out my opal which happens to be 8x6, and the 2 ovals I got from Dana which are 6x4''s and played with them, lining them up and messing around. The ring would be 5-7mm off my finger, and obviously not in a straight line, but curved..so I *think* I could get away with it..but if I were to ever lose the baby weight (that I''ve apparently grown so fond of over the last 6 years) and had to have the ring sized down, I think it might not look so good.

I don''t know..I''ve got a 3 stone ring to play with that D&T sent me a while back, and the stones are a 7 and two 6''s. I can''t fit it on my middle finger but it does fit my ring finger, and the 19mm''s of ring looks fine. Doesn''t touch the other fingers or anything. Sits about 6mm off my finger.

You know what someone should make? A site that has a hand that you could customize the ring size, and add different sizes and shapes of stones. And some settings so you could see what they look like on the hand. Interior paint brands let you "paint" rooms with just a click-how fun would it be to design your jewelry w/just a click eh??

 

[Kismet]

It''s sits fairly low. When I first asked him about making a ring for me he wasn''t sure he could do it with a regular stone as the original was done with a rose cut diamond and cabs and thus had no bellies to speak of.

 

[ma re]

First to answer your question, I don''t cringe, but honestly, I''m starting to see the funny side of things

I think you''re on the right track, as you''re starting to think about things such as proportions and the shape of the whole ring, as well as the line of the curves, which is all really important for the overall look and feel of this ring. The fact that the design is simple makes these "details" all the more important. The best idea/advice I can think of is that you go window shopping a bit more and try to find any kind of a side stone ring with an oval center and just try them on. If you see that some of them look weird on your hand, check the dimensions of the stones and you''ll hopefully figure out what''s too small or too large. I agree that drastically changing the dimensions of (side) stones could alter the look of this design too much.

Oh, I don''t think zircons will outperform a chryso because of some of their properties. When you said that you saw they''re all doubly refractive, you were absolutely right. But birefringence (or the degree to which double refractivity is obvious) in zircon is much, much more prominent than in chrysoberyl, so even if all would be precision cut, zircons would probably seem a bit less sparkly. Not to mention that white zircons are not famous for being overly brilliant - if they''d be any (other) color I''d be more concerned about this issue. White ones simply don''t show enough sharpness in their brilliance due to lower contrast of facets and their reflections - especially if you''d compare it to that seen in white diamonds. Also, chryso will be larger and that''s an important factor in all this.

Good luck!

P. S. I agree with your idea of a paint-click/ring design website, it''d be very useful. I''ve seen some where you could "stick" a jewellery item onto a photo of a model, but it was only for necklaces, and only those from the vendor''s stock.

 

[packrat]

Hmph-I''m glad I can provide some fun into Ma Re''s day hahahaha! You can always count on me for some neurotic pulling at my hair chewing my fingernails humor.

I have a notebook of hand tracings with rings drawn on and arrows all over pointing at things, ideas doodled in the margins and the names of PS''ers with rings I need to research for inspiration.

I went to our jewelry store this afternoon. The only 3 stone rings they had were small diamond ones. She did find an 8x6 e/w oval solitaire (super bright hot pink even, and it had a really pretty cross over white and yellow shank) but no loose stones to pretend for side stones, and no other rings to use as side stones. She looked at me like I was insane when I told her what I was trying to figure out. She said it would have to sit way too far off my finger, and gave me the crinkled nose face again.

Maybe I''m just being anal over nothing-for all I know the rough might not end up cutting a stone that big..Michael said "maybe as large as 8x6".

Maybe it''s time to do another hand tracing and measure out the ovals onto my finger that way.