Contrast between center stone and smaller diamonds

[diamond_quester]

Problem: Small round diamonds in wedding bands makes my solitaire stone look dark. How to find a better match?

I wanted to get a diamond wedding band (full or semi-eternity with rounds) to go with my solitaire, following in the footsteps of many others on PS. I think this shape would match my Flanders (square) solitaire just fine. However, my solitaire looks so dark next to the bands. Under store lighting, the bands flash white and my solitaire shows more fire and light/dark contrast. I came across the same phenomenon earlier when trying on different center stones in semi-mounts, but the contrast isn''t as bad when all the diamonds are RB''s. Is this a common situation and why does this happen?

What type of diamond band would reduce this problem? Maybe one with more fiery stones? The ones I tried on already were excellent quality (Memoire and the like). Another alternative is to make a band with small Flanders diamonds. I''ve seen 10-pointers and they match my center well in type/extent of brilliance. The drawbacks are the much higher cost, plus a band of 10-pointers could overwhelm my 1ct solitaire (actually 0.99

). 10 points is the smallest size that Flanders come in. Maybe it is demanding too much to expect the diamonds to "match" in this sense?

 

[KristyDarling]

I don''t have any advice but just wanted to say that I think this might be a normal phenomenon. I''ve noticed it whenever I wear my 7-stone band (10 pointers) with my solitaire. I think that small diamonds in bands will almost always look whiter than your center stone no matter what -- I''m sure there is a physics-based explanation for it, but that''s beyond my scope.

 

[srgraves]

I''m concerned about this too. I plan on buying a Signed Pieces half eternity band to mount my 1ct solitare on and I worry that the flashy F-G diamonds will look whiter than my center stone. Does anyone else have any input on the, "Small round diamonds in wedding bands makes my solitaire stone look dark."

Thanks,
Scott

 

[jewelryjunkie]

Certain types of light make my solitaire look dark compared to my Signed pieces eternity band. I just figured that it had to do with the size of the stones and the physics of light. But I''ve always wondered why certain lights make my solitaire seem dark and firey and other lights make it bright and sparkly.

 

[headlight]

I actually have this same phenominon with my center stone in certain lighting as compared to the side trills -- the center will look really dark and fiery, but the trills are still "lighter" and brighter. I figured it was because the depth on my 3.29 center is so much greater than that of the trills which are shallow-cut stones -- all their carat weight is basically in the table. So, I would imagine what you all are experiencing w/ your eternity bands vs. your center stone/solitaires is the same thing: The center stones/solitaires are quite a bit larger in comparison to the stones used to make up the eternity bands so there is quite a bit of different in the depths between the two.
Just a thought...!