Spinel or Tourmaline and Palladium Wedding Ring on a Budget

[Cupcake_Panda]

Re: Spinel or Tourmaline and Palladium Wedding Ring on a Bud

awww thanks, ilovegemstones

Chrono - thank you for the assessment!

pinkjewel - thank you for celebrating with me! I can't wait!!!

 

[onidracs]

Re: Spinel or Tourmaline and Palladium Wedding Ring on a Bud

Beautiful ring. I am currently working with a designer from the same company. They do beautiful work. My quote for having my personal stone set by them was much higher. Twice as much $400 to set a .7 carat princess stone. Seeing beautiful work like your piece gives me confidence in there work but I feel the price you were given to set your stone was a fair price but twice the amount as I was told seems excessive. Looking forward to seeing your finished piece.

 

[Cupcake_Panda]

Re: Spinel or Tourmaline and Palladium Wedding Ring on a Bud

Hi onidracs!

Thank you for the compliments I can't wait to post pictures of the finished ring!!!

I'm sorry you feel the cost for setting your stone seems excessive I can't really speak to that as this project is my first expensive piece of jewelry. I will, however, say that per their website:

"Can I use my own stones in a custom piece? Will you set my Stone?
Yes! As long as your stones are in good condition, they can be reset into a new piece. Contact us for Stone setting fees, as they vary with the value, difficulty and durability of the stone."

So even though your stone is a smaller carat weight than mine, maybe yours is more valuable, more difficult to set, and/or less durable, so that they are assuming more risk should something (goodness forbid) happen to your gem during the setting process?

Perhaps someone else with more experience can speak to this?

 

[onidracs]

Re: Spinel or Tourmaline and Palladium Wedding Ring on a Bud

This is my first piece as well. It is a diamond vvs1 so I know it's durable. I do know the corners on a princess cut have some risk of chipping. It most likely won't discourage me from having them create my piece. They do beautiful work. This forum has been helpful and so far most have said the fee I was quoted was extremely high. The designer I'm working with is wonderful and with the one exception I have bee hath with Green Lake so far.

 

[FrekeChild]

Re: Spinel or Tourmaline and Palladium Wedding Ring on a Bud

It's probably the corners that elevated the price. I don't deal with stones that have pointy corners (I tend to stick to stones with rounded edges), but they are at a significant risk for chipping while being set. I think that's an excessive fee as well, but colored stones aren't princess cut, so I have no idea.

 

[chrono]

Re: Spinel or Tourmaline and Palladium Wedding Ring on a Bud

I suspected it was Green Lake based on your other post in RT. Princess cuts are notorious for getting chipped corners during the setting process and even after being set (regardless of super high clarity), hence the unusually high setting fee. I still stand by my opinion that $400 is too much, $200 not so for a Princess cut setting fee, $100 for all other shapes.

 

[Cupcake_Panda]

Re: Spinel or Tourmaline and Palladium Wedding Ring on a Bud

Chrono and Freke, thank you so much for chiming in with your expertise

I have a significant UPDATE:

The color scheme has changed! Apparently the flower part needs to be cast in two pieces (upper and lower petals) then soldered together. This is the only way to set stones in the lower petals. Therefore, for heat reasons, topaz can't be used, and neither can blue diamond.

Krista did not know about the two-piece casting before yesterday, when one of Green Lake's smiths brought it to her attention. In the same communication she explained the problem clearly and succinctly and offered me options - namely sapphire and ruby.

Today she posted pictures of my spinel with medium/dark blue sapphire, light blue sapphire, and purple sapphire. Ethan and I decided we liked the purple best, and are continuing to move forward after our little hiccup. I think we both like the purple even more than the topaz blue --- so what was perhaps a problem is actually a blessing in disguise. We get stronger colors and harder stones

The photos are of the medium/dark blue and the purple, as we did not like the greyish tone to the light blue sapphires. What do y'all think?

 

[velouriaL]

Re: Spinel or Tourmaline and Palladium Wedding Ring on a Bud

The purple looks gorgeous! I agree, even better!

This is my opinion, but this is truly a blessing in disguise. I wouldn't want a relatively unsturdy stone like topaz in melee, and I wouldn't want heavily treated/irradiated diamonds in my e-ring. I think sapphires makes it more of a fine, heirloom piece. Again, just my opinion!

 

[InToTheMystic]

Re: Spinel or Tourmaline and Palladium Wedding Ring on a Bud

Love the purple sapphires! This will look great.

 

[pregcurious]

Re: Spinel or Tourmaline and Palladium Wedding Ring on a Bud

The purple looks gorgeous! I agree, even better!

This is my opinion, but this is truly a blessing in disguise. I wouldn't want a relatively unsturdy stone like topaz in melee, and I wouldn't want heavily treated/irradiated diamonds in my e-ring. I think sapphires makes it more of a fine, heirloom piece. Again, just my opinion!

Agree.

 

[FrekeChild]

Re: Spinel or Tourmaline and Palladium Wedding Ring on a Bud

I think they look great! So does that mean the petals are going to all be purple or will you have any blue at all now?

 

[FireMonkey]

Re: Spinel or Tourmaline and Palladium Wedding Ring on a Bud

Those sapphires are such a wonderful shade of purple; I think this ring is getting more gorgeous all the time. Excellent choice, IMO!

 

[Cupcake_Panda]

Re: Spinel or Tourmaline and Palladium Wedding Ring on a Bud

velouriaL, InToTheMystic, and pregcurious --- Yes! We are excited about the change, which can only be better for us, especially in the long run. I had resigned myself to occasionally replacing the topaz to keep the cost lower on the front end. The diamonds were never really an option for cost, color, and frankly disinterest on my part. When the issue arose, Krista said our choices were ruby, white (or is it called colorless?) diamond, or sapphire. Since the spinel is reddish pink, I didn't want to put it right next to ruby in case they fought or took away from each other. The purple sapphire and the spinel compliment and enhance each other

Freke --- The petals will be all purple now, so we've lost the blue, but honestly it does not bother me as much as the initial changes away from my very first vision. I feel like even with this unexpected change I'm making something better and more reflective of me/us. Purple is the Betrothed's favorite color. Plus, even when I have to dye my hair back to brown from it's currently gloriously violet state for post-grad school job interviews, I'll still get to carry some purple around with me always Krista did say it would be very difficult to find 18 matching purple sapphires and asked if I would mind slight differences in color. I told her I didn't mind as long as the color was consistent within each petal (which is only three stones, so hopefully that's not outlandishly difficult), and if there were darker groups that they be in the bottom tier of petals. That way any color variance looks intentional.

FireMonkey --- thank you for the cheers! This forum is filled with such lovely and encouraging people!!!

edited to capitalize the "M" in FireMonkey's name. Sorry for the initial mistake!

 

[chrono]

Re: Spinel or Tourmaline and Palladium Wedding Ring on a Bud

Are you going with purple now? Sorry for my confusion because I was going to suggest lighter blue sapphires. The colours are all in the medium dark range and having something in the light tone range will create an interesting contrast to the eye. If purple, I would also go with a lighter purple (think Rose de France colour).

 

[Cupcake_Panda]

Re: Spinel or Tourmaline and Palladium Wedding Ring on a Bud

Hi Chrono!

Thank you so much for commenting and providing constructive feedback I looked up the gem usages for these terms, so I am trying to be careful and correct with my language...

I agree that all of the stones seem to be in the same tone, which was my initial concern for exactly your reasoning. I was afraid it would either look flat or they would look like they were fighting --- color blocking gone wild To that end, I think the dark blue sapphire looks flat, and I was worried the purple would fight. However, and I know this is subjective, I think the purple looks great! It flashes lighter for some visual interest, but is still really saturated.

The light blue sapphire seems, again I know this can be subjective/eye of the beholder to an extent, gray. I attached two photos. The first shows the topaz, which to my uneducated eyes were light in tone but saturated. The second photo shows the sapphire colors. The light blue are lighter in tone, but I see gray in a big way with them. I want this ring to be juicy, and those look freeze dried.

Finally, even with you reservations, which I did/do share intellectually, the pink, purple, green color combination makes my heart sing! So I'm going with it!

Krista thought she might not be able to find 18 purfectly matching purples. I told her that I wouldn't mind darker purples on the lower petals and lighter purples on the top, so that may alleviate both our concerns about visual interest --- we shall see, hopefully tomorrow or Wednesday!

 

[chrono]

Re: Spinel or Tourmaline and Palladium Wedding Ring on a Bud

Based solely on the pictures above this reply, the blue topaz looks both light in tone and saturation and the same goes for the blue sapphires on the right (3 different trays). I like the idea of 2 different sets of purples, with the lighter on the upper petals for contrast. Are the purples sapphires too?

Light purple but not overly gray. It's a very happy pleasant purple. I haven't seen the Green Lake melees firsthand but you have, so you are in a better position to make the comparison.
[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/im-seeing-purple-photos-from-wink-of-my-purple-sapphire-halo-setting.128291/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/im-seeing-purple-photos-from-wink-of-my-purple-sapphire-halo-setting.128291/[/URL]

 

[Cupcake_Panda]

Re: Spinel or Tourmaline and Palladium Wedding Ring on a Bud

Oh wow that light purple is divine!!! The purples are sapphires. I'm not sure Green Lake has super light purples like Lula's... I got the impression from Krista that they would be on the light side of medium, rather than truly light. But I can certainly ask!

And oh bother, , I cannot seem to get the color terminology correct with what I think I'm seeing! Thank you for the correction.

 

[chrono]

Re: Spinel or Tourmaline and Palladium Wedding Ring on a Bud

The easiest thing to do is show GL the pictures; no need to worry whether you are using the right colour descriptor.

 

[onidracs]

Re: Spinel or Tourmaline and Palladium Wedding Ring on a Bud

I really like the purple.

 

[swissmiss]

Re: Spinel or Tourmaline and Palladium Wedding Ring on a Bud

Can't wait for the final ring! It's going to be spectacular!

 

[Cupcake_Panda]

Re: Spinel or Tourmaline and Palladium Wedding Ring on a Bud

UPDATE: IT'S DONE AND IT'S HERE!!!!

First teaser photos from Green Lake:

 

[Cupcake_Panda]

Re: Spinel or Tourmaline and Palladium Wedding Ring on a Bud

Opening the box:

(Of note: It shipped in a very plain UPS box, about the size of a ream of paper from "Green Lake J Works," which I thought was wonderfully discrete for cross-country valuables!)

 

[indigoblue]

Re: Spinel or Tourmaline and Palladium Wedding Ring on a Bud

It's lovely! Now we need hand shots.

 

[Cupcake_Panda]

Re: Spinel or Tourmaline and Palladium Wedding Ring on a Bud

The Betrothed is at work today, and he's the one that knows how to work the fancy camera, so I went around to all the different types of lighting we have and dilligently took my handshots for everyone on my phone. Now I can't get them off my phone! So far I've tried bluetooth and email. Going to try Skydrive now...

 

[Cupcake_Panda]

Re: Spinel or Tourmaline and Palladium Wedding Ring on a Bud

HANDSHOTS:

The spinel looks like it has the half-and-half perma-dark on the top half in several photos, but it definitely doesn't look that way in person.

Under the energy efficient coil light bulbs:



Traditional globe bulb lamp (shaped like a rotary phone):







Tube bulb in kitchen:



Tube bulb with phone camera flash to catch the sparkles:





Outside on covered porch (indirect sun):

 

[FrekeChild]

Re: Spinel or Tourmaline and Palladium Wedding Ring on a Bud

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It looks fantastic! Are you going to pair it with a wedding band?

 

[Niel]

Re: Spinel or Tourmaline and Palladium Wedding Ring on a Bud

Turned out perfectly!

 

[MelodySaw]

Re: Spinel or Tourmaline and Palladium Wedding Ring on a Bud

Congrats!!!!,
Beautiful. I want to copy it.

 

[Cupcake_Panda]

Re: Spinel or Tourmaline and Palladium Wedding Ring on a Bud

Thank you, Freke, Niel, and Melody Saw

I could not be happier with it. I started crying as soon as we opened it, and the Betrothed was so taken with it that he re-proposed on the spot. It is perfect in every way!

Freke --- yes, I do want to pair it with a wedding ring. I know I said earlier in the thread that I wasn't a fan of rose gold, but that has changed. I came across these simple twist bands that intertwine white and rose gold wires. I love the idea of a band I could pretty much never take off. Eventually I'd love a stylized half or 3/4 eternity in rose gold with purple sapphires and/or pink ones if I could find some the right color to compliment the spinel.

But first, I have to get the Betrothed to settle on a ring He has decided he might like some little sparklies as well, so his ring may end up being a bit more than our initial budget.

 

[Acinom]

Re: Spinel or Tourmaline and Palladium Wedding Ring on a Bud

Yay!!! It's ready and it's absolutely stunning. What a beautiful ring. The colors are amazing together and I love the feminine floral design.