New girl on the block...here are my before pics

[sjz]

I have lots of pictures to show. Disregard the GINORMOUS hands! They look huge in these pictures. I actually have fairly normal, even smallish hands. My ring size is a 6. Here is a shot of my 4.2 carat cluster. This is the one that I''m having dismantled and made into other rings. The center stone is just over .5 carat. The remaining 18 stones are approx. .2 carats each. The mounting is in white gold.

 

[sjz]

Another shot of cluster ring

 

[sjz]

This one is my solitare. I got it over 10 years ago. It is a .75 carat H color vvs1. That''s about all I know about it. It''s a very pretty ring that sparkles and faces up very well. I am getting this one reset in a 14K yellow gold tulip mounting with platinum prong work.

 

[sjz]

The next few will be hand shots. Again, don''t mind the unmanicured huge looking hands. I''m a musician, so long fingernails don''t work for me...lol! The first is my solitaire in the ring guard I got with it. The ring guard is approximately .25 carats.

 

[sjz]

This picture is my solitaire with a .5 carat anniversary band. This is what I wear the solitaire with most often.

 

[sjz]

My grandmother''s antique ring guard with my solitaire.

 

[sjz]

Hand shot of cluster.

 

[sjz]

Hand shot of solitaire.

 

[sjz]

hand shot with my ring guard

 

[sjz]

hand shot with anniversary band

 

[sjz]

My right hand ring. It is a one carat cluster style consisting of three separate clusters on a 14K gold band.

 

[sjz]

My beautiful bengal kitty...sorry I couldn''t resist...LOL!

 

[sevens one]

Thanks for sharing all your rings with us. They are lovely.
Your hands do not look big at all.

 

[sjz]

Sorry I posted so many pictures. Thanks in advance to all who were patient enough to look at them! I will post "after" pictures of my NEW baubles in a few weeks.

 

[ForteKitty]

What a BEAUTIFUL kitty! And your rings are nice too... can''t wait to see them! You must be tearing your hair out!

 

[belle]

thanks for sharing all of your before pics!!
i''m curious, you said you are a musician, what do you play?

 

[rms]

all your pics are beautiful. It''s great to have such versatility in your collection!

 

[denverkat]

There is no such thing as too many pictures- thanks for sharing with us! How fun to have so many stones to work with- can''t wait to see pictures of the redesigned stuff!

 

[dietvanillacoke]

i loooooooove before and after pictures...

your before rings are beautiful, can''t wait to see the afters!! how long have you had these rings, that you''re re-setting them?

i especially can''t wait to see the rings the cluster ring produces... that''s ALOTTA Diamonds!!!! plus i can''t wait to see teh tulip setting.. i loooooove those. if i weren''t so clumsy (i have numerous scars all over my hands from bumping them and hurting them) i''d get something that elegantly set. i so dislike the way my plain basket setting looks from the side.

 

[sjz]

I play the soprano sax. I also play keyboards (8 years of piano lessons as a kid

) Oh, and I also pick around on acoustic guitar, but I''ve never mastered it over the years (small hands).

 

[sjz]

The versatility factor is the reason I'm keeping my solitaire in a fairly simple setting. I love being able to wear my diamond with either of the ring guards or the band rings. I also have a celtic wedding band-style ring with bezel set emeralds that I sometimes wear. And believe it or not, sometimes I even wear my solitaire with a sterling silver 10mm wide handcrafted engraved band. I get loads of compliments on that one. So many of my friends have had their solitaires soddered to their bands or guards. I never wanted to do that, because I like to change the look of my jewelry depending on my moods and the occasion.


Oh, as far as how long I've had the rings...the solitaire and ring guard for over 10 years. I inherited the huge cluster about 5 or 6 years ago from my mother-in-law. The antique ring guard belonged to my grandmother who passed away 5 years ago. The channel set band I've had for about 8 years, and the cluster band since October 2004.

 

[sjz]

I''m not a very patient person when I make up my mind to do something. It is going to be a long wait! Maybe I better shop for a wig, with all that hair tearing I''ll be doing.

 

[sjz]

I''m excited to see the rings from that cluster, too. I got a pleasant surprise when I picked my ring up from the jeweler yesterday. I had originally thought the center stone was between .25 and .3 carat. The jeweler said it was a .5 carat stone. I may have that one set alone in a ring since it''s not as small as I thought. I''m not using all of the stones right away, just having two one carat 5 stone band rings. One in yellow gold and one in white. I''m also considering a cluster ring and a pendant. I love jewelry.

 

[Bagpuss]

Date: 1/21/2005 1:35:22 PM
Author: sjz
I''m excited to see the rings from that cluster, too. I got a pleasant surprise when I picked my ring up from the jeweler yesterday. I had originally thought the center stone was between .25 and .3 carat. The jeweler said it was a .5 carat stone. I may have that one set alone in a ring since it''s not as small as I thought. I''m not using all of the stones right away, just having two one carat 5 stone band rings. One in yellow gold and one in white. I''m also considering a cluster ring and a pendant. I love jewelry.

Me too!

That cluster was an excellent inheritance since it means you can get lots of other jewellery pieces from it. The two 1ct band rings sound like a great idea. Maybe you could turn the half carat stone into a pendant - that''s a nice size for a pendant. You could even use some of the smaller stones around, it if you like a lot of bling.

How many 20 pointers would that leave you?

 

[sjz]

There are 18 20 point diamonds on the ring. The band rings are using five stones each, so that leaves 8 diamonds plus the 1/2 carat center stone. I''m still debating on a cluster ring. It might look nice with the 1/2 carat in the center and maybe 5 or 7 stones around it. That would still leave one to three stones. I suppose I could make a cluster with 5 of the 20 point stones and use the remaining three for a 3 stone pendant, or a pair of earrings. I probably won''t make up my mind until after I get the band rings. I''m about to go crazy waiting for the mountings to come in. The jeweler told me that once the mountings come in, he will probably need only one day to set the stones. I''m glad he has a quick turn around time...I don''t think I would like to leave my diamonds with anyone much longer than a day!

 

[Patty]

I can''t wait to see the pictures of your two new rings, sjz. How nice to have one in yellow gold and one in white!

 

[Jennifer5973]

Gorgeous rings! I love how your ering is so versatile in your collection.

Can''t wait to see the new stuff!