Buying Moissanite from Tianyu Gems

[bludiva]

welp folks, help calm my nerves please.....after months of sitting on the fence i finally went for it a few days ago and am awaiting my CAD.

feeling weird about it right now b/c:
- price is higher than it was when i 1st inquired which sucks, we're in "real" jewelry dollar territory and i would have to resell for 900 to break even if it doesn't work out for whatever reason which seems like a lot for a moissy ring
- people have moved away from using tianyu but i think they are the only ones who can pull off the cuts i am requesting right now
- more looming trade spats between us / china could have implications on added fees...don't get me started on how useless this trade war is...
- i thought i'd get the CAD by now, the whole process is supposed to take ~ a month...getting antsy
- i didn't get too specific on measurements in my mockup b/c last time with another design it seemed to complicate things and i'm hoping we don't end up having to rescope or redo the cads multiple times
- my biggest worry is i get through the process and the result is just meh....if i don't love it and use it there's no point to having it....

it will be kind of like this but with a smaller center stone (9.5x7) in a crisscut/ashoka type of cut pattern

 

[mrs-h-]

Hi everyone, does anyone have this particular ring from Tianyu, it looks very much like A ring I’ve admired on here. What are Tianyus emerald cuts like? Thanks.

 

[swaye2010]

Hi everyone, does anyone have this particular ring from Tianyu, it looks very much like A ring I’ve admired on here. What are Tianyus emerald cuts like? Thanks.

I have a ring similar to the 2nd pic but the stone came from Starsgem.

 

[bbk0885]

Your inspiration is lovely. I’m sure they will do a great job with it. I’m not entirely sure why people are moving away from Tianyu except perhaps their pricing. However, for certain cuts I definitely do think they are the best (just like Starsgem is probably the best for others). I hate that the price went up since your first inquiry. :/ I would not be too alarmed by the timeframe, though, I think it depends on volume, and I know custom cuts take a bit longer, too. My project was slow starting also, but once it got into production, things went pretty quickly. Waiting sucks, though, no matter how you slice it. Really hope it will turn out amazing and give you a piece you will love for a long time. I am often surprised by what they pull off. This is all about the stones, and I do think that is their strength, so it should be good. Can’t wait to see it!

welp folks, help calm my nerves please.....after months of sitting on the fence i finally went for it a few days ago and am awaiting my CAD.

feeling weird about it right now b/c:
- price is higher than it was when i 1st inquired which sucks, we're in "real" jewelry dollar territory and i would have to resell for 900 to break even if it doesn't work out for whatever reason which seems like a lot for a moissy ring
- people have moved away from using tianyu but i think they are the only ones who can pull off the cuts i am requesting right now
- more looming trade spats between us / china could have implications on added fees...don't get me started on how useless this trade war is...
- i thought i'd get the CAD by now, the whole process is supposed to take ~ a month...getting antsy
- i didn't get too specific on measurements in my mockup b/c last time with another design it seemed to complicate things and i'm hoping we don't end up having to rescope or redo the cads multiple times
- my biggest worry is i get through the process and the result is just meh....if i don't love it and use it there's no point to having it....

it will be kind of like this but with a smaller center stone (9.5x7) in a crisscut/ashoka type of cut pattern

 

[mrs-h-]

I have a ring similar to the 2nd pic but the stone came from Starsgem.

Swaye, your EC ring and band are beautiful, I’m trying to decide between an ACC solitaire and an EC 3 stone similar to the 5 stone above, decisions decisions...

 

[swaye2010]

Swaye, your EC ring and band are beautiful, I’m trying to decide between an ACC solitaire and an EC 3 stone similar to the 5 stone above, decisions decisions...

The EC is very nice. It actually doesn’t photograph great but looks more white and less rainbowy (if that it a word) in person. I think either company cuts a nice EC. I prefer a little warmth but most people go colorless.

People have moved away a bit from Tianyu because they have really jacked the prices up. They are also not offering lab diamond pave, which is a huge bonus at a very little increase in cost. My only caution on the two rings you posted are that the bezel work looks very heavy. When stepcuts are bezeled, you get almost no sparkle. I would stick with the 3 stone over the 5 stone. I find that Tianyu makes their settings look a bit heavy or less organic than SG. It has something to do with their CAD program. I have no problem sharing my CAD, which was not done by them. If you want a truly beautiful setting, I would consider either a 3 stone that allows some light through or to buy the loose stones and have it made elsewhere. I don’t want to plug my stepson’s company but he did the ring and it might be worth checking on a price. He is still much cheaper than a US vendor but with high quality work.

The one thing I would change about the EC is to get a skinnier cut. I think that makes it look more diamond like and cuts out on some of the double refraction.

A note about the French cuts - I haven’t really seen too many rings, if any, from Tianyu with the French cut sides. I remember 2 years ago trying to teach SG how to cut them. The ring turned out nice but they can look very yellow next to a colorless center. The color changes again when it is put on the finger and the light is blocked where the holes are on the backside. I am only mentioning this because it gets difficult to match the side stones to the center because the French cuts change color on or off the finger. It is a weird quirk but worth a consideration.

 

[bludiva]

A note about the French cuts - I haven’t really seen too many rings, if any, from Tianyu with the French cut sides. I remember 2 years ago trying to teach SG how to cut them. The ring turned out nice but they can look very yellow next to a colorless center. The color changes again when it is put on the finger and the light is blocked where the holes are on the backside. I am only mentioning this because it gets difficult to match the side stones to the center because the French cuts change color on or off the finger. It is a weird quirk but worth a consideration.

that is really good point which hadn't occurred to me, i assumed the sides would be channel set and pick up the grey/steely look from the metal. i guess i'll have to clarify when the CADs show up....going to look through the beginning of this thread for photos of your ring!

 

[bludiva]

Your inspiration is lovely. I’m sure they will do a great job with it. I’m not entirely sure why people are moving away from Tianyu except perhaps their pricing. However, for certain cuts I definitely do think they are the best (just like Starsgem is probably the best for others). I hate that the price went up since your first inquiry. :/ I would not be too alarmed by the timeframe, though, I think it depends on volume, and I know custom cuts take a bit longer, too. My project was slow starting also, but once it got into production, things went pretty quickly. Waiting sucks, though, no matter how you slice it. Really hope it will turn out amazing and give you a piece you will love for a long time. I am often surprised by what they pull off. This is all about the stones, and I do think that is their strength, so it should be good. Can’t wait to see it!

crazy that i am so anxious about it but it was splurgy of me, the other design i was considering was ~1/2 the price. i think it is mostly the pricing plus popularity of starsgem's oec's that are eating into tianyu's popularity. the increase was less than 10% overall so it's not the end of the world but still annoying. an ok price to pay to not rush myself into a decision i guess.

that's the other fear, all the stones will be custom cut and i'm dependent on them to select good rough....fingers crossed!

 

[swaye2010]

I don’t think it ever made it over to PS because they didn’t even have a place to talk about moissanites back then. I am talking about later 2017 and we were talking about it over on weddingbee and playing around with the cuts with SG. I don’t have a ton pictures still since I have changed my phone but it was another bee’s ring. I wish I had saved more of the pictures but the French cuts went very yellow on the finger. I hate to cross post other people’s pictures but there is another French cut band that was done by Julia B with G/H stones and a center moissanite from Tianyu that was colorless. They seem to match ok but still look very yellow compared to the round she got. I don’t want to inject my opinion into all of this but just adding my 2 cents for consideration. It sounds like you are spending quite a bit so I just want you to get the best setting you can out of them.

 

[bludiva]

thanks for posting these & i value your 2 cents! ok arrrgh. the stones will be fg, not sure if that will make a difference. i'm thinking i need to make sure they close the back with pinholes for drainage. worst case scenario not sure what the fee would be to cancel after the CAD if it doesn't look good but i suppose that is an option.

ETA it looks pretty on her hand though, so at least there is that..

 

[swaye2010]

thanks for posting these & i value your 2 cents! ok arrrgh. the stones will be fg, not sure if that will make a difference. i'm thinking i need to make sure they close the back with pinholes for drainage. worst case scenario not sure what the fee would be to cancel after the CAD if it doesn't look good but i suppose that is an option.

ETA it looks pretty on her hand though, so at least there is that..

I believe the CAD fee is $40. I think you can get what you want, but they need to give you information regarding color and what is going to match and look best. If you don’t mind some warmth or if you want it to look white/colorless.

French cuts are tricky. They always look so great in pics but it is hard to try to match them when you can’t see everything right in front of you. If you see the setting from SG, it was kind of ‘clunky’ for lack of a better word. I would check all the dimensions all along the shank on tour design so it looks a bit more refined then the one we did.

 

[bludiva]

I believe the CAD fee is $40. I think you can get what you want, but they need to give you information regarding color and what is going to match and look best. If you don’t mind some warmth or if you want it to look white/colorless.

French cuts are tricky. They always look so great in pics but it is hard to try to match them when you can’t see everything right in front of you. If you see the setting from SG, it was kind of ‘clunky’ for lack of a better word. I would check all the dimensions all along the shank on tour design so it looks a bit more refined then the one we did.

that's reasonable. it took me a while but i found dimensions to help guide the layout on the sides which i hope will help. i told ella last week i'm nervous about the stones and she said not to worry, they'd be beautiful. but i think i'm going to have to be more specific. i don't expect it to be white/bright like a round cut, more of a low key watery shimmer like you see in shallow cushions/emeralds.

 

[lovedogs]

Have any of you seen criss cuts from tianyu or SG IRL? I love the idea of graduated ones on a band but don't want them to look stupid.

 

[bludiva]

No i didn't even know sg was cutting them. Argh again! I've only seen video, I'm the guinea pig

 

[bludiva]

ok folks, help me out. here's the CAD.

i'm going to ask about the underside of the ring. from @swaye2010 's input sounds like i may want it enclosed w/small drainage holes rather than left open. any other advice? the rails look a little thick but need room to be polished down so i think it's ok. not sure what else to look out for.

paging @MakingTheGrade and @mrsgreeneyes since you have french cut bands - do you think tianyu can execute this well?

One other thought is potentially having the sides be criss - cross (their crisscut/ashoka style) instead of french cut - that should be less "see through"

(Ella if you are reading, no offense, it's a lot of $ to buy something you can't try on.)

 

[swaye2010]

ok folks, help me out. here's the CAD.

i'm going to ask about the underside of the ring. from @swaye2010 's input sounds like i may want it enclosed w/small drainage holes rather than left open. any other advice? the rails look a little thick but need room to be polished down so i think it's ok. not sure what else to look out for.

paging @MakingTheGrade and @mrsgreeneyes since you have french cut bands - do you think tianyu can execute this well?

One other thought is potentially having the sides be criss - cross (their crisscut/ashoka style) instead of french cut - that should be less "see through"

(Ella if you are reading, no offense, it's a lot of $ to buy something you can't try on.)

I have the French cut band too, which has the small drainage holes. I think that is standard to have some kind of hole for French cuts. It allows for light and cleaning but I am not sure how big they need to be. I always have the best luck when I ask Tianyu or SG what their opinion is rather than trying to guess by pictures. Tell them how important it is that the center stone and side stones match. Pictures can be so misleading sometimes due to lighting conditions.

 

[bludiva]

I have the French cut band too, which has the small drainage holes. I think that is standard to have some kind of hole for French cuts. It allows for light and cleaning but I am not sure how big they need to be. I always have the best luck when I ask Tianyu or SG what their opinion is rather than trying to guess by pictures. Tell them how important it is that the center stone and side stones match. Pictures can be so misleading sometimes due to lighting conditions.

Got it...I think I misunderstood your point before...are you saying b/c the sides will be a little darker or yellower on hand i may want to bring down the color for the center (say to an H/I/J)

I could ask them to cut the sides first and check the color matching in different lighting conditions. Yeah, I will ask their advice.

 

[swaye2010]

Got it...I think I misunderstood your point before...are you saying b/c the sides will be a little darker or yellower on hand i may want to bring down the color for the center (say to an H/I/J)

I could ask them to cut the sides first and check the color matching in different lighting conditions. Yeah, I will ask their advice.

Sorry if it is getting confusing. I guess my point is that I would ask the question of them. When I was doing it with SG, we went with a G/H stone and G/H sides thinking it would match and the side stones looked more yellow than the center...and even more so on the finger.

The lady from WB, she went with G/H sides and a colorless stones from Tianyu and they both match but look more yellow. I think they need to tell you what is the best color combination so they match rather than you just ordering the colors you want. French cuts are just a little more difficult to match. I am not sure what the preferred color combo is for Tianyu because I don’t think I have seen a ring like this from anyone across the various boards yet. They may do it and it comes out perfectly. I only mention it because this is not a cheap project and I hope you get exactly what you want.

I would also mention about the rails not being too thick on your finished ring. On the profile it is 2.3 mm and 1.8 at the bottom. Maybe they could do a soft taper so the center was around 2mm. They have a tendency to make the rings too thick between the fingers sometimes.

 

[bludiva]

Got it. I read part of the WB thread to see if there was anything similar and just got lost in it ...this is super helpful. Both good points & thanks for being so generous with your advice.

Here's what I'll ask:

- Color matching between side stones and center stone
In some examples of other rings, the french cut side stones look yellower than the center. How can we make sure the stones match? Does it make sense to cut the side stones first and then see how they look next to rectangular stones of different colors?

- Underside of ring
Can you show me the design for the underside of the ring? Will it be enclosed with small holes for drainage or open? (include examples). I don't want my skin to show through underneath which happens with some french cuts and rose cuts. (include image)

- Ring thickness - rails.
Will the rails be polished down? They look thick in the CAD.

- Ring thickness - profile.
How thick will it be between the fingers? Will it be tapered? (illustration of 2mm at the 3 & 6 o clock positions in profile)

I can't think what else I may be missing, the design is pretty simple (although the simplest can be the hardest to do right) and the proportions look good to me assuming there's some extra metal to account for polishing.

 

[swaye2010]

Got it. I read part of the WB thread to see if there was anything similar and just got lost in it ...this is super helpful. Both good points & thanks for being so generous with your advice.

Here's what I'll ask:

- Color matching between side stones and center stone
In some examples of other rings, the french cut side stones look yellower than the center. How can we make sure the stones match? Does it make sense to cut the side stones first and then see how they look next to rectangular stones of different colors?

- Underside of ring
Can you show me the design for the underside of the ring? Will it be enclosed with small holes for drainage or open? (include examples). I don't want my skin to show through underneath which happens with some french cuts and rose cuts. (include image)

- Ring thickness - rails.
Will the rails be polished down? They look thick in the CAD.

- Ring thickness - profile.
How thick will it be between the fingers? Will it be tapered? (illustration of 2mm at the 3 & 6 o clock positions in profile)

I can't think what else I may be missing, the design is pretty simple (although the simplest can be the hardest to do right) and the proportions look good to me assuming there's some extra metal to account for polishing.

I think you hit all the good points. Once you have this all worked out with what will hopefully be a successful project, then it will help the next person around. It has taken some time to work through all the cuts and styles but we are almost there!

 

[Haisk]

Hi all

Could you all check on my CAD from Tianyu please? I am having a 14k rose gold ring with a 6.5mm GH H&A main stone and lab diamond melee. Are there anything else that I should know of?

 

[bludiva]

Hi all

Could you all check on my CAD from Tianyu please? I am having a 14k rose gold ring with a 6.5mm GH H&A main stone and lab diamond melee. Are there anything else that I should know of?

I don't see anything amiss......hopefully folks who have more experience with tianyu will come by to comment

 

[bludiva]

I think you hit all the good points. Once you have this all worked out with what will hopefully be a successful project, then it will help the next person around. It has taken some time to work through all the cuts and styles but we are almost there!

Here's the response from Ella

 

[Jane_in_June]

Has anyone ordered Tianyu's silver? I'm ordering this along with my ring! It's so inexpensive that I feel like as long as I can wear it for a year or two I will totally get my money's worth. I LOVE that it's Moissy not CZ!
https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Tianyu-gems-jewelry-simple-925-sterling_62106295466.html

 

[bludiva]

Has anyone ordered Tianyu's silver? I'm ordering this along with my ring! It's so inexpensive that I feel like as long as I can wear it for a year or two I will totally get my money's worth. I LOVE that it's Moissy not CZ!
https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Tianyu-gems-jewelry-simple-925-sterling_62106295466.html

I haven't ordered a silver piece but I'd try it out....I'd be a little afraid they don't put their best moissy in the silver rings though but at 35$ or so as long as it is comparable or better to a nice cz I'd give it a go.

 

[swaye2010]

I haven't ordered a silver piece but I'd try it out....I'd be a little afraid they don't put their best moissy in the silver rings though but at 35$ or so as long as it is comparable or better to a nice cz I'd give it a go.

I think luckyrabbit got one. I mean for the price to have moissy, it is not bad. They are using lower quality rough though so it is much more yellow in color. It looks like the old 6h sic rough like the Forever Brilliant. For the price, it is still a very durable piece.

 

[bludiva]

Here are the stones...I can't tell much from the video other than they do look white and well cut. Considering they will all be "leaky" due to the cuts I don't think I'll have the issue of the main stone and side stones being too far from each other in color. I don't know if it's the lighting environment but they look very flat, other videos they've posted have had a bit more fire/scintillation for these types of stones.

they took the stock video of the scissor cut video down but here is one of stock frenchies to illustrate the difference
https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Tianyu-gem-factory-bulk-wholesale-super_62050425735.html?

 

[swaye2010]

Here are the stones...I can't tell much from the video other than they do look white and well cut. Considering they will all be "leaky" due to the cuts I don't think I'll have the issue of the main stone and side stones being too far from each other in color. I don't know if it's the lighting environment but they look very flat, other videos they've posted have had a bit more fire/scintillation for these types of stones.

they took the stock video of the scissor cut video down but here is one of stock frenchies to illustrate the difference
https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Tianyu-gem-factory-bulk-wholesale-super_62050425735.html?

They do look well cut. The Alibaba videos are always done under studio lighting so they showcase the fire. They look very similar to the French cuts as far as performance. I think the ring will be lovely but I do not find these types of cuts to have a lot of fire. They can be kind of flat but it is just a different type of look. Many people have said it about the French cut diamonds too and it is probably the same for the crisscut’s.

 

[bludiva]

They do look well cut. The Alibaba videos are always done under studio lighting so they showcase the fire. They look very similar to the French cuts as far as performance. I think the ring will be lovely but I do not find these types of cuts to have a lot of fire. They can be kind of flat but it is just a different type of look. Many people have said it about the French cut diamonds too and it is probably the same for the crisscut’s.

Okay good, just wanted to make sure the rough looks as high quality as what's in their other videos. I'm not expecting a lot of fire in person, more of the watery shimmer / hall of mirrors effect that I've seen in these types of cuts and emerald cuts.

 

[sd_flp]

Has anyone ordered Tianyu's silver? I'm ordering this along with my ring! It's so inexpensive that I feel like as long as I can wear it for a year or two I will totally get my money's worth. I LOVE that it's Moissy not CZ!
https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Tianyu-gems-jewelry-simple-925-sterling_62106295466.html

Would you mind posting it and sharing your thoughts when you receive it? I've been watching this ring for a while now, but they don't have my size (which will cost more to resize) and I am being supppppeeerrrr stingy and cheap about their shipping cost for this ring.