#JOTW 3.4ct ACA and matching wedding band from DKJ - 'Merry' and 'Holly'

[mrs-b]

@yssie - to be honest, I'd had the Holly ring for about a new York minute before I started wearing it as a stacker! It's lovely with a plain gold band and also a narrow diamond band. Lots of options! I'm not sure if I'll wear it with the Merry ring, or if I'll get a second one in a slightly wider width. Either way, the diamonds on Merry, and the leaves on Holly, are like a delicious recipe for a visual feast!

@Lookinagain - Thank you so much! I've never had such a personal piece of jewelry - except for my precious, precious pendant, commemorating my beautiful dog. These highly personal pieces are what makes jewelry worthwhile, aren't they? Bling is one thing, but memories are better.

 

[poshmommy]

Beautiful!! The set is just perfection! What a beautiful profile!

 

[Sparkles88]

Just a few shots of Merry and Holly hanging out with a few friends.

Gosh Mrs-b, I would love to play in your jewelry box with your ‘friends’
Gorgeous jewelry, if you decide to have a clear out, any diamond studs in your family that need a need home??

 

[alene]

Beautiful set to add to your awesome jewelry collection!

 

[Catmom]

Spectacular set! Now you can have Christmas with you all year. Well done.

 

[mrs-b]

@Sparkles88 - Thank you, and you'd be very welcome! Sharing the joy of jewelry is such a pleasure! If/when I list a few things, I'll start a thread in pre-loved. I'm hoping in the next week or so; I really need to shift some stuff!!

@alene - thanks so much! I feel as though I've reached a resting place with my collection, and the urge to buy anything new has dropped considerably. I still have a few settings to go, but nothing new to buy - which is such a mercy at this point!

@Catmom - so, did I do us proud? From one Christmas-lover to another - I'm so glad you like them! I thought of you a lot while I was doing them and thought they might hit the same part of the brain for you as they did for me.

 

[mrs-b]

@psadmin - Thank you for the JOTW designation! I'm so glad you like them.

 

[derbygal]

Holly Jolly perfection! I love them so much.

 

[elle_71125]

Congrats on jewel of the week!!!
I loved seeing them in your jewelry box. Especially the band...those little holly leaves just make me so happy.

I'm off to stalk your account now so I can find more pics of that blue cluster halo ring. Wowza!

 

[mrs-b]

@elle_71125 - I never did a thread on my sapphire and diamond ring (I think!) - so here's the back story and a few snaps.

For my 10th anniversary, my DH had a cluster ring made for me, made from a mish-mash of stones I owned, and a few that the jeweler had to buy. I loved it, and wore it most of the time. It had an I SI2 center (it was a VS stone with a tiny chip in the girdle), surrounded by stones ranging from .17 to .24ct, mostly G-H SI/I1 stones. One was a VS and one was (oh man...) an I2!! It was set in 18kt white gold - and here it is!



After a few years, however, having noticed the junk floating around in so many of the stones, I really wanted to remake it, using much better stones. I also wanted it to be less daisy-like, without the bezel, and with much better prong work. So I collected .26ct stones for a couple of years, then bought a 1.3ct center stone. All stones were E or F and VS stones, ideal cut, best possible specs right across the board. When I had all the stones, I went to Steven Kirsch in NY, where I lived at that time, and told him what I wanted. I remember him looking through his loupe at them - twisting and turning them, grabbing one stone after another, till in the end he put down his loupe and said "These are all super ideal!" (I knew this - I'd paid for them!!)

He set them in platinum, and it looked like this:



and this....



He turned the original ring into a pendant, and together, they looked like this:



Much better! However, it still had numerous deviations from what I'd requested. Steven was in the middle of moving his place of business, and despite asking for photos a number of times, and being explicit that I wanted to at LEAST see photos before the piece was sent, no photos were forthcoming. Having hated the bezel previously, I was very clear that I wanted to see NO metal around the center stone. The metal, unfortunately, was very clear. He did the profile differently to what I'd requested, and the best way to describe the band was flimsy. We discussed it and he refused to remake it for less than full price a second time, so after a great deal of perseverance on my part, he agreed to milgrain the seat in which the center diamond sat - which decreased the visible metal a great deal - and to redo the band. Other things, such as the shape etc, were unfixable without redoing the whole ring, and i sure as sugar wasn't going to pay for the whole thing a second time!

I wore it for a while, but I was never happy with it. Apart from anything else, it seemed bland and ill-defined to me (this was a fault of my own design - nothing to do with Stephen, whose work was impeccable, just not what I'd requested nor what we'd agreed on) - just a blah kind of space-ship shape of diamonds.

Around that time I had a birthday. So my DH gave me some money, packed me off to San Diego to visit with some friends, and told me to buy myself something to fix the ring! His birthstone is sapphire, so I picked up a Ceylonese beauty, just over 2ct and 7.1mm, cut by Andrew Gulij at Gemfix (if you haven't gone there - GO!!) The stone is far more blue (with a hint of violet) than you can make out above. I bought it, took it to my own jeweler in NY, and he set it for me. it went from kinda blah, to this..... (see next post....)

 

[mrs-b]

Occasionally, I'd wear it with *this* - but it's really too big, even for me!

 

[mrs-b]

So that's my sapphire and diamond platinum ring! I hope you like it - it's a pleasure to wear!!

 

[elle_71125]

Thank you!!! I couldn't find a thread on it and resigned myself to never knowing. You are just awesome and this really made my night!!

I have to be honest, the original SK wasn't doing it for me either. The addition of that blue sapphire changed EVERYTHING!! It's magnificent!
Thank you so much for taking the time to share that whole story with me. That's a beauty and you are a lucky women for sure.

 

[mrs-b]

Thank you!!! I couldn't find a thread on it and resigned myself to never knowing. You are just awesome and this really made my night!!

I have to be honest, the original SK wasn't doing it for me either. The addition of that blue sapphire changed EVERYTHING!! It's magnificent!
Thank you so much for taking the time to share that whole story with me. That's a beauty and you are a lucky women for sure.

@elle_71125 - that ring sticks forever in my mind as a classic example of how color can totally change the look of a piece. It's barely recognizable as the same ring - and the only difference is color. It was a lesson well-learned, and the outcome was wonderful.

 

[mrs-b]

Holly Jolly perfection! I love them so much.

Thanks so much, @derbygal

 

[Catmom]

@Sparkles88 - Thank you, and you'd be very welcome! Sharing the joy of jewelry is such a pleasure! If/when I list a few things, I'll start a thread in pre-loved. I'm hoping in the next week or so; I really need to shift some stuff!!

@alene - thanks so much! I feel as though I've reached a resting place with my collection, and the urge to buy anything new has dropped considerably. I still have a few settings to go, but nothing new to buy - which is such a mercy at this point!

@Catmom - so, did I do us proud? From one Christmas-lover to another - I'm so glad you like them! I thought of you a lot while I was doing them and thought they might hit the same part of the brain for you as they did for me.

Oh yes indeed!

 

[KristinTech]

Occasionally, I'd wear it with *this* - but it's really too big, even for me!

So beautiful, and I love the story behind it! Thank you for sharing it!