Any reccomendations for custom platinum pave?

[laney]

Hello All!

I have been enjoying my new e-ring of late (thanks to you all here who helped tremendously!) but now it''s time to pick a setting and a matching band.

I like two styles. One is Michael B - Lace and the other is a very slim pave band for both e-ring and wedding band.

Ok - I''ve searched the forums and found out what I already knew. Michael B is fairly pricey (but I really love the settings!!!). Does anyone have a good reccomendation for a person who could replicate this look in platinum?

Will making these types of bands CUSTOM cost more than buying the originals? And does anyone know any good knock offs or similar styles of those rings (not OGILTD..don''t like thier styles as much..)

Mara - I saw in a post that you got to try on the Michael B. Was it great in person?

So - should I try custom or look for a "knock off"? Any thoughts?

 

[PlatinumDiamond]

Hi!

I'm not sure if it is allowed here or not to actually post a custom maker or his web site, but if you like, email me and I can provide you with the Platinumsmith that custom made all my platinum rings and my wife's.

He does wonders with platinum!

 

[Mara]

hey laney...




I tried on the Michael B ...both the lace and the slim pave...I have pictures of them on my hand on my computer, I'll see if I can find them and post for you.




I loved both of them actually. But the price tag was really ridiculous. Esp for the ctw of the bands.




My band was somewhat like a MB replica. The thing about the eternity pave is that pave is not that safe for everyday wear on an eternity ring, and when you add metal, you lose a bit of the very thin look. We talked at length with our jeweler and he said he would only recommend doing something like the MB setting if it was 3/4 of the way and not eternity. So we compromised with doing eternity but 4 prong set instead of pave, which makes the band a little thicker, but gives you a similar look...a little more metal which I was not as jazzed on but I am rough with my hands and didn't want to worry about hurting the ring or popping out a stone. So far so good a year+ later!

And I wear my ring all the time, even dug in the yard today with it!




Your other question on custom. We had our ring custom made in platinum with almost double the ctw that the MB slim pave ring had for about $400 less than the cheapest MB I could find online (and $700 less than the MB at my local retail where I tried it on). The wedding ring will be $500 less than the MB wedding ring as well.




I would not hesitate to go custom because it is not always going to be more expensive, esp if the other alternative is paying for a brand name or a designer item which has alot of markup built in. The COST to make the rings plus some revenue for the jeweler is not going to be near what the designer will charge.




As to where to get it...there are lots of custom jewelers who will do the work for you. Look around locally and see if anyone is recommended in your area. We had someone our jeweler recommended make our ring..and it's very sturdy and well-made..a bit thicker than I wanted so really be sure to SPECIFY in writing what it is you want IF you know the details (e.g. no more than 2.5mm...) and make sure they will call you if your criteria cannot be met (e.g. .03c stones may need 2.9mm and you will have to make that decision...we never got the call and they just made it to their specs and it wasn't 100% what we wanted in the end even if it was necessary). Also consider Mark Morrell and Leon Mege though I know some designers will not replicate someone elses work.




Good luck! Let me see if I can scrounge up those pictures to show you. I loved the lace ring ALOT but Greg thought it looked cheap or something...like you couldn't afford all the diamonds so they just scattered them around (LOL!).

 

[Mara]

Here is the Lace picture on my hand, both e-ring and wedding band. I loved it!!

It was different and so sparkly. The stone in this one is a 1.25cz I think.

 

[Mara]

And here is the princess slim pave...MB has about 3 or 4 different ones (thicknesses and ctw)...this one was the .45ctw I think for e-ring. The band was around .30ctw or something similar and was obviously thinner. The size of this center stone was around 1ctw cz I think.




This is along the lines of what we are doing for my wedding ring. My e-ring is 2.9mm wide and the wedding ring is going to be fashioned with .02c stones instead of .03c so the width will be more around 2.3mm...visibly different which will give it that cool 'this is definitely 2 rings' look I want.

 

[laney]

ooooh!!! so pretty!!!!!

I'm in the NY area so I'm sure I can find someone that will do this! I got my stone from Johnathan and was going to e-mail them to see if they have some replicas maybe from a less expensive company. I'm pretty sure I can find the slim pave from someone else - but I like the lace.

Funny that you hubby..fiance...said that the other looked cheap! Never thought of it that way.. I thought I didn't want TOO much flash to take away from the center stone... So I wanted either thin... or just a little. I thought that looked unique.

So I will look up Mark Morrell - I see his name here all the time w/satisfied customers... And the other person too. Thanks for the names.

Funny - I have a knife edge band on my solitare right now - and I want something to replace it in the same width. That's probably pretty small but I think it will look really cool and delicate that way. I hope they won't have to make it too thick...

Again thanks!