Color change garnet project

[Laurainthesky]

I am determined to make a color change ring to love. I have a 0.6ct trillion which I set years ago. It is somewhat dark, but looks good when stacked with a ruby band ring and is a great color changer. I have a 0.6 cushion which is lighter and always looks decent. It is a moderate color changer. I think I am going to return the wine colored one. The color change is good, but it is poorly cut and has quite quite a bit of extinction in certain lighting conditions.

I am thinking of buying one more cc garnet and maybe some cc melee. Then I think I need some pink/red to lighten it up.

The lighting in the picture is via my winter SAD lamp lol.

Challenges: mismatched tones and shapes. Stones with gray.
I think I could create something amazing, but it also be a colossal mess.

 

[Laurainthesky]

I am thinking about a band of lively lighter color stone. And cc garnets above and below maybe like vines or not. The top cc garnet is an excellent color changer, but I think it is going to be too dark to be included in the project. I have some cc garnets coming from eBay which should be more similar in tone to the bottom stone. The seller was nice enough to send me links to all his medium tone bekily stones.

 

[gingercurls]

I think your garnet is lovely. I recently had David Klass set a color change garnet for me in rose gold. Before I finalized the setting plan for my cc garnet, I toyed with the idea of using color change melee or accent stones that were not diamonds. My stone goes from a cooler, more blue-toned purple in daylight and is a warmer purple in indoor lighting. Here is a video that shows its different colors:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CGN0AdOhg7y/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
I thought of using red melee (like spinel) to accentuate the flashes of red that the stone exhibits in all lighting conditions. Instead, I decided to go with a rose gold setting and white diamond melee. It was too difficult for me to find color change melee that matched the color change of my garnet.

You said one of the challenges is that your stones have grey. Any melee that is less grey that your stones will detract from your stones. I think the key with using non-diamond melee with colored gems, is to make sure that the color of the melee do not visually compete with the main stone(s) and that the melee are not more vibrant than the main stone(s).

 

[gingercurls]

I'm not sure if your cc garnets are similar to the ones in this picture, but I found this ring to be a very pretty example of a finished piece with cc garnets. I really like the blue sapphires against the teal of the cc garnets.
https://ivynewyork.com/products/sapphire-color-change-garnet-and-diamonds-ring-r14148

 

[Laurainthesky]

I think your garnet is lovely. I recently had David Klass set a color change garnet for me in rose gold. Before I finalized the setting plan for my cc garnet, I toyed with the idea of using color change melee or accent stones that were not diamonds. My stone goes from a cooler, more blue-toned purple in daylight and is a warmer purple in indoor lighting. Here is a video that shows its different colors:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CGN0AdOhg7y/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
I thought of using red melee (like spinel) to accentuate the flashes of red that the stone exhibits in all lighting conditions. Instead, I decided to go with a rose gold setting and white diamond melee. It was too difficult for me to find color change melee that matched the color change of my garnet.

You said one of the challenges is that your stones have grey. Any melee that is less grey that your stones will detract from your stones. I think the key with using non-diamond melee with colored gems, is to make sure that the color of the melee do not visually compete with the main stone(s) and that the melee are not more vibrant than the main stone(s).

So amazingly helpful! Thank you so much! I will be using similar, but less well cut stones. Do you have any pictures of your ring?
Maybe pinkish gray or lavender spinel would make good melee? Will save money looking for gray lol.

 

[Sabina22]

Super excited to watch this project! I love colour changing gemstones. Here is my bekily garnet (from David Wein) :

 

[Laurainthesky]

Super excited to watch this project! I love colour changing gemstones. Here is my bekily garnet (from David Wein) :

Love it! I was sad that David Wein does not size for size 4.
I am going to have 5 little blue garnets to pick from. The Bekily stone I have is darker than yours and maybe too dark for the project. Your lovely stone is the gold standard. I ordered 3 Bekily garnets off eBay. The seller picked them out specially to not be dark toned.

 

[Sabina22]

Aw, shame DW can‘t size down to your size. I very much like your cushion

 

[Laurainthesky]

My cc garnets are here! They are decently matched. Don't mind the purple cc sapphire pear. I got it in a different order. It could join the project, but I didn't buy it for that purpose.
It is night right now. I did the best I could with equipment to make daylight, incandescent, and mixed light.
Now what to do with them!

 

[Laurainthesky]

Bumping for opinions. should the sapphire be involved? Should the darker cc garnet be involved or is it too dark?

 

[Sabina22]

I am (in color changing gemstones) rather a diamond girl, as I would be nervous that other stones don‘t look good in all lights. I think tough, the sapphire makes a lovely contrast in daylight and looks great in other light conditions too!! So go for it.

 

[Laurainthesky]

Which stones do you think should be excluded? I am thinking the dark one in the ring setting. It is a great color changer, but it does black out in low light.

 

[Sabina22]

Yes, I think the same about the one in the ring setting. I also don‘t like the trillion‘s colour in daylight too much, it looks a bit washed out

 

[Sabina22]

All the others are really nice in my view, difficult decision!!

 

[Laurainthesky]

All the others are really nice in my view, difficult decision!!

The trillion shouldn't desaturate so much in natural daylight. The tool I used to get the photo was a gem grader multi light device.
I am really stuck now though. I feel like I need another lighter colored stone to finish the cluster. But maybe I don't? This is what they look like in overcast low daylight out the window. I could find a diaspore baguette that is not ugly. A mauve cab of something. I have a grayish pink spinel which is probably too big at 2.5carats

 

[Laurainthesky]

Sometimes I forget how little my fingers are. This will be a pointer finger ring size 5. I am still lost in how I will position them.