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Do you buy the stone first before looking into setting?

simpleton

Rough_Rock
Joined
Nov 15, 2010
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I'm trying to decide what's the best way to go about this. Do most of you buy the stone first and have it in hand before you look into finding what setting you want? Or do you pick out the setting you want and than find a stone that fits well with it. All I know is that I want some sort of pave setting with a budget of up to $7k. Right now I'm trying to look at both stones and settings to try and find a good combination but it's becoming overwhelming with all the choices.

Any advice on how you guys go about designing an e-ring?
 
I think looking for the stone first and then the setting seems reasonable. If you post your desired specs we can try to help you find some online choices if that is what you are looking for. Good luck!
 
I would always buy the stone first....however I will add in a disclaimer. I would find the setting that I know I want the stone for before I actually bought the stone. Does that make sense. Say you buy the setting first but then can't find a stone that will with it( phyically or financially) or your gf falls in love with a different shape in the end then you are stuck with a settting you can't use.

If you want a pave settings those are pretty popular right now- so narrow down which ones you like the best. They try searching for stones that would work with them.
 
I plan to get a stone around 0.9-1.1. I trust that most micropave rings will fit this size. Does anybody have any recommendations of settings? So far, I've only seen the micropave rings from whiteflash and Leon Mege. Any others out there? Possibly semi-custom as well.
 
Yes.
 
It depends on what you are going for. Leon makes handmade settings which are much more expensive than CAD/cast settings. A handmade setting is also more $$
 
i think it's kind of important to have at least a feel for the style setting you want before buying the stone.
in my case i found a setting i really liked, but it was made for a slightly larger stone than i was looking to buy. so, i got the same ring custom made (for less than it was on the other site) to fit the stone i was looking to buy.
 
It's usually easier to adjust a setting for a particular stone than to find a stone for a particular setting.
 
We pretty much did what Sarahbear did. I looked at settings (online and in stores) often, just to get an idea of what I liked and didn't like. We didn't buy anything though. We looked at stones next, and ended up buying the diamonds and the setting from the same vendor close to the same time (if I remember correctly).
 
At first I looked for diamonds first but now, I realize that I want a one stop shop for the entire ring. So now I've been going through all the settings first. Once I find the setting I like, I can use the rest of the budget for the diamond.

It sounds like you're in the same boat as me as I want a pave too with similar specs. There's a nice pave setting over at Blue Nile. I was interested in the petite cathedral pave but the shank width is only 1.5mm in Canada so that was no good for me. The one in the US would've been perfect as it's at 2.2mm. I also found James Allen to have loads of selection on pave settings...they have many settings in general.

Hope that helps.
 
Generally, go for the diamond first. That said, when purchasing online it is often easier to purchase diamond and setting from the same vendor (it's not impossible to do it through different vendors, just tends to be easier to stay in-house) so that is something to consider as well.
 
Back up a sec. The general steps are:

1) Pick a diamond shape (RB, princess, etc).
2) Pick a setting
2) Pick a specific diamond
3) Take the diamond dimensions and fabricate a setting specific to (3).

You can only move prongs so much (e.g., not very much), so it's important to know the dimensions of the diamond before getting the setting, so the prongs can be cast to the right size. Also, the prongs will go in funny directions if you get a diamond that is too big or too small for the setting (this is especially important for cathedral settings or something where you want the prongs to be in line with the cathedral airline).
 
+1 to Antelope!

I think it's a lot better to look at it holistically.

For sure, rounds present the least problems in settings.
But fancy shapes have unique aspects that might become a problem if one picked the stone first without considering the setting.

After all, the ring is so important in this equation- that's why I feel it's important to consider it up front......
 
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