Feedback/Advice wanted: Custom Engagement Setting Search for EC with bezel and pave.

[blueroses]

Well, hi guys!

You might know me from my past habit of chronically drooling over PSers' octagonal/haloed/micropaved/blingy/ICY WHITE

yumminess, or as a former LIW. Either way, I was an active poster a few years ago.

Long story short sounds like a bad Hollywood movie tagline, but here it is: "I'm BACK.....and this time, it's for REAL."
I have truly fallen in love with the man of my dreams who amazingly loves me just as much and can't wait to marry me. I finally get the whole "you know when you know thing." It's INCREDIBLE, as is he. (Yay!)

So we're getting engaged soon. He wants to wait to have the ring in hand to *actually* ask, but we have a wedding binder, have tentatively talked dates with church, etc. It's on, yo.

Here's what we're working with:

* I have an EC stone that was a gift from my surrogate grandmother. Estimate that it's between .75 - .85ct, but won't know until it's out of the current setting--around 6.5mm by 4.5mm.

*We want to bezel set it in something like laurenthepartier's asscher: a bezel that has its own character and is almost halo-ish on its own. (And that really plays up the cut corners.)

*We want a side profile where the culet is visible, and the shank kind of swoops up to the bezel. (Like neatfreak's).

*We want 1-sided pave in the shank, but only part-way down, *not* eternity. Probably 1-pt melee. We want a DAINTY shank on my sausage fingers: 2mm thick maximum, and would love 1.7, 1.8 if I can do it.

*WG or Platinum. Price is an issue, so that leans us towards WG, but we are getting quotes on both.

Lots of pictures coming.

To date, we've met with three local jewelers, all family/friend recommendations.

#2 is WAY out of the running--aside from being the priciest by far, he didn't listen to what we wanted, patronized us, questioned our choices, and clearly didn't want us as customers. I can understand on some level, since we're really not seeking a designer--we need/love input, but I guess this is technically more of a bench job than a design job since we know what we want. Nonetheless....yeah, he was a tool. No names. On the other hand, he gave us a great guess about the existing ring's history (Probably made during WWII because of the style, cut of the EC, and use of palladium.)

#1 was cool. Close to us in age, second generation jeweler, GG in several areas (Carlsbad *is* right up the road), and more than anything, really liked us and clearly wanted to work with us. Gadget guy: sarin, idealscope, colormeter (?), etc. Showed me H&A in 1pt melee! He got it--and was NOT a salesperson, really more of a gadget guy. Works with CADS. Estimate was crazy reasonable. We liked him a lot, but want to be thorough. (This is a workshop--not a storefront--in the jewelry exchange.)

#3 was also great. Our parents' age, family business. Definitely enjoyed us (and we him) and was informative, excited and receptive to our ideas, kept pictures, etc. Carves the wax, doesn't use CADS. If his quote ends up being identical to #1, we'd be torn. We liked him a lot too.

(If it were a $$ tie between #s 1 and #3, we'd lean slightly towards #1 because it's less than 10 minutes from our place, whereas #3 is a 40 minute drive. The tech stuff/same age rapport is also a plus. But we did like #3 a lot too. So....no choice yet.)

Which brings us to the next step. Online vendors. (Duh, I'm a PSer!! Check out all options!)
We've started a convo with WF, who called/e-mailed my bf last night. We will get them the specifics they asked for tonight. I KNOW how great their work is--and Lauren's ring, one of our inspirations, is a custom WF.

So....what do you guys think? Who else should we ask? Pete at Quest? Mark at ERD (who made neatfreak's cushion setting)? We don't want to OVERDO the research, but we want to know what all our options are.

So: Feedback please on
1) our design idea in general (thoughts? recommendations?)
2) reputable/affordable B&M vs. online
3) Quest/WF/ERD

You get the idea. This is so exciting for us--the BF is a diamond newbie that has absorbed it like a crash course, and I--of course--am a blingwhore. And this is a ring we want me to wear for the rest of my life.

Here's a terrible scanner picture of the EC (I posted this in Widget's heirloom thread years ago). Will take better pics of it soon. We LOVE the stone. The eyeballing estimate is that it's probably VS something, and between E-G, but that's just eyeballing.

 

[blueroses]

Here''s a top-down of Lauren''s that we want to emulate:

 

[blueroses]

Another PSer''s lauren-inspired asscher

 

[blueroses]

Top-down of the only ring we''ve seen that is similar to what we want: a bezeled EC with diamonds in the shank. The proportions and style here aren''t identical, but it gives an idea.

 

[blueroses]

neatfreak''s bezel, top down. We won''t be doing east-west, but the rounded-ness of her bezel is also lovely.

 

[blueroses]

Another top down of neatfreak''s

 

[blueroses]

And this is the side profile that made my true love swoon:

(not unlike his reaction to Lauren''s ring, btw.....he loves the "bevel in the bezel").

 

[blueroses]

Another profile shot of neatfreak''s ring:

 

[blueroses]

Another EC in a bezel.....we like how the cut corners are outlined here, but the shank is too "chunky" for us.

 

[blueroses]

I need to find a better picture of pave in the band, but here''s a 1.5mm micropave eternity band. I am sure we can''t go THAT thin, but that''s kind of the idea.

Thoughts on this, by the way? We like traditional pave/bead set....not shared prong or fishtail.

It''s worthy of note that I am CLUMSY. Anything that could catch on anything is bad.

 

[blueroses]

Two more things:

We want the w-band to sit flish, and it will be a plain metal, thin, low-dome, rounded band. Either WG or plat, depending on what we decide for the e-ring.

 

[Gypsy]

HI Blue!

So happy to have you back.

Looks like you are going for something more contemporary and I have a few ideas on that... but wanted to share this bezel... it's a double milgrain bezel by Singlestone

Side view (which could be altered significantly)

 

[blueroses]

Another picture: Remember foutainfairfax''s fabulous OMC? That''s another inspiration ring.

 

[blueroses]

Thanks, Gypsy!!! Yep, there's Hest88's awesome asscher they made for her sister--which is definitely in the neighborhood of what we're talking about.

I love that one too (did you see the side profile where they added engraving to the basket? Yum.) We're not doing milgrain, though. I like it just fine, but it's not a dealbreaker for me....and BF just doesn't like it--we've tried on a lot of settings and the milgrain always look busy to him. We looked at this one, though--the milgrain and airline/double bezel/halo on that thing is such a standout.




ETA: Those of you who knew me back in the day might be surprised that there isn't a pave halo here. (Or that it's not an asscher, for that matter.) Interesting how things evolve: I still just adore a micropave/halo/asscher drool-fest. But it's not me. I've tried so many like that on, and asschers just look wrong on my hand in a way that an EC doesn't. And as much as I love the look of a halo, I love that the BF and I were able to come up with this together and that we're incorporating his input into my existing tastes. We narrowed to this choice from 3: plain bezel/pave band, pave halo/plain band, pave halo and band. The first option is the one we kept coming back to--and incidentally, was his idea, which I love. I feel like--if the lines and pave are what we envision, it will have a great combination of sleek/contemporary wth dainty/vintage-y. I am a low-maintenance klutz, and the uber-blinginess I used to want so much seems to just not be me. Plus? I hate the feel of 3-sided pave, it turns out! AND...I adore my antique RHR, and don't need an e-ring with the same aesthetic.
So...more information than you ever needed.

 

[Gypsy]

Hi Blue, just wanted to show it to you again.

SO... here are my ideas.

I would give briangavindiamonds.com a look (the website isn''t up and running yet) as Lesley and Brian from WF have set up an independant shop, and from personal experience (pendant in my AV) the quality of their work, their design skills, and thier customer services are exeptional, and their pricing seems good too from the buzz: https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/when-you-think-about-starting-a-custom-project-which-vendor-is-the-first-that-comes-to-mind.114715/


Ideally you want something like this in concept, but with a much thinner bezel around the center and a completely different profile: http://www.pearlmansjewelers.com/jewelry-designers/sholdt-jewelry/rings/06ZZ1/

 

[blueroses]

Thanks, Gyspy.....We''ll check out Brian and Lesley.

The round bezeled ring you showed is close-ish to what we''re talking about! We tried on a YG one like this, just to see something similar on the hand. The connection of bezel to shank is different, as would be the bezel itself (like you said) but you''re absolutely right: Close! The shank looks close too, though with .15tcw in the pave, I can''t tell what size pointers those might be.

Thanks, lady!

 

[mrssalvo]

HI Blue...it''s so fun that you are back now designing your forever ring. I was going to add Brian Gavin Diamonds. I recently have inquired about a custom project with them and they are terrific. Lesley emails me very quickly and they have a client portal that keeps a running record of the email correspondence that I really like too. I think too b/c they are still small and have such a great understanding of how picky and detail crazy we pricescopers can be that is a big plus for them right now too. anyway, it doesn''t hurt to get few quotes and see who you feel most comfortable with. I''m so excited for you

 

[blueroses]

Hi MrsS!!

Thank you

So....aside from the vendor recs--which I really appreciate--are there any aesthetic/structural responses or suggestions to what we have in mind? We''re open to considering tweaks that would benefit the ring''s look and longevity.

 

[mrssalvo]

personally, I think you should go for a 2mm shank. I would just worry a super dainty pave shank might look off balance with the metal bezel. I love the side view of neatfreaks ring and think that would look perfect. I think the proportions of the sholdt ring are perfect.

 

[blueroses]

So....we''re also getting quotes for an E-ring for him! It has its own thread: br''s boy''s e-ring

 

[Gypsy]

I''m going to put in some thoughts on the bezel and the band. My shank is 2.1 mm solid metal with my 1.5 (ish) halo. So if you are going for about a 1mm bezel, I''d say 1.8 mm shoudl be about right for .015 carat melee (1.5mm melee). I would personally go with whatever the pave look is that ritani''s endless love series uses. It''s got a little tiny amount of metal around the edge that will protect your stones and that will coordinate with the bezel.

.0mm is .005ct
1.3mm is .01 ct (1pointer)
1.5mm is .015ct
1.7mm is .02 ct
2.0mm is .03 ct
2.4mm is .05 ct (5pointer)

As to structural... well I love Neatfreaks side view... but personally as clumsy as I am I went for wires in the gallery of my setting. Mine are convex... and made to work with flush fit bands. And my wires were done by hand for delicacy.

You can also do concave... thie shank one isn''t a cathedral like mine is... but you get the point about what I mean with the concave wires and imagine it with a cathedral, like neatfreaks (and like mine).

]


I just like the extra secuirity of the wires.

 

[Gypsy]

https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/what-color-would-you-put-in-here.112891/ worth a glance for you. I would totally recommend asking Caleb Mayer as well. Apparently that setting is only 700!

 

[blueroses]

Thanks, Gypsy--exactly the kind of thing we want to look at. We did see a ring with those kind of "wires" in the gallery for support, and we''re not opposed to adding something like that either.

So....you think 1.5pointers would be better than 1 pointers? I don''t want the shank to get too thick-looking. Am I being silly? We want the same kind of pave style as the ritani--you''re right on. I think the endless love ring has a 1.7mm shank--is that wrong? It''s WAY dainty. Don''t know what size melee it has.

 

[mrssalvo]

blue, I''m not 100% sure but I don''t think Ritani even uses 1 pointers. I think the stones are even smaller. maybe a ritani owner can chime in.

this one only has .20 cts of diamonds and is 1.8mm wide: so trying to count the stones and the holes it looks like there are approx. 20 per side of this ring so that would make the stones half pointers....


http://www.pearlmansjewelers.com/jewelry-designers/ritani-jewelry/rings/06QQ1/70/

 

[Gypsy]

My halo has 1 pointers. Personally I think you should go a little larger. 1.5 mm's will work out to a ~ 1.8 shank. Ultimately, you can have the designer give you cads that show the proportions and pick which you like best. And your jeweler can advise you.

 

[Gypsy]

http://www.etienneperret.com/album/3 etienne perret also has marvelous work. And he specializes in the style you are going for. I think it would be a very natural fit.

 

[allycat0303]

Hey Blue!

So you have the collage up and running (really exciting). So ring wise, if you do neatfreak''s profile (my ring has a profile like that too except with diamonds) I would really take her height from stone to metal. I had the point of my diamond sit flush with the band, and I often think it is set too low. It looks kind of flat ya know? I didn''t consider that when I got it.

As for the open gallery vs wires, I''ve never hit my ring in that direction (exposed culet??? I think, technical diamond speak escapes me). But I''ve never had an issue. It''s the top of the diamond that gets the most abuse.

As for the wedding band. Well even more fun. Here''s how I see it (and not everyone would agree):

My fiance got me a 1.5 mm band as a wedding band from beverly K as a wedding band. It is tiny. I mean really. Has no substance whatsoever. Next to my 2mm band on my e-ring it is a sliver of nothing. It actually doesn''t look that great as a stand alone because my hand actually looks to big for it (and I have small fingers). If you want a band that can stand alone, I would go with 2mm. I think bead-set pave is beautiful with that your bezel ideal ring. Especially because emerald''s are vintagey (to me). It you do a miligrain on the wedding band, I would probably try to incorperate a little miligrain on the e-ring. I just like a cohesive look though, so that''s just me.

I''m so happy for you. Thrilled. Hugs!

 

[icekid]

blue- I love your ideas! My ring has a similar profile to the one you are considering (like neatfreak''s) and I still love it. Brian Gavin''s new company has really been putting great pieces out there lately; I am considering them for a little project myself.

By the way, I think 2 mm for the shank. It still tiny, but has some substance!

 

[blueroses]

*bump* for more feedback...

Thanks for the input, Gypsy, MrsS, Ally, icekid!!

Those Etienne Perret (sp?) rings are something...attaching two which are similar-ish...channel set, but still the same idea.

 

[Gypsy]

http://www.thenaturalsapphirecompany.com/Sapphires/Sapphire-Jewelry/Sapphire-Rings/Jewelry=J855 side view is wrong, but the head on should be about right (except for the shape of the center)