HELP ! What can make a side stone look black ?

[pauly1]

My Fiancé just noticed that one of the melee stones looks dark and may have shifted. She''s positive that it hasn''t been like this since I proposed and I agree. We bought an Ultrasonic from Sharper image tonight and cleaned the ring. Is there any way this could have caused the stone to shift? Is there anything else that can make the stone look black? I''m really freaked out at the moment. I don''t own a loupe but I tried to use my camera and take a picture really close up. Am I loosing it, or does something look off with the top melee? Thank you for any feedback.

-Paul

 

[strmrdr]

hard too tell but something does look off have it looked at.

 

[Kaleigh]

Have it looked at for sure. I had a melee stone turn brown all of a sudden. I took it to be steam cleaned, and that didn''t help. I sent it back to the jeweler that made it and they put it in an acid bath. I was worried, but it worked like a charm. To this day, I still have no clue what got behind that small stone. I am very careful with my rings. HTH, let us know what you find out.

 

[lumpkin]

I had a setting with mellee that did that. The bead prongs were so delicate and there were so many mellee affected (about 15) the jeweler said it would compromise the setting to take them out, clean behind them and then reset them. But I''ve NEVER heard of that happening to anyone else. There''s only one of your stones that is noticably dark.

My advice would be to take it to your jeweler and see what they say. They can probably give it an acid bath and clean it up a whole lot because your mellee looks a little bigger than my 1 pointers, especially the largest one, which is actually the only one that looks affected.

Tell your fiance to be careful about applying hand lotions and creams with her ring on, and also wait until the lotion/cream has soaked in before putting the ring back on. Also, be careful about hair products like sprays, mouse and gels.

 

[pauly1]

Thanks guys, I''ll have it looked at asap.

 

[pauly1]

I got a chance to get up close. Does the stone look cracked to anybody? I can''t believe this happened after 1 week. I''m so bummed.

 

[tberube]

oh NO! My favorite ring on the whole site has a melee problem!!! WAHHHH!!!!

That stinks. Take it back to the jeweler, I''m sure they can fix it for you without a problem.

 

[tberube]

ahem....and by the way....

(tapping foot)

How come we didn''t get any hand shots of that beauty?

 

[metro]

I don''t think it''s cracked, as I have a melee in my halo setting that''s cracked in it just looks like a dead.

Yes, get it checked out.

But from your pic, it doesn''t look cracked to me.

 

[pauly1]

Date: 2/5/2008 10:36:19 AM
Author: tberube
ahem....and by the way....

(tapping foot)

How come we didn''t get any hand shots of that beauty?

https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/pictures-my-cushion-and-custom-greenlake-setting-have-arrived.76676/ I''m sorry, I thought you had seen this. Enjoy.

Thanks for the comments guys, I''m taking it in ASAP. Any comments on the Ultrasonic, or is this just a freaky coincidence?

 

[tberube]

Date: 2/5/2008 10:54:28 AM
Author: pauly1

Date: 2/5/2008 10:36:19 AM

Author: tberube

ahem....and by the way....


(tapping foot)


How come we didn''t get any hand shots of that beauty?

https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/pictures-my-cushion-and-custom-greenlake-setting-have-arrived.76676/ I''m sorry, I thought you had seen this. Enjoy.


Thanks for the comments guys, I''m taking it in ASAP. Any comments on the Ultrasonic, or is this just a freaky coincidence?

OOPS!! Sorry, I jumped the gun. Didn''t realize you put the hand shots in the same thread. Thanks for directing me. SO LOVELY!!!!!

 

[pauly1]

I ended up taking the stone to Mark T. this morning and got his opinion. Bottom line, there are two possibilities.

1. The stone is dark down by the culet, I looked at it with a loupe and you can see it. It's also a deep stone and is sitting slightly higher than the other two stones because of the surprise sapphire is below. This might also make it more noticeable.

2. It's possible, but very unlikely that there is a piece of dirt under the stone.

He explained to me that this is extremely minor in the grand scheme of things, but that if my Fiancé and I are going to see nothing but that stone every time we look at the ring; then we should send it back to Greenlake. I've already E-mailed them and asked what my options are.

I think my Fiancé and I are just stunned that this could have been there all along and we never noticed it. She's been staring at the ring for the last week and never noticed it, nor did I. It's possible that it just caught some very specific light last night, and once we noticed it we became fixated.

I'm not quite sure what we're going to do but I'm open to suggestions. Thanks

 

[pixley]

I''d bet they''d be able to fix it for you and keep you happy rather than risk an unhappy bride-to-be. BTW I just wanted to say that this ring is absolutely, heart-stoppingly beautiful and you did such an incredible job on the stone and the design.

 

[surfgirl]

With all due respect to Mark T, explanation #1 seems a bit off to me. What does "dark by the culet" mean? Sounds weird to me. And if I saw that on my ring I'd be very unhappy. There is no reason to settle for that with any explanation. Just get it replaced immediately. It's also unclear if it's cracked or not. Usually cracked stones look "dead", no sparkle at all and yours doesn't look that way but that's not to say it's not cracked. Go get a loop so you can see any possible inclusions!

I personally hate US cleaners as they've loosened my melee in my eternity band and I cant really do anything about it or it might start a chain reaction that loosens more stones in the band by trying to fix the loose ones...So yeah, not a fan of the US. Just use hot water, Dawn dishwashing detergent, and a baby toothbrush. Same thing and looks just as good without the headache of causing stone problems.