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Help with setting ideas for this unique engagement ring!

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purplegirl

Rough_Rock
Joined
Feb 20, 2014
Messages
99
Hello Again All,
So I have a thread where I was looking for a purple engagement ring gemstone. You guys are always so great with all your ideas and advice and I appreciate all your help on that journey and any future ones I may have. I recently found that purple gemstone, but that ring will be the one that I wear to work and I plan on setting it in a pre made setting. I use my hands a lot at work decorating, so my main engagement ring I would never even imagine wearing there! I have a really unique sense of taste and I have a love for the color black which is second to my love of purple. :) Pink comes in at a close third. I love rather large rings and have no problem having a ring with a sense of drama. For this reason I decided to have Doug at Bespoke Gems cut what I think is a rather spectacular gemstone. I read all the threads on black spinel projects, and I really don't think I ever saw one person come back to show the finished product. I wonder if things didn't work out for them. The gemstone is a 11.3 x 11.3 x 9.7mm step cut black spinel. I would like to incorporate pink and purple accent stones in this ring or just purply pink. I'm not really a diamond girl, so sapphire accent stones will do. I just don't know what kind of design to do as this one will be a custom design. Would it look good with a small halo or not? Should the purple and/or pink accent stones be lighter or darker? Would it be good to use 14k Palladium white gold? The only design that I've seen that I thought was pretty was the attached from Huntcountry.com, but they only design with 18k gold and no palladium. My budget for the setting is probably around $1000. Get those thinking caps on……this one will be a challenge! :)

Thanks as always,
Nakita

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That's really pretty…..it's elegant but simple. I like the idea of doing the lighter sapphires. I want something that will really contrast and make that black spinel pop! Thanks for the suggestion!
 
That's lovely. I'm definitely a fan of the taller settings! What size melee do you think would be good for a ring of this size?
 
I like the idea of yg or rg for it, talon-y/claw-y head along the lines of Kelpie's from HC. If there were melee, I'd do purple-ish. Would be totally out of the everyday and unexpected.
 
I've always liked to do things a little different. :) Who is Kelpie and what is HC? Sorry for being clueless.
 
Oh! Thanks for elaborating. I love the overall shape of Kelpie's ring. I just want something a little more blingy…..lol.
 
Blingy is going to cost you. I've been looking for quotes for rings, and they are getting very very expensive. A simple solitaire from a decent quality vendor is likely going to cost you $750-1000...unless it's a stock piece, and between the dimensions of your stone and the look you want, you're going to have to go custom. Bigger stones=more money in metal prices.

Why are you wanting palladium btw? Just an FYI, it's a newer metal and there are lots of jewelers out there who have never worked with it, so if you need to size it or anything, you might be hard pressed to find someone to do it.
 
I don't want anything over the top blingy…..just enough to add a little contrast. I knew this one would have to be custom, and I actually prefer it that way. I expected to have to pay more for this one. It just depends on how beautiful the design is whether or not I want to go over a certain amount. If it's something that brings me to tears, I definitely be willing to pay more. :) I had read about white gold having to be redipped and platinum would probably really be expensive, so I thought Palladium might be a good choice. Plus, it's more cost effective. Do you not recommend Palladium? I don't mind sending the ring off to someone I know works with Palladium.
 
I'd read up on this thread because she originally wanted palladium as well: https://www.pricescope.com/communit...nd-palladium-wedding-ring-on-a-budget.202796/

Lots of posters chimed in with thoughts on palladium.

White gold doesn't HAVE to be rhodium plated, although some jewelers will tell you it does, but they're making money off of a person coming back once a year (or whatever) to replate it. So of course they are going to tell you it HAS to be done.
 
Just wanted to say that your spinel is gorgeous
 
Thanks so much Precarious!
 
Did you do any more thinking on what you want to do w/your black asscher? I gotta say, I'm pretty intrigued by this!
 
I've always loved this design by Michael E from gemshoppe.com for large gems, Bold, classic, and a little bit of whimsy too! instead of diamonds on the side, I'm sure he can find you a nice gemstone contrast.. how about red?

You can ask him about casting this from Stuller using the 14k X1 alloy which supposedly never needs rhodium plating.

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That's actually really nice. I've been trying to decide whether or not to go dresser with this ring or the other. I think I've decided on purple or pink accent stones. Thanks for the suggestion! This may be a nice idea for the purple spinel.
 
Just to clear up some confusion here; there is palladium and palladium white gold, which are two different types of metals. I cannot in good conscience recommend palladium (the grayness is a huge turn off for me) but I like palladium WG, which is a white gold metal mixed with palladium as one of the alloys which helps the white metal stay white longer.

Given the size and design, depth is a huge consideration, which means you have no choice but to go with a custom setting. With the price of metals today and how much more metal is required for such a substantial sized stone, even a plain metal custom setting is going to cost over well over $1K.
 
Hi Chrono!
Thanks for the feedback. Yes, I am heavily considering Palladium white gold. I've gotten quotes for several different metals, and it will be the most cost effective. I actually like the look of it too. I'm working on the custom design part of it now and hope to have it finalized soon. I should have the spinel in hand today!
 
Oh my goodness! Sorry, I missed this question. To answer your question….yes. :) I kind of found a setting that I think would look really cool. Now, I'm having the issue of a color scheme. I really want to incorporate purple accent stones to tie this into my other ring and because it's my favorite color in general. I've also been thinking of whether or not I can incorporate a little rose gold in this. I just can't seem to pull it all together. :angryfire: I received my spinel the other day and it's absolutely gorgeous! I'm so happy with the decision and I can definitely see it in this type of setting. What do you guys think?

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Here are some pictures of the stone in hand. I don't have much sunlight today.

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I really love the contrast of white metal with lots of diamonds against black opaque stones.

If you cannot do diamonds, you could do white topaz or small white sapphire melee.

Your stone is very well cut and has nice luster.
 
Thanks TL. I wasn't sure the luster would show well in the pictures. I do plan to use sapphires for the melee and possibly black diamonds also. I just want something a little different. :)
 
rose gold prongs? if you don't want the whole setting rose gold, that might be a cool way to add a little bit of it. Plus, I think it would look killer against the black. Purple sapphires in the shank maybe? RG is pretty with purple too...
 
I was thinking that rose gold might be cool on the prongs too! I just need enough for a little contrast. I wish there was some kind of jewelry tool that I could use to try different colors. :) Thanks for the feedback Packrat!
 
You can mess w/some stuff on Gemvara maybe, see if that helps? you won't be able to choose the exact setting you're looking at (well, I dunno, I've only ever played with the eternity bands). But even still, you can get an idea if you pick something that lets you choose two colors for stones so you can pick black and purple (I think there's two shades to choose from too maybe) and can pick rose gold for the metal, so you can see what they look like together. Some let you pick more than one metal too, so you could do wg/rg/black/purple and see them all together.
 
:lol: I did that already. It was fun looking at the combinations. Here are a few of them.

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purplegirl,

I am so excited by your project!!! Black and purple is one of my favorite color combinations, and that spinel is amazing. I love the idea of black, purple, and rose gold, but that's the extent of my suggestions (I'm a newbie at this!) But I do have lots of encouragement and cheerleading for you :appl: :appl: :appl: I can't wait to see what you come up with!!!
 
Thanks so much for the feedback Cupcake_Panda! Hopefully, I will be able to pull everything together soon. I think I will be able to visualize better once I actually see the jeweler's design ideas. I love your ring too, by the way! I love the addition of the purple. :) I've always loved the unconventional and think that it's a stunning design as well as a beautiful color combination! I can't wait to see the finished ring!
 
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