Mara
Super_Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Oct 30, 2002
- Messages
- 31,003
NOTE: Long Rambling Post Enclosed!
We were at my favorite antique jewelry store this weekend in Carmel..and I went nuts trying on rings. It was really interesting for a few reasons. First off...I was smitten with the larger stones..of course!! I love the old settings...the really really thin bands (we're talking maybe 1mm here) with pave up the shoulders...just gorgeous. So anyway I tried on a few things...one in particular was a 5c cushion cut stone that sparkled amazingly...with 1mm thin pave shoulders. This thing looked like it could easily fall over. Put it on, prepared to be wowed and instead was struck with...'EW'. Appalled at the turn my thoughts had taken, I hastily slipped it off.....and told the saleswoman about how amazing it is that you think something would look so great in your head and on your hand...but when it finally gets there..it looks horrible. The 5c stone was too big for my hand (dare I say it?) and just looked really appalling...plus the too-thinness of the 1mm band did nothing to help balance out the stone. Bah.
Next up was a 3 stone ring. I was intrigued because just that morning...bored while waiting for my fiance's mom (my future MIL) to get ready so we could all go down to Carmel...I had taken my Signity Star 1c stone and decided to compare it with my e-ring stone in natural light to see if I could tell a distinct difference between the two. SS 1c is cut with arrows..oooh. Anyway they looked mostly the same..very interesting. Could tell the difference between cz and natural under the loupe though. So I thought..hey I will put the SS stone up against my e-ring stone and see what it would look like if I had a 3 stone ring with my 1.35 looking center stone and then a 1c on each side. Wow that'd be amazing. Hmm it looks pretty darn good with just 2 stones. Told my fiance that he'd have to ante up in the future and maybe a 3 stone ring would be better than replacing the center stone entirely. He just nodded absently.
So back to the story in Carmel. Saw this 3 stone ring that was 1c for each stone...so 3 1c stones..all set at the same level, no stairstepping here. Put it on. Prepared to be wowed. Instead..again...EW. Pulled it off. What happened? Well the thing was just too darn big. It took up my entire finger horizontally across and just looked like crap. Boo. Another cool idea down the tube. It may be different if the center stone was slightly larger and the two side stones were set down lower similar to the Vatche settings...but in this case the all in a row thing did not suit at all.
Tried on a bunch of other items...but the other interesting thing that really popped at me was that while I tried on ring after ring, and even some that had slightly similar settings to my own (but not eternity style)...or some had pave..or slightly thinner band etc...each time I put back my own ring onto my finger and really thought..wow that looks great. I tried on alot of lower set stones, where the basket or head is set directly into the band (does not allow for a wed ring to sit flush) and thought that the stones ended up looking and feeling more insignificant and almost smaller than my own stone, even if these lower set stones were bigger in size.
Walked out of the store feeling really happy with my ring all over again (except of course the center stone could magically grow to 2c and I'd be ecstatic)...but was so pleased to have tried on ring after ring and really not found another setting that appealed to me as much as my own did in the end. I love the higher set diamond now that I am used to it...love my setting and the width of the band. We did good.
Moral of the story? Like many things...you can think something will look good on you from a picture...but you don't really know until you try it on. I would hate to have assumed that I wanted a huge 3 stone ring or a big honker like the 5c stone and then be appalled to realize once I got it that it indeed was not pleasing in the least. Disappointed too.
Sorry for the ramble..just figured that other women could relate as I am sure we have all had this same realization at some point in our search for pretty baubles.
PS...on a slightly different note...after seeing countless ring styles online and in jewelry stores...I finally found a ring that was almost identical to my own...sitting in a store window in a shop in Carmel. Got the card and name of their designer. Was a little happy to finally find something similar to what we had created after looking high-and-low for so long, but at the same time slightly disappointed to know that there WAS another ring almost identical to mine (slightly diff prongs and a triangle design set into the side of the band under prong set stones) floating around for sale out there. Darn!!
We were at my favorite antique jewelry store this weekend in Carmel..and I went nuts trying on rings. It was really interesting for a few reasons. First off...I was smitten with the larger stones..of course!! I love the old settings...the really really thin bands (we're talking maybe 1mm here) with pave up the shoulders...just gorgeous. So anyway I tried on a few things...one in particular was a 5c cushion cut stone that sparkled amazingly...with 1mm thin pave shoulders. This thing looked like it could easily fall over. Put it on, prepared to be wowed and instead was struck with...'EW'. Appalled at the turn my thoughts had taken, I hastily slipped it off.....and told the saleswoman about how amazing it is that you think something would look so great in your head and on your hand...but when it finally gets there..it looks horrible. The 5c stone was too big for my hand (dare I say it?) and just looked really appalling...plus the too-thinness of the 1mm band did nothing to help balance out the stone. Bah.
Next up was a 3 stone ring. I was intrigued because just that morning...bored while waiting for my fiance's mom (my future MIL) to get ready so we could all go down to Carmel...I had taken my Signity Star 1c stone and decided to compare it with my e-ring stone in natural light to see if I could tell a distinct difference between the two. SS 1c is cut with arrows..oooh. Anyway they looked mostly the same..very interesting. Could tell the difference between cz and natural under the loupe though. So I thought..hey I will put the SS stone up against my e-ring stone and see what it would look like if I had a 3 stone ring with my 1.35 looking center stone and then a 1c on each side. Wow that'd be amazing. Hmm it looks pretty darn good with just 2 stones. Told my fiance that he'd have to ante up in the future and maybe a 3 stone ring would be better than replacing the center stone entirely. He just nodded absently.
So back to the story in Carmel. Saw this 3 stone ring that was 1c for each stone...so 3 1c stones..all set at the same level, no stairstepping here. Put it on. Prepared to be wowed. Instead..again...EW. Pulled it off. What happened? Well the thing was just too darn big. It took up my entire finger horizontally across and just looked like crap. Boo. Another cool idea down the tube. It may be different if the center stone was slightly larger and the two side stones were set down lower similar to the Vatche settings...but in this case the all in a row thing did not suit at all.
Tried on a bunch of other items...but the other interesting thing that really popped at me was that while I tried on ring after ring, and even some that had slightly similar settings to my own (but not eternity style)...or some had pave..or slightly thinner band etc...each time I put back my own ring onto my finger and really thought..wow that looks great. I tried on alot of lower set stones, where the basket or head is set directly into the band (does not allow for a wed ring to sit flush) and thought that the stones ended up looking and feeling more insignificant and almost smaller than my own stone, even if these lower set stones were bigger in size.
Walked out of the store feeling really happy with my ring all over again (except of course the center stone could magically grow to 2c and I'd be ecstatic)...but was so pleased to have tried on ring after ring and really not found another setting that appealed to me as much as my own did in the end. I love the higher set diamond now that I am used to it...love my setting and the width of the band. We did good.
Moral of the story? Like many things...you can think something will look good on you from a picture...but you don't really know until you try it on. I would hate to have assumed that I wanted a huge 3 stone ring or a big honker like the 5c stone and then be appalled to realize once I got it that it indeed was not pleasing in the least. Disappointed too.
Sorry for the ramble..just figured that other women could relate as I am sure we have all had this same realization at some point in our search for pretty baubles.
PS...on a slightly different note...after seeing countless ring styles online and in jewelry stores...I finally found a ring that was almost identical to my own...sitting in a store window in a shop in Carmel. Got the card and name of their designer. Was a little happy to finally find something similar to what we had created after looking high-and-low for so long, but at the same time slightly disappointed to know that there WAS another ring almost identical to mine (slightly diff prongs and a triangle design set into the side of the band under prong set stones) floating around for sale out there. Darn!!
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