My New Ring! Oops I mean Rings. :)

[derekinla]

Absolutely stunning Mara. Wow! That's alot of "bling" on your finger! Those ACA H&A melees are amazing aren't they? I mean Brian has to come here one day and tell how he can cut those small stones to such precision. Congrats! OH, can you take pics of the melees under the IS?

- D

 

[SwanSong]

Congratulations MARA!!! That is a real stunner you got there...Geez how did you pull it off not only better quality but bigger in size. Score!

 

[Lal]

Hi Mara!

Beautiful rings!

I was wondering if you notice much difference visually when comparing the melee stones from Whiteflash versus from the original jeweller? There seems to be some debate regarding whether or not hand selecting them is worthwhile.

 

[Mara]

Figured I'd bump this for Lynn but also respond to Lal's question since I never did.




Originally when I first got the rings, I felt as though I could see more sparkle in the WF ACA melee stones than my original ones, but I really don't. Long term now that I have seen them both on the hand and in various conditions, they look the same in terms of sparkle, all you see is mega-sparkle because they are so small. Also I think they play off each other, and add more sparkliness or something because when the two rings are together, they seem more visually significant than apart.




I asked the original jeweler to hand pick the best melee for the e-ring, so maybe that made a difference, who knows really. Or maybe they are so tiny that H&A doesn't make a whit of difference to the eye at that size. I would do ACA melee again but only if the premium I would pay would be very small over other melee. For example if a regular .03c melee was $10 and an ACA was $15...and I needed 50 stones, I'd probably do ACA melee as the price difference for the entire piece may be worth the premium. But if it was $10 vs $20, maybe not. But this is just my two cents.

 

[ame]

I might have to get a very very similar band to that Mara....The only thing I want different is my stones a bit closer together, if that is even possible.

Man I love that set.

 

[Lynn B]

Hi, Mara! Thanks for bumping!

I am waiting to hear from WF regarding my available options. WF doesn't have 4's... only 2's, 3's, and 5's... and right now I am leaning towards the 5'ers... but I don't know yet how many it will take to fully "fill" the top of a size 5 ring.

(Don'tcha just know it... what I think I really want are 4s!!!

!!!) I guess we always THINK we want what we can't have!!!!!!

It's a tough decision, though. I LOVE the look of the 2's and 3's, though...

they are just SO tiny and adorable! But I have to keep reminding myself that the 5's are TINY, too! I guess it just seems to me like one should always get the biggest stone(s) possible as long as the desired "look" isn't being compromised!

Anyway, if anyone has any sage advice or words of wisdom... I'd love to hear it! Thanks!

Lynn

 

[MacClure]

mara.....what an amazing journey.....i like the courage and honesty it took to look for another Ering diamond. when you wrote about pickin'' up your new ring, i can relate...thanks for sharing all that you did...i enjoyed reading your story. i do love the personal details, even tho'' it''s personal, but, so what? gives me peace of mind that i''m not the only one who goes thru these ........i dunno...situations. thank you girl!! and, just think, i didn''t have to sift thru ''900 million'' posts to get the bottom line. congratulations!!!

the ''hog....

 

[MissAva]

Date: 3/27/2004 3:03:47 PM
Author: Mara


Okay here are some new pictures, yummy! I love the sparkly arrows shot in the black background and the actual arrows shot isn''t anything to sneeze at either.

My amateur IdealScope image isn''t half bad!!

Oh and I included the dark hand picture to show what kind of sparkles it throws off even with hardly any light around!

HP...this new stone is 7.10mm and my old spready one was 7.15mm average. So in essence this stone is the tiniest bit smaller, but I don''t see the difference at all. Considering that the ring was not with me for 3 weeks, I noticed that my idea of ''size'' is completely out of wack right now, everything looks big.

It''s a good thing because it keeps me from obsessing over the lost .05mm. Hehee..




As for color/clarity difference, I do see the tiniest bit of color difference, partially because my old stone was pretty darn white looking, it probably was more like an F than a G due to the white brilliance of the cut, so this H looks slightly warmer, but not yellow or anything remotely close to that. The clarity is top notch. Both Greg and I strained with the loupe for 5 minutes each and couldn''t find a darn thing in the stone. So either our eyes are really bad or it''s a really nice wispy, white inclusioned stone with strict grading.

Overall, super happy with the switch, to me this looks just like a VS and that''s all that matters...and the color is not significant at all. Don''t know that I would go I or J in the future, interesting to note that H is probably my comfort threshhold, but you never know!

Wow I had never read this before! I am so glad that you decided to go to a J! I don’t know that I would have ever had to courage to look at J’s (especially after the first one I saw in NY) if it had not been for your photos and threads! And now I could not be more in love with my K colored pendent and I am really looking forward to my own little J getting here!

 

[Mara]

At that point when I got my new H, I had never even seen an I or J ideal cut stone! I think if I had the budget I would choose an H as my sweet spot, but I adore my current J stone and expect to love the new stone just as much if not more. It's funny how you do change what's acceptable in your mind as you continue to get more educated!!

So funny that you bumped this thread TierHog, it's sooooo old! Yep there are tons of us who went through what you did...I think after the first big purchase it gets mentally easier?

 

[glaucomflecken]

OMG when I first saw this thread on the forum I was like, "Holy cannoli Mara got a 2+ carat upgrade AND a new set of rings?!?! Can Greg and Mara adopt me???" lol

 

[Mara]

punchie are you white and fluffy with black eyes and a dot black nose? if so, yes come on over!!

 

[Gonzodogg]

I love reading old posts as they pop back up.