Lukasz
Rough_Rock
- Joined
- Jan 3, 2012
- Messages
- 10
Hello everyone! This forum was a great resource for me during my five month quest of making a custom engagement ring for the very first time. In turn, I am returning the favor by providing an honest account of my experience with the hope that someone may get something useful out of it. And, on the plus side, I get to show everyone my one of a kind engagement ring! As a disclaimer, I already posted this topic to the "Show Me the Bling!" section, but since my story really includes a lot of testimony I wanted to post it here too.
About five months ago, I began putting forth serious effort in obtaining an engagement ring for my girlfriend of nearly five years. For ethical and personal reasons, I already knew my girlfriend would not want a diamond. That's all I knew and wanted the rest to be a complete surprise. Since I do jewelry making on occasion (here is an example: http://www.lukaszmachon.com/?portfolio=formed-copper-necklace), it was pretty easy to get my girlfriend's ring size. I had her measure each finger after telling her I would give ring-making a try.
For the stone, I decided on an emerald since it happens to be my girlfriend's birthstone and I knew she was a fan of emeralds. It was surprisingly difficult to find vendors in the United States that sold high quality loose emeralds. After lots of research, I decided to buy from AZ Emerald (http://www.azemerald.com). Dealing with Sam, the owner, was an absolute pleasure. I gave him a budget and an idea of the type of stone I wanted. Before I knew it, Sam had sourced the perfect unique emerald. A 3.6ct Colombian cushion cut measuring 9.5x9.2x6.6 mm and likely from the Chivor mine due to the slightly bluish green tint. Here is a photo of the emerald when I first received it:
Next came the part I never expected would be so difficult- finding the right artist to trust my precious stone with and a feeling of confidence that my expectations will be met. My first experience was with Cornelis Hollander out of Arizona. It was not a good first experience. Cornelis himself was never interested in discussing my ring idea directly with me. Instead, I always dealt with his wife who would rarely answer my questions for some unknown reason. After a few frustrating e-mail and phone call exchanges, I moved on to Leon Mege (http://www.artofplatinum.com). I read a lot of feedback about Leon on this forum and knew he may be interesting to deal with, to say the least. For the record, I don't lack confidence and confident people don't intimidate me. Arrogant people, however, do irritate me and Leon irritated me on a couple of occasions. My impression is that he didn't like my non-convential idea of having a solitaire with an emerald and not a diamond. He was also slow to respond to inquiries and on a couple of occasions pushed me to "just send him the stone" without answering all of my questions. In short, Leon left me feeling like I did't want to do business with him.
On to the good news! I stumbled upon Victor Canera's work and positive reviews on this great forum. And for that, I am grateful. I had a great time working with Victor. From looking at his web site (http://www.victorcanera.com), I decided the Trueste solitaire with its double "eagle claw" prongs would be a good match for my cushion cut emerald. Victor answered all of my questions, was professional and quick to respond, plus made me feel like a respected customer. I got the feeling he didn't treat people buying rings worth 10 times my ring any differently. Plain and simple he is just an overall super nice guy who happens to be extremely talented. A pretty rare combination if you ask me. He is also honest and made it clear that setting an emerald is a challenge and that he was a bit nervous. Good. I want someone in his shoes to be a bit nervous in that situation. It means he cares.
I ultimately placed a work order with Victor and had my ring back to me in a few weeks. Wow. Victor does good work, that's my overall impression. Great edge detail, good proportions, and a uniform beautiful polish. Once I received the ring, I replaced the Made in China ring box that Victor supplied the ring in with a hand made ring box made of exotic hard woods by an artist out of Oregon named Sean (http://www.etsy.com/shop/barkupatree?section_id=5819755). Every detail counts in an engagement ring, if you ask me- even the ring box.
To wrap up and get to the results, here is a series of three photos I took on New Year's day of the ring on my now fiancé. I would have proposed sooner, but I was waiting for our first snow storm. What was going to be a planned event became a spontaneous from the heart moment on New Year's Eve before the snow made its way to DC!
She was shocked and amazed. The ring exceeded her expectations and I have Sam and Victor to thank for it! As a disclaimer, these photos were taken at night, indoors, and under recessed lighting. So, the emerald does not look as brilliant as it normally does- especially in the sunlight! I hope to eventually post additional photos in the sunlight.
http://www.lukaszmachon.com/images/ring/3.6ct_Emerald_Ring_1b.jpg
http://www.lukaszmachon.com/images/ring/3.6ct_Emerald_Ring_2b.jpg
http://www.lukaszmachon.com/images/ring/3.6ct_Emerald_Ring_3b.jpg
And here is a link to my ring, now on Victor's web site (the color of the emerald in his photo appears too aqua, the video reveals a more accurate color):
http://www.victorcanera.com/jewelry/engagement-rings/the-trueste-solitaire-with-emerald.html
Thank you everyone for reading my knowingly long story of my very first custom ring purchase experience!
- Lukasz
About five months ago, I began putting forth serious effort in obtaining an engagement ring for my girlfriend of nearly five years. For ethical and personal reasons, I already knew my girlfriend would not want a diamond. That's all I knew and wanted the rest to be a complete surprise. Since I do jewelry making on occasion (here is an example: http://www.lukaszmachon.com/?portfolio=formed-copper-necklace), it was pretty easy to get my girlfriend's ring size. I had her measure each finger after telling her I would give ring-making a try.
For the stone, I decided on an emerald since it happens to be my girlfriend's birthstone and I knew she was a fan of emeralds. It was surprisingly difficult to find vendors in the United States that sold high quality loose emeralds. After lots of research, I decided to buy from AZ Emerald (http://www.azemerald.com). Dealing with Sam, the owner, was an absolute pleasure. I gave him a budget and an idea of the type of stone I wanted. Before I knew it, Sam had sourced the perfect unique emerald. A 3.6ct Colombian cushion cut measuring 9.5x9.2x6.6 mm and likely from the Chivor mine due to the slightly bluish green tint. Here is a photo of the emerald when I first received it:
Next came the part I never expected would be so difficult- finding the right artist to trust my precious stone with and a feeling of confidence that my expectations will be met. My first experience was with Cornelis Hollander out of Arizona. It was not a good first experience. Cornelis himself was never interested in discussing my ring idea directly with me. Instead, I always dealt with his wife who would rarely answer my questions for some unknown reason. After a few frustrating e-mail and phone call exchanges, I moved on to Leon Mege (http://www.artofplatinum.com). I read a lot of feedback about Leon on this forum and knew he may be interesting to deal with, to say the least. For the record, I don't lack confidence and confident people don't intimidate me. Arrogant people, however, do irritate me and Leon irritated me on a couple of occasions. My impression is that he didn't like my non-convential idea of having a solitaire with an emerald and not a diamond. He was also slow to respond to inquiries and on a couple of occasions pushed me to "just send him the stone" without answering all of my questions. In short, Leon left me feeling like I did't want to do business with him.
On to the good news! I stumbled upon Victor Canera's work and positive reviews on this great forum. And for that, I am grateful. I had a great time working with Victor. From looking at his web site (http://www.victorcanera.com), I decided the Trueste solitaire with its double "eagle claw" prongs would be a good match for my cushion cut emerald. Victor answered all of my questions, was professional and quick to respond, plus made me feel like a respected customer. I got the feeling he didn't treat people buying rings worth 10 times my ring any differently. Plain and simple he is just an overall super nice guy who happens to be extremely talented. A pretty rare combination if you ask me. He is also honest and made it clear that setting an emerald is a challenge and that he was a bit nervous. Good. I want someone in his shoes to be a bit nervous in that situation. It means he cares.
I ultimately placed a work order with Victor and had my ring back to me in a few weeks. Wow. Victor does good work, that's my overall impression. Great edge detail, good proportions, and a uniform beautiful polish. Once I received the ring, I replaced the Made in China ring box that Victor supplied the ring in with a hand made ring box made of exotic hard woods by an artist out of Oregon named Sean (http://www.etsy.com/shop/barkupatree?section_id=5819755). Every detail counts in an engagement ring, if you ask me- even the ring box.
To wrap up and get to the results, here is a series of three photos I took on New Year's day of the ring on my now fiancé. I would have proposed sooner, but I was waiting for our first snow storm. What was going to be a planned event became a spontaneous from the heart moment on New Year's Eve before the snow made its way to DC!
She was shocked and amazed. The ring exceeded her expectations and I have Sam and Victor to thank for it! As a disclaimer, these photos were taken at night, indoors, and under recessed lighting. So, the emerald does not look as brilliant as it normally does- especially in the sunlight! I hope to eventually post additional photos in the sunlight. http://www.lukaszmachon.com/images/ring/3.6ct_Emerald_Ring_1b.jpg
http://www.lukaszmachon.com/images/ring/3.6ct_Emerald_Ring_2b.jpg
http://www.lukaszmachon.com/images/ring/3.6ct_Emerald_Ring_3b.jpg
And here is a link to my ring, now on Victor's web site (the color of the emerald in his photo appears too aqua, the video reveals a more accurate color):
http://www.victorcanera.com/jewelry/engagement-rings/the-trueste-solitaire-with-emerald.html
Thank you everyone for reading my knowingly long story of my very first custom ring purchase experience!
- Lukasz
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