Need advice for spess project

[lilysweet]

Hi all, I am the very lucky person who purchased Minous' 6mm gorgeous spess recently. I have been inspired by Katharath's ring and want Yvonne Raley to make me a pendant in her sunflower design. I am stuck on what to do for petal stones and what color to make the gold or use platinum for the setting. Help! The spess is so beautiful and well saturated that I really want to use things that showcase the stone. My choices for petal stones are pink rubies,red spinel or yellow diamonds. I am not a huge fan of shiny so was somewhat thinking of platinum possibly or Rose gold with yellow gold also an option. There is lots of milgrain on the pendant so I could use white gold but I am worried about it looking yellowish and not wanting to re rhodium for the shiny reason. I will try to post options. Please give me your expert opinions. Putting things together is not my forte'. Thanks!

Here is the pendant: https://www.etsy.com/listing/211229654/14-k-rose-gold-sunflower-pendant-with?ref=shop_home_active_5

Here is th etsy site, at the top in the header bar is a ring that has the yellow diamonds as petal options and I love it in Rose gold but the center would be my spess: https://www.etsy.com/shop/yvonneraley?page=1

My attempts to post pics of petal stone options with one of Yvonne's garnets as a guide for the orange, mine is a lot more saturated and pretty!

Let me know your opinion on the metal for the setting and which petal stones would work best please. Thanks!

 

[lilysweet]

Doing the yellow diamonds in platinum with the spess is also an option!

 

[lilmosun]

How accurate is the color in your handshot? I know my spess is NOT camera friendly and without knowing the exact tone/saturation, it's hard to say what will go.

I assume Yvonne doesn't have the spess yet? If you ask, she's also very good about making suggestions.

I can't wait to see what you decide and how it turns out! I will be working with Yvonne to set my spess as well. At her suggestion, I've chose to match it up with neon pink spinels.

 

[lilysweet]

Yvonne won't set outside stones so other than the picture she won't see the spess. She recommended the spinel for me also. What will your setting look like and are you doing a pendant or ring? So exciting!

 

[katharath]

Lilysweet - I am so bad with orange color combos for some reason! I really wish I could help, and I will think it over and see if I can visualize it...but I mostly just wanted to say that I think you chose a great gem from Minous, and I LOVE that style setting of Yvonne's. (And I'm glad you liked my ring!! ). Yvonne usually has or can source fantastic melee, you're in good hands.

I am sure you'll end up with something beautiful, can't wait to see how your project goes. I hope you get some great advice here, good luck!

 

[lilmosun]

Mine will be a ring and I haven't chosen a setting yet (she is working on another ring for me at the moment).

Have you seen her mandarin garnet pendant? Since it has rubies and yellow sapphires, it might give you an idea how those colors will look with if your spess is a similar orange. It's one of my favorite pieces on her site (unfortunately, rose gold doesn't work well with my skintone)



https://www.etsy.com/listing/244801981/double-petal-flower-pendant-in-14-k-rose?ref=shop_home_active_15

 

[lilmosun]

Here is a picture of a mandarin garnet with pink spinels (another Yvonne piece which has since been sold) that I had saved awhile back.

 

[lilysweet]

Thanks Kath for the well wishes, I agree about the stone! I am struggling with the orange as well. Limo, thanks for posting the pendant. I have looked at that picture ALOT! I am leaning toward the Rose gold, I have none of that right now but think I will like it. For some reason I am not feeling the more pink leaning stones with my Spess. I really want something bright and happy which is making me lean toward yellow diamonds. I'm Am being completely honest when I say I am horrible with this and could end up with something that looks like a 4 year old made it looking for the most sparkly gems in the perler bead tub! What does everyone think about the yellow diamond option like the ring at the top of her etsy store?

 

[lilysweet]

Limo, is that last picture in Rose gold?

 

[lilysweet]

I like the ring combo better than the pendant combo. Are the petal stones brighter? Lighter?

 

[lilysweet]

I think I am worried that because my spess is so saturated there won't be enough color difference between that and the spinels or rubies. Thoughts?

 

[minousbijoux]

Yay! I'm so happy you are here asking for opinions! Katharath, lilmosun and others will not steer you wrong. I just wanted to add that from my experience with the stone, the color is much more saturated than lilysweet's photo shows. I did NOT see any brown in the stone and would describe it as a very bright orange with slightly more red in it than yellow, if that makes sense.

Lilysweet: what about yellow sapphires? Your reasoning for thinking yellow would be better than red makes sense to me.

 

[lilysweet]

Minous is being very kind. I have already peppered her with questions and she has been very patient helping me. I so love the stone, I Want to make it look as happy as it makes me!

 

[chrono]

My personal preference is a strong contrast between the orange of the spessartite and the outer stone. I'm not sure I can advice correctly if the colours in the pictures aren't accurate. I like the combo of orange and blue.

 

[SparkliesLuver]

If you're going for sunny, I'd vote for yellow and orange, but I believe those might blend together a little more. However, if you're going for more contrast, I'd maybe vote for what Chrono suggested: orange and blue. I believe Yvonne still has some hauynite melee.

Nothing wrong whichever direction you go - just depends what you want! Happy deciding. Can't wait to see how it turns out!

 

[lilysweet]

Thanks SL! What I really want is some paraiba melee that is the color of your recent project. I have no idea if that would go well with my spess but your ring is so beautiful I want an excuse to see that color everyday!

 

[Niel]

I like your idea of a colored metal (not white)

I like the pink and I know you dont, I like red but that'll in reality end up pink. Yellow is the most obvious melee color for what your after but I do think a purple melee could be great. Go with your winter stuff (lets be honest that's what, 80%) and summer too

 

[lilmosun]

I like your idea of a colored metal (not white)

I like the pink and I know you dont, I like red but that'll in reality end up pink. Yellow is the most obvious melee color for what your after but I do think a purple melee could be great. Go with your winter stuff (lets be honest that's what, 80%) and summer too

Oh..I really like the idea of purple too.

From my own experience - I LOVE hauynes but they are so bright, saturated and pure blue that they can also easily overpower other stones or emphasize modifiers you don't want. Finding the "right" yellow isn't always easy either. As you pointed out - tone, saturation, etc..is as important as color when pairing up stones. (Originally I wanted a yellow center stone to go with my hauyne melee...can't tell you how many Yvonne and I went through before giving up. So I completely understand your angst in finding the right combination as I went through it myself but was lucky enough to have Yvonne's eye to help guide me).

 

[lilysweet]

Thanks Niel and Lil. Yvonne thinks if I am going yellow I should think about yellow diamond melee like the ring in the header pic in her etsy store. I like it but not sure if there is something better. She suggested I wait a bit and see what might come along her way for melee in the next few weeks. Any other suggestions would be welcome. I will post pics if I get options. Thanks!

 

[SparkliesLuver]

Thanks SL! What I really want is some paraiba melee that is the color of your recent project. I have no idea if that would go well with my spess but your ring is so beautiful I want an excuse to see that color everyday!

Aw, thank you, lilysweet. Hey, why not? Yvonne may have some 1mm left. Worth an ask! Do you know what size she recommends with your stone?

ETA: How do you feel about green?

 

[dk168]

I struggled to think in orange, as it is not a colour that I can wear. However, I believe I can wear a ring with a vivid neon orange centre stone surrounded by purple or blue melees.

DK

 

[MJO]

Personally I love the look of spess with tsavorite

 

[lilysweet]

Thanks DK and Niel. Purple is probably my least favorite color so unless it would be gorgeous it is likely out. MJO, would those be likely green? I want something really bright. Do you have any examples specifically? Thanks all!

 

[lovedogs]

Thanks DK and Niel. Purple is probably my least favorite color so unless it would be gorgeous it is likely out. MJO, would those be likely green? I want something really bright. Do you have any examples specifically? Thanks all!

Lilysweet: this is what I picture when I think about spessarite and tsavorite together. This picture is from etsy, and is actually an orange sapphire, so the color isn't saturated as much as yours is, but I like the combo of bright orange and bright green. Hopefully this helps you picture the look overall!!




ETA: I personally think that a spess would look great with tsavorite melee, but this pic helps with the color

 

[lilmosun]

Tsav can definitely be bright and a good combination. While I think the ones in lovedogs photos are darker than ideal it does show the like "leaves on a flower" color combo that comes to my mind. All these possibilities are hard to give a definitive answer as it largely depends on the tone/saturation of the specific stones you are looking at.

 

[lilysweet]

Agree and it makes it even more difficult since Yvonne doesn't set stones that aren't hers so she doesn't have my spess to compare for options! I will ask her specifically about green options. Thanks!

 

[Niel]

Hasn't she had chrysoberyl melee before? That might Work- chartreuse not quite yellow not quite green. Bright.

 

[Sungura]

Lilysweet: I have a spess that is very deep Orange and I took some pictures of it with some small stones I have from Yvonne: neon pink red Burma spinel, cobalt blue spinel similar to Hayunes, demantoids, and a purple amethyst.

 

[lilysweet]

Sungura, I love you! Thanks so much for doing that! It is so helpful. Ok, to that group add yellow diamonds and think rose or yellow gold and what would be the best combo? I am leaning toward Rose gold now but depending on the pairing could change my mind and I am looking for bright.

 

[Niel]

Sungura, I love you! Thanks so much for doing that! It is so helpful. Ok, to that group add yellow diamonds and think rose or yellow gold and what would be the best combo? I am leaning toward Rose gold now but depending on the pairing could change my mind and I am looking for bright.

I hate to say this but with the pics above and considering you want to use rose gold I really thing the purple is perfect.

But considering you don't want that, maybe green.

If you did yellow in any way I wouldn't use rose gold.