need comfort regarding new side stones for EC

[pyramid]

I wonder if problem you are against is that fashion now is for these thinner rings. Also the baguette look I believe is a Harry Winston look and I have only seen it on thin or flat like pipe cut settings. Maybe it is not made for more rounded topped rings.

Your stone is substantial at .71 carats, I am in the UK and most don't have that size here. I wonder if the wider rings in baguette style with larger baguettes are not designed for larger stones like 1.50 carat and up. Therefore is your jeweller really trying to adapt
a ring for a larger diamond to fit yours, and will it not dwarf your centre diamond.

I like plan styles and loved your original solitaire. I have only seen baguette cut side stones over here when the ring is flat like pipecut and smooth and the look in a rounded shank I think I may have seen years ago.

Try not to let it affect your health, it is only jewellery. Your main diamond is still okay and your own wellbeing is far more important. Infact, I would just stay off Pricescope until it is fixed if reading here makes you remember about it all the time.

As I said above, I notice with looking for clothes that I have looked for a certain style or colour and when that is not mainstream in the shops, I can look all day and week and not find it. However when that colour is back in fashion there a lots and lots to choose from. I think it is the same with jewellery. Over here, this thin style is all the rage too, made dainty like the rings that are really
worn out from the 1920s, I remember reading an article on pricescope about it. See if I can find it again.

 

[pyramid]

This is the thread I was looking for. I just wonder that unless your jeweller is a designer you may get a ring he has put together that is wrongly proportioned, when the style is not the in style does he really know what you want and what the style you are looking for used to look like when it was in fashion? Two months seems an awful long time to wait for a standard ring with baguettes and more a timescale for something very fancy and unique. I would check to see if what he is doing is really what you want?

https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/thin-is-in-a-vendor’s-dilemma-by-dave-atlas.159355/

 

[pyramid]

The actual article

https://www.pricescope.com/journal/thin-vendor’s-dilemma



If your vendor/jeweller is a new jeweller, as you said the business had been taken over, does he even know what the older style
was like now that everyone is into thinner jewellery.

 

[pyramid]

I know this is the opposite, but found this when looking for Dave Atlas article.

This is what is happening and why rings are so small too, as well as costs of metal, the public want this dainty look now
that it has been shown and is available to them.


https://www.pricescope.com/communit...s-2-5-carats-and-small-shanks-1-5-2mm.164442/

 

[distracts]

Did it get resolved? Would love an update!

I left the reset version of the ring on October 6. I was in October 24, November 2. My husband dropped in November 10. I now visit my e-ring. I am terribly upset about it. It looks like a child's ring.



Nothing has happened. The owner ordered some thick platinum shanks, one that was 3mm thick, 3mm wide. The plan was, I was told, to see which of the shanks ordered would support flush-set side baguettes. Failing the ability to set them that way, he'd work one up on the CAD.

After my husband dropped in and no one was there, the owner left voicemail saying he was still "working out the options" and his voice trailed off. I had asked him Nov 2 if this was going to go on until Christmas. "Oh, no, of course not!" And yet, here we are, mid-November.

I'M normally one who insists on satisfaction, but.. they've moved, then it's Veterans day, now thanksgiving and holiday gift time is upon us. They had the big move and I'm sure there will be a grand reopening in the historic building where they are. I am hoping this means he's trying to do what I asked, he wanted to try several ways.

I'm sad and emotional that I ever changed my original setting. It makes me physically ill.

What do I do, except call or drop in daily? Until I anger them?

Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry this is dragging out even longer. This really shouldn't take that long.

 

[N-jo]

I sent a text this morning stating the timeline of things.

I got this tonight: I've already texted back that I don't like tapering where the baguettes taper, and that ROUNDED, comfort-fit is important.
He said he'd make notes about those changes. I do prefer gypsy or flush set... Instead of the bars. I just rang more seamless setting. And visible platinum on either side of baguettes, no tapering to such a narrow shank.

 

[N-jo]

The images I sent him, with my clumsy editing and the emerald ring example, reminding about the rounded edges... And preference for a less visible baguette setting, if possible.

 

[N-jo]

This is the thread I was looking for. I just wonder that unless your jeweller is a designer you may get a ring he has put together that is wrongly proportioned, when the style is not the in style does he really know what you want and what the style you are looking for used to look like when it was in fashion? Two months seems an awful long time to wait for a standard ring with baguettes and more a timescale for something very fancy and unique. I would check to see if what he is doing is really what you want?

https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/thin-is-in-a-vendor’s-dilemma-by-dave-atlas.159355/

Interesting article. Yes, I think they are lovely on others, but a lot of people save their rings until they go out. I think of Blake Lively's ring, which to me looks like a lollipop ring. Very big head on a teeny tiny skinny base. I'm sure she doesn't wear it to work in the yard or diaper the kids or do laundry. I wear my e-ring all day every day and don't want to save it for "nice" - so I want no snaggy parts, and don't want to catch it on things... I like substantial. I noticed someone small there said they need dainty jewelry because of that. I'm 5 ft tall and have always worn bold jewelry - my mother is the same way. Not junk jewelry, I only wear junk for Halloween or a costume thing. I have read that bolder jewelry, not dainty delicate stuff, just looks better on most people in general...but it's just my style. Maybe I'm a tomboy.

The jeweler has 12 years of design experience. He merged with my old jeweler, who is now only a designer in wax, not a partner, but an employee. New jeweler does CAD, old one only wax..

I have provided endless inspiration pics to both, with copious reiterations of "wider.thicker.more substantial.NOT tapered.comfort-fit.+baguettes"
I showed them my thick 4mm wedding band so they could see that I wanted a rounded, thick e-ring that would be similar to it, though not 4mm, but I figured it might need to be 2.5-3mm at least, to hold baguettes. I've written it down, made notes on the inspiration pics, etc.

The CAD he sent me tonight shows the platinum tapering as the baguettes taper, then thickening/widening a bit at the bottom. I don't like that, and immediately replied to him that I am not wild about the bar setting and that the baguettes taper into narrow band. I want that part of the band to stay thick. I have seen it can be done, and they are just going to have to figure out a way. He said he was making notes of those changes, so....keeping my fingers crossed...

this is more like what I had in mind...the longer I wait, the more i find pics of what I wanted -- though the middle stone here is larger than mine, of course. I like that the shank doesn't narrow to flat nothing at the baguettes, but is still wider there...




and I have shown him this emerald pic with all the views a dozen times, saying "almost perfect, but -polish the edges to be ROUNDED and comfortable". The thin, narrow rings really hurt my finger!

 

[tyty333]

j-lo...looks like he just "found" a CAD that was close to what you wanted and sent it to you. Does not look like he took any of your
wishes into account and that you are back at step 1. I'm feeling less hopeful.

I though he was going to gypsy set the baugettes into the metal like the emerald ring? Why cant he get that? I think you need to
write everything down and go in and talk to them. Give them a copy of everything you write down (so they have no excuse). I
would also get them to agree to a time line that you'll get your next CAD (1 week or so?) so it does not drag on and on.

Good luck! I'm cheering for ya! (I know this CAD is dissapointing).

Edit...I see you already talked to him...so when is the next CAD due?

 

[N-jo]

j-lo...looks like he just "found" a CAD that was close to what you wanted and sent it to you. Does not look like he took any of your
wishes into account and that you are back at step 1. I'm feeling less hopeful.

I though he was going to gypsy set the baugettes into the metal like the emerald ring? Why cant he get that? I think you need to
write everything down and go in and talk to them. Give them a copy of everything you write down (so they have no excuse). I
would also get them to agree to a time line that you'll get your next CAD (1 week or so?) so it does not drag on and on.

Good luck! I'm cheering for ya! (I know this CAD is dissapointing).

Edit...I see you already talked to him...so when is the next CAD due?

here are the dimensions from Nov 14, enlarged. Yes, it seems quite similar to the Stuller setting, just thicker/wider at the bottom of the shank.

I cannot tell you how many times I have emphasized that I don't like the tapering. i have stated the same thing over and over... in emails, in text, on paper, in person...! Then I leave and get ignored for 10 days and have to start all over again. He said he would sent more pics today after the notes sent via text at 9 last night.

I think it is possible to keep it from tapering where the baguette tapers without actually being so thick it spreads my fingers apart, no?

I HATE the bars now. I have looked at the bar settings so much I just hate them. I want to see no visible bars! Sink the baguettes! I like the metal as much as the diamonds, is that crazy?

I've never had to look at a CAD before, but it still looks too dainty, to me. I want a sturdy ring supporting diamonds without distracting from them. I think Platinum sets off diamonds nicely, that's why I like the patina it gets...but I don't want the platinum to be in the N/S bars, but in the east/west BAND, shank, shoulders, whatever...

 

[N-jo]

the latest adjustments, as if rendered in platinum. Oh my gosh I hate the bars. Why can't the platinum be thicker there? These are .15 baguettes, tiny! And that makes the tapering start too soon, if that makes sense.

it's getting better... just needs the edges not so sharp! ROunded rounded rounded oh my gosh I'm going to have that word tattooed on my face and added as my signature or whatever!

 

[rockysalamander]

I'm so sorry you have had to deal with this...you are asking for something so simple and they can't seem to grasp it. I ran across two settings that might help.

1) CLEARLY comfort fit with flush mounted stones.


2) Very close to the design you want, but with the rounded comfort fit for the band profile.
http://www.krikawa.com/jewelry/body-of-work/details.aspx?style=355





EDITED to add: To demonstrate the width and strudiness, here is a good example.

 

[N-jo]

I'm so sorry you have had to deal with this...you are asking for something so simple and they can't seem to grasp it. I ran across two settings that might help.

1) CLEARLY comfort fit with flush mounted stones.


2) Very close to the design you want, but with the rounded comfort fit for the band profile.
http://www.krikawa.com/jewelry/body-of-work/details.aspx?style=355





EDITED to add: To demonstrate the width and strudiness, here is a good example.

Thank you! I've actually used that ring with the blue stone as one of the inspiration photos to show them.

I have rings with flush set stones... Not side baguettes in a domed, rounded band... But I still think it could be done with such tiny baguettes. When he showed me the 3mm thick and 3mm wide shank he ordered, he told me it was to support setting the baguettes into it. Not sure what happened to that idea...

I can't run down there daily for a conversation, but should I be calling him or waiting on him to update me? I have Bell's palsy, so I have a paralyzed face. Makes any talk difficult. He's texted things and wish he'd do more.

This is what he'd proposed setting the side stones into. I need to ask why that idea changed,i guess.

 

[N-jo]

Just compared the current disliked setting on left, next to the newly designed on right, above one of the inspiration pics he's been given.

The bars on the new design are thicker, higher, more prominent on the design he shared today.

I'll have to text this ASAP tomorrow. I cannot get through to this man! He thinks when I say I want to see the baguettes with platinum visible around them, that means make the setting bars thicker and higher?

I'm going to be up all night looking for more and more flush set side baguette pics to pepper him with tomorrow.

I'm doing this ONCE. Actually twice, I guess because of that silly thin ring shock they threw at me. But now that it has to be made, it is definitely going to be made MY way, not Stuller's way, not the way of the currently popular thin, delicate ring, or a high shouldered ring with chunky, tall bar settings.


How do I make myself clear to him?

 

[rockysalamander]

I wonder if he is using existing models in his CAD program and can't create one from scratch? When I chatted with a custom jeweler, the first 'concepts' we went over were done in a quicker program with a bunch of pre-made rings. That allowed her to quickly show the basic idea.She said that it was a CAD program, but for minor changes to existing settings. For a fully unique ring, she had to use different software and built a CAD model from scratch in different software.

Theory aside, what you want it not very difficult. Do you want the baguettes totally flush and in a solid band, like the two sapphire settings I showed or your inspiration? In your inspiration, I'd probably consider that a flush-mounted baguette, but it still is held in the metal by tail-prongs (very vintage inspired).

I wonder if any of the very experienced PS'ers live near you and could sit in his office while the CAD was being worked on and get this right. If you are comfortable doing so, that would allow someone to provide constant input toward your design. I actually sat down with my custom jeweler for hours in front of the CAD machine while they designed a ring to my every exacting need. It was a lot of being quiet while they worked, but it was effective.

 

[N-jo]

He claims he stayed late and worked up those CAD designs, after I had texted that I needed to see something SOON. Actually I had texted "I came in Sept 6 the day after Labor day, it's now mid-November. If you were the customer, how would YOU feel?"

The CAD does have things I said I wanted, like a less thin bottom shank -- and he widened the band some. But it still very much resembles the Stuller one.

As an owner/designer with a newly-merged business and a huge new space, he's clearly pulled in several directions. Also three little kids to parent. So I gave him extra time, but now it's time to work late not on the store decor or ads or whatever, but on customer projects. I told him, I'm up all night, send texts anytime, I'm up and quick to answer.

I don't think he sits all day at the CAD, I think he fits it in between other demands. And now the holiday stuff is being advertised. Something I expected to avoid by showing up the day after Labor day!

I can't sit there for hours, though my sister has threatened to do so. I was willing to give him time to work on it as long as he updated me. I feel like I'm begging, and I hate that feeling. I just texted him this:
(He was not in the shop he'd bought out when I first went in, I dealt with previous owner)
"Because my face is paralyzed, it's hard to talk to make myself clear. I don't have your email, so sorry I have to text about the design. When I first came in, I had iPad with many ring photos. I said I hoped not to go through a custom process, was told store was too busy anyway& directed to Stuller book, told to narrow down online. I trusted that, in person, the settings would resemble what my saved ideas looked like, not look 1/2 th the size.
At an early point, I think it should've been pointed out that the not-dainty ring examples I was showing of 2.5-3mm widev rings that I loved were not possible unless custom-made. If I'd been told that, I would've either picked an anniversary band, or set up a consult to design& say all these yes/no things I'm texting now. If I'd been told "you realize it's going to be quite delicate?" that would've changed everything."

"So, if it seems that I'm difficult or picky, it's because now I realize I have to be very precise with my language& examples because after all this time& miscommunication, I really need for the end result to be closer to my original examples. I figure you're in this biz because it's fun, challenging, artistic, makes people happy. I'm not like the young brides who want a thin trendy ring. My choice was not meant to show off an engagement ring at showers, but to have more substance & sturdiness that fits my daily life, with some added diamonds."

He seems bent on keeping the ring so delicate... Not sure if that's because he's trying to keep it within the price already paid when my husband picked up the teeny ring 3 minutes before closing on September 30th. I think the amount is shocking, especially given the poor job done, the scratches, notches... That was an awful lot of profit for very little, low quality work. I'm all for a business to make profit; they're not a charity. But they forgot to credit us for and keep my old setting, it was just tossed into the bag with receipt and ring box.

For various reasons, I think I'm owed what i showed that I wanted DAY ONE, and i mean polished and presented as beautifully as if my name were Astor (or to be more current -- Kardashian) and for not one extra penny. This project is an apology project. I wish he'd been there when I first showed what i wanted. Give me the choice of walking away, if they aren't going to look like what I said I wanted.

I wish I had not taken in my halo ring wrap initially. It's as if they are trying to make a ring to fit into it, when my purpose in taking it in was to say "what i want WILL NOT FIT into this anymore, I know" in case I needed to sell it to them as part of the transaction. I was told "oh, that's pretty, why not keep that and if it doesn't fit the new setting, it can be adjusted"

They're not open on Saturdays, they close at 5:30 daily... But he has sent texts as late as 9pm, alone there working. Because i have felt he's fitting it in among all these other responsibilities, I have allowed it to be open-ended with no pressure. Until this week. I want my ring. Period.

 

[pearaffair]

I am just so sorry you're going through this. I can't wait for you to reach the light at the end of the tunnel! Persevere, you'll get there

 

[LLJsmom]

Tell him exactly how many mm of metal you want showing on each side of the stone, around the baguette. Err on the side of more than less. Your telling him "more metal" is too subjective. That's my 2c.

 

[N-jo]

Tell him exactly how many mm of metal you want showing on each side of the stone, around the baguette. Err on the side of more than less. Your telling him "more metal" is too subjective. That's my 2c.

well, I've given him pics about 1000 times in person and by text. I have repeatedly said my mantra of "wider, thicker, more substantial, not tapered" I said I figured for the platinum band to surround these tiny baguettes, it might be as much as 3mm wide, I was prepared for that, and he just keeps with the "but people like to see only the diamonds, they like the delicate settings" and I keep saying BUT I DO NOT. I don't know, .5mm? less? Keeping the band as narrow as possible but still making the diamonds look as if they are surrounded by band, not bar-setting, but band... and he keeps tapering it where the baguette tapers. I did draw a big orange ring around that, sent it back and said why does this taper here??? I don't want tapering where the baguette tapers. It is like talking to a wall, though he did finally fix some of the problem points. BUt he still is trying to make the shoulder bars prominent, even more so than the setting it's in!

I just keep showing him pics over and over. If we're making this, it is not going to be like the other delicate tapered settings, we are going to float those baguettes! I feel like getting a tattoo of this emerald ring, or the blue one! heh

 

[distracts]

I think at this point you just need to demand your money back and send your ring to a vendor like David Klass or someone. What you want is totally achievable and I don't think it should be hard but this jeweler is clearly not getting it.

 

[Kilda]

I just want to say I am so frustrated for you. Like you, I like more substantial, less delicate settings, and I like to see some metal - I think the metal is a beautiful part of the ring in its own right, not a necessary evil that's just there to hold the sparkly parts while being as invisible as possible.

I think you have been pretty clear on what you are looking for. You want a wide, rounded, comfort-fit shank. You want your baguettes flush set in that shank with metal showing all the way around them. I'm not sure how you could make it any clearer than that!

I think one of two things is going on. Maybe he just doesn't get what you want (which again, I think you've done a good job of clearly asking for). It almost seems like he thinks you want the setting you have, just a bit less delicate looking, so he keeps trying to tweak that same design to be sturdier. The thing is, you don't want "this one but sturdier," what you want is a different design with a completely different esthetic.

Or he gets what you want but doesn't think it will look good and is trying to steer you toward his idea of what will look better.

At this point, if I were you, I'd ask for a full refund, have him put your stone back in the original setting, and then find a designer who can understand what you are asking for. I would say to him, "you asked me for an opportunity to make this right and give me what I want, and I appreciate that you wanted to do that. But we are just not on the same page about this ring and I need to work with someone who can understand what I am envisioning."

Please don't give up on getting the ring you want. It is totally doable, and it will be beautiful. But do give up on this designer, because he just isn't getting it, despite clear descriptions and pictures. He's stuck on some other idea in his head, and he's just not going to give you what you are looking for.

 

[rockysalamander]

I agree with others that I don't think he gets it or is so stuck on 'his' vision he can't get yours. If you elect to persist, the only idea I can come up with is to focus your message very tightly and be stingy with details. Start with the big picture and then details.

For example,

1) Tell him you have decided that you want him to ignore all other inspiration pictures. You want him to replicate that emerald setting exactly, simply sized for your EC and baguettes and with the bottom of the shank between 2.0 and 2.5 mm (I think this is what you wanted from prior message). No other details. No other words. You want that exact setting exactly replicated. Wait for CAD.

2) Once you have that CAD, give the next detail. For example, you want the outer and inner edges to be comfort fit. Just like X picture. You can use the one I sent with the flush/rounds or another you like. Maybe there are 3 details, but keep it tight.

3) see what happens.

I do a lot of mediation and negotiation and sometimes the key is to focus from the big picture down...

 

[N-jo]

I agree with others that I don't think he gets it or is so stuck on 'his' vision he can't get yours. If you elect to persist, the only idea I can come up with is to focus your message very tightly and be stingy with details. Start with the big picture and then details.

For example,

1) Tell him you have decided that you want him to ignore all other inspiration pictures. You want him to replicate that emerald setting exactly, simply sized for your EC and baguettes and with the bottom of the shank between 2.0 and 2.5 mm (I think this is what you wanted from prior message). No other details. No other words. You want that exact setting exactly replicated. Wait for CAD....


I do a lot of mediation and negotiation and sometimes the key is to focus from the big picture down...

Thanks! That's kind of what I did yesterday...

The last thing I sent him was a big X over the one he keeps trying to make. And sent every view of that emerald ring.

I said I really didn't want to do custom, but after everything that's happened, and having to make it, I'm going to have the ring in my head, and it's like that one. No compromises in custom. I don't care if it's already in a setting they ordered. It was misleading and it's two months later, and that one was a scratched, notched mess anyway.. I didn't marry until I was 52, this is my only redo of my ring before death, and by golly, we will make what I want.