Never say never: ideal step squares

[valeria101]

I am not endorsing this brand - the page just turned up on a random serach and the proverbial cup of cofee dropped promptly on the floor, because this is so very much ''me'' I almost hoped it would not be done & branded.

LINK to Ambar squares

 

[belle]

i didn''t see any natural photos of the stones on their site, which is too bad. i would have liked to see it ''real''.

 

[valeria101]

Date: 9/9/2005 5:29:23 PM
Author: belle
i didn''t see any natural photos of the stones on their site, which is too bad. i would have liked to see it ''real''.

Unfortunately...

 

[jcrow]

hum- is this the 3d diamond movie?? hehe.

 

[valeria101]

Date: 9/9/2005 5:40:54 PM
Author: jcrow
hum- is this the 3d diamond movie?? hehe.

No... that''s the sort of animation some cut design softwares yield. Besides, this one does not go all the way around anyway.

Here''s what a movie looks like: LINK

 

[belle]

woooooooowwwwww!

who ever said ''d'' ''if'' is overkill

thanks ana.
wow.

 

[AndyRosse]

Wow!

 

[blueroses]

Wow....this is actually really helpful for me to see b/c it emphasizes--for me--how important cut corners & windmills are!!

I am the biggest sucker for the asscher/EC/tycoon/you-name-the-step-cut, but you know what? This just doesn't do it for me at all! I'm not really a princess fan and that pic and IS just are too sharp and princess-y for me! I can totally appreciate its clean-ness and aesthetic beauty in the abstract, but they're just not MY cup of tea.

Anyway, different strokes for different folks and as I said, seeing this is quite instructive for me just to underscore what it is that I DO like about certain step cuts! VERY COOL!!!!!

 

[decodelighted]

Blueroses, I think we were seperated at birth. I was thinking the *same* thing!

 

[blueroses]

Deco, that''s too funny....in an alternate universe somewhere we''re flashing our asschers and perusing pave together!!

 

[MissAva]

Date: 9/9/2005 6:37:03 PM
Author: decodelighted
Blueroses, I think we were seperated at birth. I was thinking the *same* thing!

Ditto!

 

[valeria101]

I see what you mean about the corner breaks...

Actually, I have not met too many fans of the 'the fewer facets the better' club anywhere. Somehow, I remained undeterred with the impression that these simpler squares look better when small (because the facets are larger) something that asschers do not pull through very well. A bit like single cut melee versus brilliant cut (Garry mentioned once, but this is hard to show in pictures). All in all, this sort of jewels are to blame for showing me this way:

 

[widget]

Author: valeria101
Actually, I have not met too many fans of the ''the fewer facets the better'' club anywhere.

Ana...I may be a new member of that club!

I always thought the reason I love asschers so much is because they have MORE facets (hence more brilliance) than traditional ECs...

Then I got this. This step cut (and its mate) are BLINDINGLY bright...and I''m not even sure one could have fewer facets....there are NO windmills in these puppies.

widget

PS: Ana...there you go once again posting one of my all-time favorite rings..

 

[widget]

Ana...I''m really interested in your comment that single cut melee might be brighter than full cut....is this true?

If so, I wonder why they aren''t used more often in modern jewelry....

widget

 

[Mara]

I actually really love how this doesn''t have windmills! for me the windmills in asschers are too distracting from the 10 mile deep pattern that I want to see. but I don''t LOVE the stark princess corners here, I like a tiny bit more of a square round edge. But I love the pattern!

Interesting anyway!

 

[moremoremore]

although the pointed corners totally help to make the stone look larger!

That''s what I liked about the princess....

I''m in. I''ll take two!

 

[valeria101]

Date: 9/10/2005 10:35:26 AM
Author: widget

Ana...I'm really interested in your comment that single cut melee might be brighter than full cut....is this true?

Well... they have larger facets so the look is different - more 'flashy' or... how do you call this? Finding single cuts done with idea proportions is akin to looking for hens' teeth. Although I must have seen a new designer's line made with them. There seems to be a small supply of modern fresnch cuts too - and that is also a bright cut with fewer facets that works great in smaller stones.

In the techno speach around here, these things would probably be some sort of scintillation issue. Who knows... Garry !?

These little squares are rather spready & built much like the H&A - to minimize the twists and turns of light inside the diamond and turn it into on flash from each pavilion facet. As much as I can tell, there an even narrower combination of angles gives good optics in such a simple design. I've seen the same concept done in fancy color stone cuts... I wonder if these are 'retro reflectors' - the look seems similar, but I am not sure if this is the case.

The pictures of the two large rings below turned out from the dusty corners of my HD... in such large stones cut corners or no cut corners - who cares! Just a matter of taste. On an eternity band, I'd rather have them with straight corners, no gaps and lots of flash (like they've done the 'deco inspired' rings among Tiffany's now, and the 'asscher cuts' in the bands at Signedpieces... that straight corners work well in small stones is old news, really).

 

[valeria101]

The diamonds in the 'asscher cut' eternity bands at Signepieces have the smallest corners... And this is their largest band - the smaller ones may just not have corners cut at all.

 

[decodelighted]

Hmmmm. Now that I see these smaller size, three-stone beauties Valeria dug up ...I tend to agree that they "work" small. In fact, I''d take that 1st sapphire & sq. emerald cut ring for my right hand in a snap.

On the single cut issue: though I didn''t know what it was called at the time I chose it, I think single cut stones are what form a graduating ribbon of ice up to the center Asscher in my now finished but no-can-see future e-ring. Somehow the clean-ness of the icy, near-facetless diamonds formed an optical illusion that IMO helped flatter the Asscher w/o distracting from it. So, fingers crossed, you may have a modern-day, antique-repro with single cut stones to eyeball ... oh ... sometime this century!

 

[widget]

....back to the square cuts for a second...

Here''s an eternity band with 10pt square stepcuts from the ''20s....

 

[decodelighted]

Oooh. I love that one too. Wonder if they''re making them these days?

 

[valeria101]

Date: 9/11/2005 1:46:23 PM
Author: decodelighted
Oooh. I love that one too. Wonder if they''re making them these days?

Yeah... sure so.