Oval with Half moons Settings

[MyDreamRing]

I have decided I want an Oval center stone (1.50 ct) with a half moon stone on each side (about 0.55 cttw)? I have only found a couple of designer settings for this type of style (Jeff Cooper and Martin Flyer). Does anyone know of any other designer settings or pictures of this type of ring setting?

Also, I am trying to decide between a trellis mounting or having a custom piece made with a more traditional mounting using double (claw foot) prongs. I was told that the trellis mounting is very trendy and may become outdated (which I don''t want). Does anyone have any thoughts on this? And again any pictures of settings using these type of mountings would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[StevL]

If you want a really finely made mounting using very nice 1/2 moons you may want to try J B Star.

Best of luck!

 

[MyDreamRing]

Thanks for the suggestion StevL.
I looked at the JB Star rings but they are a little to fancy for my taste and for my finger(my ring size is a 3.5) so I just am looking for a plain, yet elegant setting. Although I do agree JB Star makes lovely rings.

 

[elmo]

I think you're missing the JB Star styles that Steve is referring to. On their website they show RTF-2295-54213 and and RTS-4664-60254, no pave or melee accents. Those are about as plain, elegant and good looking as you can get. JB Star is fairly expensive though.

 

[valeria101]

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On 5/10/2004 2:49:47 PM MyDreamRing wrote:



...my ring size is a 3.5

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So is mine

Here are some examples of rings with side stones at Diamondsbylauren and one by Mark Morell (more of his work has been posted on PS).

For some reason, I can't remember to have seen an oval& half moons ring with trellis prongs, but why not ! Actually THIS ring gets close to my "mental image" of what a cross-prong setting may get to look like in order to accomodate half moons... Somehow, the design would have to place the sides closer underneath the center's girdle, since the half moons have the respective flat side to hide

 

[MyDreamRing]

Elmo, do you or anyone else know how much the JBStar settings cost? I saw the setting you were talking about, they are beautiful. I saw them originally and thought they were not settings or mountings, but rather sold as a completed ring. I would be curious as to how much a JB Star mounting with side stone would run?

 

[elmo]

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On 5/12/2004 10:46:22 AM MyDreamRing wrote:

Elmo, do you or anyone else know how much the JBStar settings cost? I saw the setting you were talking about, they are beautiful. I saw them originally and thought they were not settings or mountings, but rather sold as a completed ring. I would be curious as to how much a JB Star mounting with side stone would run?

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I honestly don't know, or if they sell the mounting without the center stone - Steve is a JB Star dealer and could answer.

I saw one with a 5 carat cushion-cut sapphire and thought it was about one of the best-looking rings like that I've seen. I'd want to use my own center stone though as well, even though judging from that sapphire I saw stone quality is excellent (but very likely heated).

It's not a unique or difficult design, and a top custom shop could also put something together as nice.

 

[WinkHPD]

If you are looking for a less expensive mounting, Leo Ingwer can make some very nice mountings. If my memory serves me correctly this one was under $500 for the mounting in 14kt gold. They do not have the brand recognition of the JB Star as they work for thousands of jewelers accross the country. This particular one was a custom make with the yellow head on the center stone. This was done in a "Lucida" style setting, but they make the basket three stone rings as well.

You may want to contact someone who works with Leo Ingwer if you do not wish to spend the money on the JB Star. JB Star does however enjoy an excellent reputation because of the consistent quality of workmanship that they do.

Wink

 

[elmo]

Wink, do you think the workmanship of the Ingwer settings is comparable with JB Star quality? I somehow had the idea that Ingwer was good when compared with other mass produced items, but that JB Star was more along the lines of quality custom work. But maybe that's just a story that a dealer is telling me?

 

[diamondsbylauren]

When comparing a company like JBStar with Ingwer, I think we need to understand that it's kind of like comparing Apples, and Apple seeds.


Ingwar produces a very high quality casting- but it's up to the setters and polishers to make it come to life-


I think the ring Wink posted looks quite good for a casting.




Companies like JBStar usually make thier own parts - making a custom made ring.


This is a lot more expensive from a manufacturing standpoint

 

[elmo]

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On 5/12/2004 6:23:07 PM diamondsbylauren wrote:



When comparing a company like JBStar with Ingwer, I think we need to understand that it's kind of like comparing Apples, and Apple seeds.


Ingwar produces a very high quality casting- but it's up to the setters and polishers to make it come to life-


I think the ring Wink posted looks quite good for a casting.




Companies like JBStar usually make thier own parts - making a custom made ring.


This is a lot more expensive from a manufacturing standpoint
----------------

David, that's exactly what I thought. And that due to the difference in manufacturing quality, a person shopping for JB Star probably wouldn't be shopping for Ingwer also.

 

[WinkHPD]

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On 5/12/2004 2:00:56 PM elmo wrote:

Wink, do you think the workmanship of the Ingwer settings is comparable with JB Star quality? I somehow had the idea that Ingwer was good when compared with other mass produced items, but that JB Star was more along the lines of quality custom work. But maybe that's just a story that a dealer is telling me?----------------

I sell a lot of Ingwer pieces. I will send stones to them and have between twenty and thirty rings a month made. I send a lot of it back to be redone, maybe ten %. I sell it because so many of my clients want the look, but not the price, of a top quality custom made piece. I can have a piece made and delivered for less than what it would cost me to have a JB Star piece made. (I am going by reputation alone, as I am not a JB Star dealer and have only seen one of their pieces in person, and it was truly beautiful.) Steve can help us out here, but I am guessing a ring like I showed above would be in the $900-1500 price range from JB Star, and I know it would be in the $1,600 to $2000 range if done by Mark Morrel. (Mark is a custom design artist, currently booked up through July.)

There would probably be more visual difference to the piece done by Mark than by JB Star, but there will be differences to all three. All three will be attractive, well made rings, but in this case there will definately be value in the more expensive piece by an artist like Mark. When you hold one of his pieces in your hand it is like looking at a piece of liquid gold or platinum. When we receive one for a client we only touch it with soft cotton gloves on as we want the recipient to be the first to mar its perfect polish. Tears flow frequently to the eye when one of his pieces are unveiled.

Why then do I even bother with a mass casting house?

Price.

The Ingwer products are very nice and very affordable. The JB Star pieces are better, and less affordable. The artisan pieces are incredible and less affordable still. For some, especially for "fun" rings, Ingwer is a great choice. For some, especially for the wedding ring, only a Mark Morrel or a Leon Mege will do. For most, the decision lies between someone like Ingwer, with a great looking well made product and someone like JB Star for a great looking better made product.

Wink

 

[WinkHPD]

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On 5/12/2004 6:23:07 PM diamondsbylauren wrote:



When comparing a company like JBStar with Ingwer, I think we need to understand that it's kind of like comparing Apples, and Apple seeds.


Ingwar produces a very high quality casting- but it's up to the setters and polishers to make it come to life-


I think the ring Wink posted looks quite good for a casting.




Companies like JBStar usually make thier own parts - making a custom made ring.


This is a lot more expensive from a manufacturing standpoint
----------------

I should just read to the next post, David says it very well and for a lot less words!

Wink

 

[MyDreamRing]

Wow. I never knew having a ring made could be so confusing.
I think as of right now I am leaning toward having a more traditional basket setting rather than a trellis setting.

I haven't seen many designer settings for the half moon with oval center. I saw the JB Star, but have no idea how much it will cost. I would be curious to find out if it is in line with other designers like Martin Flyer and Jeff Cooper.

I saw a Martin Flyer setting and I thought it looked nice, but I didn't like the prongs on the setting (too thick and bulky). My jeweler recommended that I consider having a piece custom made and then I could design it how I like. The typical wax mold and casting. I have yet to see any of my jewelers work (actually I think they send it out...to whom I don't know yet....we have our first appointment to sit down with them next week) I saw a another jeweler near my house had a similar setting that they had made as well and it looked great as nice if not better than some of the designers settings.

I like the idea of a custom piece because I will be able to save some on the price and I can get what I want, but I don't want to sacrifice quality. If that is the case, I will just pay extra for the designer setting.

Is a traditional basket setting hard for a jeweler to custom make? Do they typically look as just as good as a designer setting which is mass produced from a mold?

From the picture I saw on this posting I would say that Ingwer can't compare with a Leon Mege or Mark Morrel. But then again I am extremely picky to every last detail.

With that in mind I am wondering if I should even go down the path of having a custom made ring, but then again the other local jeweler's ring I saw was a custom made piece and I thought it looked beautiful. Unfortunately I don't want to buy from that jeweler..they are in the mall and way to expensive (they wanted to charge me $13,000 for a crappy 1.55 ct oval E color SI1 that I could actually see with my naked eyes inclusions all over the stone)

Agh...I am so confused. I just want everything perfect!

 

[valeria101]

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On 5/13/2004 10:02:15 AM MyDreamRing wrote:



Is a traditional basket setting hard for a jeweler to custom make? Do they typically look as just as good as a designer setting which is mass produced...

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It's probably one and the same. Some 'designer' brands make their own parts, some... I just don't know what you call "designer".

It is possible that the jeweler will assemble your ring from ready-made parts (the basket is a candidate) modified and set together. Who knows? If the end product is satisfactory for you, there is little to be said for the way it was made. No matter what the manufacturing process was, the product can still be ok or no so ok. It is good that you have seen a simmilar setting made right by the same shop and that you can have the ring tweacked just right by the jeweler - something not readily feasibe if you order a setting yourself...

Hope this works out fine for you and we get to see the ring down here

 

[moremoremore]

jumping in here late and skimmed the posts...but, if you want to see what makes me drool:


htp://www.artofplatinum.com


And p.s. an oval and half moons is FANTASTIC!!!!

 

[MyDreamRing]

I have seen Leon's website and LOVE his work!

Actually I emailed him this week and have yet to hear back from him. Is he booked up just like Mark Morrell?

My jeweler actually was the one that first referred me to his website to get ideas of what some 3 stone settings could look like. It definitely inspired me, but unfortunately I think it also raised my expectations too!

 

[elmo]

For a custom ring, if at all possible I would work with someone who does all the work themselves in-house and doesn't "subcontract" the ring out.

On the artofplatinum site, were you looking at the emerald with half-moon sides? Very very nice, just what I thought you might be looking for.

There is something else like this here: http://www.bluesapphires.biz/finishedpieces.asp, the 3.23 carat sapphire ring with half-moons.

 

[WinkHPD]

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On 5/13/2004 10:48:24 AM MyDreamRing wrote:

I have seen Leon's website and LOVE his work!

Actually I emailed him this week and have yet to hear back from him. Is he booked up just like Mark Morrell?

My jeweler actually was the one that first referred me to his website to get ideas of what some 3 stone settings could look like. It definitely inspired me, but unfortunately I think it also raised my expectations too!

----------------

Of course he is booked! All of the great ones are. I will be getting a Leon piece today, 8 weeks in the making and I am feeling VERY lucky it was such a short time. There are other companies that folks like myself and Todd Grey at NiceIce.com like to work with that do hand made three stone rings of excellent quality. They are not brand names in their own right and they do not work with the public, but they make many of the rings that the brand names sell. Their names never get mentioned AT THEIR request but they work for thousands of us jewelers accross the country. I mention Todd's name because he actually shared with me the name of the jeweler I am thinking of who specializes in hand made three stone rings.

There are many jewelers on this forum who can help you to get what you are wanting. Dave from Diamonds by Lauren, Jonathon at GOG, Todd, and no matter how long a list I type I will leave off some of the great people who are here so apologies to them up front...

Your task, should you choose to accept it, is to do some reading, decide who you want to work with, give them the task, then stand back and expectantly wait for happiness to strike you in the form of a magic box filled with the ring of her dreams, a symbol of your love and respect. You are probably wanting to spend a little more than an Ingwer piece, and maybe as much as a Leon Mege or a Mark Morrel, but you may be very pleasantly surprized at how nice a JB Star piece will be or a piece by one of the nameless custom jewelers who provide the jewelry that the Tiffany's and the Cartiers sell in addition to the masterpieces that they make in house.

Wink

 

[WinkHPD]

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On 5/13/2004 11:34:44 AM elmo wrote:

For a custom ring, if at all possible I would work with someone who does all the work themselves in-house and doesn't 'subcontract' the ring out.

Elmo,

I must respectfully dissagree. We do much of our work here in Boise, but more of it is subcontracted out to Ingwer, and other people, both recognizable name brand folks and unnamed custom jewelers. Some of the best, and some of the worst works I have ever seen have been done "in house". Some of the "name brand" houses that people think are done in house are in fact being done, very very well by the way, in Thailand, where the labor is a fraction of what it is here, yet the cost of the name brand is significantly higher because of the name brand. (This is NOT a coment on JB Star, I have no idea how and where their pieces are made, please do not misconstrue this as a comment of any kind on their work.)

Heck, some of my most stunning pieces and some of my most flaming dissasters came from the same wonderful jeweler. Doing work in house is no guarantee of quality or quality control. Any jeweler who says never to have had a dissaster either is not telling the whole story, or just has not attempted enough difficult pieces. As my rafting buddies like to say, "There are two kinds of rafters, those who have flipped, and those who are going to."

Wink

 

[elmo]

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On 5/13/2004 11:44:50 AM Wink wrote:

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On 5/13/2004 11:34:44 AM elmo wrote:


For a custom ring, if at all possible I would work with someone who does all the work themselves in-house and doesn't 'subcontract' the ring out.

I must respectfully dissagree.
----------------

Of course, since it's how you and a majority of folks do business

.

I don't mean to say that someone can't get very nice work done this way. A lot of the best bench guys don't want to be bothered dealing with end users...most folks don't know what they want and are always changing their minds

. The ring comes back and someone says it's nice but not how they though it would look. It can be very frustrating.

Things have changed in recent years such that some time ago, the bench side of the business could lose money but the stone sales were profitable and made up for it. Now, the margins are getting tighter on the stone sales, so I think that jewelers with the ability to do significant project in-house are using that as a competitive advantage.

I personally like working with the guy who is doing the work - I tend to be hands-on and usually have a pretty good idea about what I want, and working directly with a bench guy (who can tolerate a consumer) tends to get me closer to what I really want. In other industries as well, I think there's a closer attention to quality this way as well, with the assumption that you've chosen the right person for the job.

 

[WinkHPD]

Yes, it can be frustrating for the bench jeweler if he is not accustomed to dealing with the end user. Even if our local bench is doing the work, we do not allow our clients to sit down with him except for the initial design session and the final design consultation. No clients are ever allowed in the shop. It creates too much havock and often doubles or triples the time it takes to do the job, all of which time is not only extra time on that job, but other jobs that are not being attended to in a timely manner. Most people do not understand that the concomitant labor charges must then be doubled or trippled, or perhaps they do understand but do not wish to pay it anyway.

If you have a jeweler who will let you come in and "supervise" be sure to treat him well. He is indeed a rarity, and if all of his clients insisted on doing it he would soon likely be out of the business unless he is not afraid to demand and receive the extra compensation needed to cover his actual costs in lost productivity and extra time in doing those jobs.

Wink

 

[diamondsbylauren]

Elmo- from what I see, you are completely off base here.


The diamond business, and the jewelry manufacturing business are two entirely different entities.


Therefore, if a compnay wants to efficiently produce jewelry, they have no time to buy diamonds correctly- and vice versa.




Many of the most amazing artisans are very difficult people to work with.


My company has lost well over $10,000 in the past 12 moths because when the end user does not like the result, we, as the seller of the diamond and ring, must eat the product.


If I were to go back to the folks who we use to build it, and tell them, "Sorry, it did not work, I ani't paying"- it would be the last job I ever saw them do- and really good people are extremely hard to find.


So let the owner of the factory deal with them and their health insurance, Vacations, sick days, etc.....




I've found that the highest use of time is finding the proper people and utilizing their skills.






The whole process of custom making rings is quite a large one. Yes, one person could do it, but that's not realisitic if you wanted to produce a lot of jewelry.


You need specialized setter, model makers, jewelrs, polishers, etc...




It all adds up to the fact that the end user is far better served leting someone like Wink take all the risk- and be responsible for making sure the job is properly done.

 

[valeria101]

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On 5/13/2004 1:08:07 PM elmo wrote:

I personally like working with the guy who is doing the work

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yeah... that's nice when you get lucky to find a jeweler who would actualy do what you want not what he thinks you should want

...

Not sure the type is very often encountered. I have one, luckily - but most of my luck comes from the basic fact that I just want what he likes to make! I know what he can do (the man works as a medals engraver, so intricate miniature lost-wax sculptures are possible

but no pave, and no platinum please, and prongs - which I never need - take forever, etc.). Long story short, we have simmilar tastes and the job gets done. However, I rarely get the same degree of "empathy" whith my own colleagues... and I would not expect to find another jeweler to put up with my choices to the N'th degree like this.

 

[elmo]

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On 5/13/2004 2:29:01 PM diamondsbylauren wrote:


Elmo- from what I see, you are completely off base here. The diamond business, and the jewelry manufacturing business are two entirely different entities.

It all adds up to the fact that the end user is far better served leting someone like Wink take all the risk- and be responsible for making sure the job is properly done.----------------

David, I may be off base but I'm not sure where from reading your post. I'm talking about custom work here, not buying stones. And where the shop makes a limited number of pieces a year not thousands.

Like Val, I am lucky to have found the right craftsperson for me who does everything in-house. It's worked out well for us. I take responsibility when I make a mistake, they take responsibility when they make one

.

In house vs contract job, in a way I think it's like a restaurant that bakes their own bread and makes their own desserts. It potentially represents an extra attention to detail and a better chance that the product is done the way the owner intends it to be done.