LGK
Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Nov 27, 2007
- Messages
- 2,975
Lottapalooza, if I were going to try to get an ornate piece with a lot of melee like a halo ring done by a CAD/cast jeweler, I would spend a *lot* of time pawing through their similar work. If there *is* no similar work, I would definitely go elsewhere.
Here's some tips on inspecting jewelry. Look at the spacing of the melee- are the melee stones nice and close? Or is there a ton of unnecessary metal visible? How are they set- are the beads small, symmetrically placed and dainty or are they blobby, irregular and over-large? If you want engraving, check that as well- lower end millgrain and engraving sticks out like a sore thumb IMO. (Makers who do top notch millgrain and engraving IMO: Victor Canera, Greenlake Jewelry, Van Craeynest, probably Leon Mege & Steven Kirsch but I haven't seen those in person, and Beaudry off the top of my head. And whomever made DeeJay's "brick" setting.) Very nice millgrain is very, very teensy and delicate- in fact most modern millgrain is too large IMO. Look for symmetry- if the piece has a cathedral shank are both sides even? Is the stone set with nice looking prongs or are they large and blobby? Basically, don't just blindly trust anyone to give you what you want, especially in an ornate piece of work. Inspect their other work with a critical eye (i.e., don't get distracted oogling all the sparkles
).
You can for sure get nice results with casting for that type of ring- see Jewels by Erica Grace, Whiteflash, Brian Gavin Diamonds etc. They all do nice custom, ornate work with casting. And they all have done such work and we've seen great closeups that show that they're top-of-the line as far as that type of work goes.
The difference between a handmade ring of that type, and a cast one, is in the delicacy, the spacing of the stones, and the visibility of metal. If you, for example, look at a side by side closeup of melee on a really nice CAD/cast ring, vs. someone like Leon Mege or Steven Kirsch's work, you can see that there is more metal visible around each stone on a cast ring vs. a good handmade example. It's simply the nature of how the piece is made.
Also a handmade ring simply has more finished surfaces. For example, my Canera piece has literally every single surface, even the parts of the basket hidden under then shank, finished to a high degree of polish. A cast piece cannot replicate this- there are simply nooks and crannies that you cannot polish if a ring is made of a single cast piece.
So yes, it is possible to get a nice CAD/cast ornate halo ring made. However handmade is simply another step beyond that in terms of workmanship. In my case, I would (did) even wait if I had to to get the nicer handmade piece, because I'm nitpicky about detail. And good CAD/cast work is not cheap at all either; and if I'm going to be spending thousands ANYWAY, I'd rather spend a little more to get something I'm going to be happy with for a lifetime. (That was, in fact, my logic for going with a Victor Canera hand-forged setting, after spending something like two years with a temporary setting.) Because good cast work isn't cheap to begin with, by a long shot, especially for ornate things like halo rings. And if it is? It probably isn't very good quality.
Here's some tips on inspecting jewelry. Look at the spacing of the melee- are the melee stones nice and close? Or is there a ton of unnecessary metal visible? How are they set- are the beads small, symmetrically placed and dainty or are they blobby, irregular and over-large? If you want engraving, check that as well- lower end millgrain and engraving sticks out like a sore thumb IMO. (Makers who do top notch millgrain and engraving IMO: Victor Canera, Greenlake Jewelry, Van Craeynest, probably Leon Mege & Steven Kirsch but I haven't seen those in person, and Beaudry off the top of my head. And whomever made DeeJay's "brick" setting.) Very nice millgrain is very, very teensy and delicate- in fact most modern millgrain is too large IMO. Look for symmetry- if the piece has a cathedral shank are both sides even? Is the stone set with nice looking prongs or are they large and blobby? Basically, don't just blindly trust anyone to give you what you want, especially in an ornate piece of work. Inspect their other work with a critical eye (i.e., don't get distracted oogling all the sparkles
). You can for sure get nice results with casting for that type of ring- see Jewels by Erica Grace, Whiteflash, Brian Gavin Diamonds etc. They all do nice custom, ornate work with casting. And they all have done such work and we've seen great closeups that show that they're top-of-the line as far as that type of work goes.
The difference between a handmade ring of that type, and a cast one, is in the delicacy, the spacing of the stones, and the visibility of metal. If you, for example, look at a side by side closeup of melee on a really nice CAD/cast ring, vs. someone like Leon Mege or Steven Kirsch's work, you can see that there is more metal visible around each stone on a cast ring vs. a good handmade example. It's simply the nature of how the piece is made.
Also a handmade ring simply has more finished surfaces. For example, my Canera piece has literally every single surface, even the parts of the basket hidden under then shank, finished to a high degree of polish. A cast piece cannot replicate this- there are simply nooks and crannies that you cannot polish if a ring is made of a single cast piece.
So yes, it is possible to get a nice CAD/cast ornate halo ring made. However handmade is simply another step beyond that in terms of workmanship. In my case, I would (did) even wait if I had to to get the nicer handmade piece, because I'm nitpicky about detail. And good CAD/cast work is not cheap at all either; and if I'm going to be spending thousands ANYWAY, I'd rather spend a little more to get something I'm going to be happy with for a lifetime. (That was, in fact, my logic for going with a Victor Canera hand-forged setting, after spending something like two years with a temporary setting.) Because good cast work isn't cheap to begin with, by a long shot, especially for ornate things like halo rings. And if it is? It probably isn't very good quality.
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