Please help me find a setting for a small sapphire

[AmeliaG]

Even though I haven’t gotten my sapphire from Jeff White yet, I can’t wait to pick out some settings.

The stone will be a medium dark blue Asscher about 4.5-5.0mm similar to this one: http://www.whitesgems.com/gallery/SAP015.htm I love bezels for small stones and I’d love to get some feedback on some bezel rings that I love from Etsy vendors recommended here.

I wasn‘t able to find a lot of small Asscher rings on Etsy - none of these rings have the exact size range of my stone - so I tried to visualize how these settings would work with my sapphire. Please be frank with me if there’s a setting here that you think simply will not work with my stone. I value your opinions and expertise.

I was thinking of gold but I became intrigued by the look of argentinium silver. My only hesitation is that while I love sterling silver, I’m hard on my rings and have bent many of them totally out of shape. So any experience you’ve had with argentnium siliver I’d love to hear about.

Is there another setting you think would work better? Thanks so much!

 

[mayerling]

I like the second setting.

 

[JewelFreak]

No. 4. Lovely graceful ring. If the stone is anything close to the one you linked to, holy cow, I'm DYING. Beautiful!!!

--- Laurie

 

[AmeliaG]

Thanks Laurie and mayerling!

I love both your choices - I just don't know if they'll work with my stone. Number 2 is set with a 10x8mm and mine will be at most 5mm. I'm afraid the wonderful flower motif on the profile would have to be eliminated and its my favorite part of the ring. Number 4 is lovely too; I'm just having a hard time visualizing how it would look with an Asscher. I think it would look cool set en pointe.

Laurie, I can't wait for this stone. Jeff has to source the rough; he doesn't have any Asscher-worthy roughs in house currently but I'm hoping he can match this color; I know he'll do an excellent cut.

 

[kt]

Oh, the last one is just gorgeous!!!!

 

[pregcurious]

How about this with diamonds:

http://blog.brianthecutter.com/2009/12/14/brian-gavin-creates-magnificent-custom-bezel-set-asscher-and-french-cut-diamond-engagement-ring%E2%80%A6/

I know it's a lot more dressy than the settings above, but I think you can pare it down by using just 2 trapezoids set in the shank of the ring, on either size of the center stone. It would look like a modern 3-stone, and would stand up to abuse.

 

[natsplat]

I love that last one, but perhaps it looks better with a round in it. Save that until you have a round to set?

I personally would wait until you have the stone in hand. It will tell you what setting it wants, maybe...?

 

[chrono]

Just a thought and you are free to ignore whatever I post next if you are really set on a bezel set ring setting:

You have commissioned a medium DARK blue sapphire. Personally, I would not bezel set anything that is a medium dark toned gemstone as it will most likely darken it a notch more once set. Secondly, while a bezel setting generally increases the appearance of the stone, having it close up or darken, can give it the appearance of looking smaller. Note that all 4 examples you've shown used colourless diamonds or very light coloured gemstones.

 

[AmeliaG]

thanks for the feedback everyone!

kt - thanks nr. 4 does look scrumptious with a round diamond.

pregcurious -thanks, what a beautiful ring! I wanted to cut out sidestones both to bring down the cost and focus attention on the sapphire. This is just a fun ring for me so I'm going for a non-blingy look. I would love the style you posted in an e-ring though.

natsplat - yes, I suspect you're right, nr. 4 looks better with a round diamond. It may not look the same with an Asscher. I suppose I should wait to get the stone but I can't help but start looking around.

Chrono - hey, Chrono, thanks for dropping in. Yes, I'm aware of darker stones looking even darker in a bezel-that is a major concern; however, the stone will be so small, I really don't want it in prongs. I guess, I'll have to see what color Jeff is able to get for me. I want something lighter than the classic royal blue sapphire but with good saturation. I do want to stay away from the aqua colored sapphires though.

 

[deorwine]

I absolutely agree with Chrono, and was coming in to say the same thing -- bezeling a medium dark sapphire is going to make it look darker and dampen the sparkles it has in anything but direct light. Don't get me wrong, I love bezels and I think they look awesome (I love #1 on your list, by the way, and I really love #4 although I think it's the round shape that really makes it), but now when I look at my medium dark stones that are bezeled I swear to myself I will never do it again, and I'm actually thinking about un-setting the ones I have and putting them in prong settings.

A medium-toned stone would give you wonderful saturation and might still act well in a bezel, although I personally am never going to bezel another stone that is more than medium-light tone. I started a thread not so long ago about reasonable expectations for sapphires, https://www.pricescope.com/communit...ires-what-are-reasonable-expectations.161746/ and got some good feedback. Note that the sapphire I have in that thread is both medium tone and prong set, and it can still look quite dark in some lighting conditions, and the half bezel set medium-dark sapphire on the top goes very dark in the low light pic. Sleepyspinel's "big blue" sapphire that TL was kind enough to link me to (thank you TL!),
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/ss-big-blue-ring-has-arrived.142570/
is medium light toned; I wonder if that is more what you are looking for, actually.

I'm curious -- why do you say you don't want to prong-set a smaller stone? I'd think that a smaller stone would take better to prong setting, as comparatively less of the stone would be covered by prongs than a bezel, while with a larger stone the area covered by a bezel is less percentage of the complete area.

 

[ForteKitty]

Just wanted to throw this out there since you said you're interested in bezeling a blue stone and is considering argentium. My argentium rings have put up with a lot, and you can also request for the shank to be studier!

http://www.etsy.com/transaction/44802681

 

[loriken214]

I love this project!

Lori

 

[LD]

Smaller stones (especially if they are dark to begin with) may be much darker if bezel set. I know you've said you really want a bezel BUT please wait until you've got the stone. Then cup it between your fingers (forming an artificial bezel) to check what that does to the stone. If you still like the look/colour then go for it - but I've made horrible decisions in the past without checking the stone out first and it's cost me dear. I never do anything now until I've seen the stone!

 

[AmeliaG]

Thanks for the comments everybody. You're giving me a lot to think about.

deorwine - Thanks so much for your help in my other thread! Jeff told me that the Asscher cut makes the stone lighter than a normal round which would help in a bezel setting. I asked for a medium dark but I also pointed to a sapphire on his website. What would you say the tone of this stone is (see below)?

The reason I don't like prongs on a small stone is I think they look so long compared to a small stone that they start looking like tweezers. It emphasizes the stone's smallness but not in a good way whereas the bezel just focuses on the face of the stone and if the stone is well cut, the bezel forces the eye to the part of the stone I want to emphasize (the face up cut)

Fortekitty- Wow, what a beautiful ring! How'd I miss this when I searched on Etsy? The argentium in your ring looks more like regular sterling silver whereas others I've seen have more of a green-gold tone. Did you ask for a particularly traditional sterling look?

loriken214 - Thanks for looking in loriken! I'm excited too!

LovingDiamonds - Thanks for the caution, LovingDiamonds. I definitely will try the finger trick but I also think I might call Jeff and discuss the color more.

 

[ForteKitty]

No, all my argentium rings look like normal silver... i think. maybe a bit more steely looking, but definitely not green or tinted in any way. That ring was brushed tho. I specifically requested brushed silver because i felt it would bring out the facets of the asscher cut, and it does! A shiny silver might have competed w/ the facets.

 

[pregcurious]

Fortekitty, I love your ring!

 

[bluebirrrd]

I voted "other" because I' not crazy about any of them. I'm sorry, Don't get me wrong, you have great taste and I LOVE the settings you picked, I just don't think they complement the lovely asscher shape as well as they could. I prefer it with deco or more geometric designs.

I really like Fortekitty's idea you're looking for something simple. It's lovely.

Some of my other favorites for this shape (I know, one is a round, but it has a square setting and I really like the side baguettes):







I'm sure whatever you choose will look great. You have a lovely sapphire!

 

[bluebirrrd]

Oh, since you're not crazy about having "tweezer" prongs, which I totally understand, what about a style like this?

 

[chrono]

I like the last few designs suggested by BB where the prongs highlight the shape of the stone (semi bezel and ribbon prong).

 

[deorwine]

Ah, I didn't know that about Asschers! (not owning any asschers myself...) So disregard my comments I do think that pic looks rather lighter than I'd say a medium dark stone would be, and ForteKitty's ring looks fabulous!

That makes total sense about the "tweezer" prongs! (Although -- would you be open to rounded prongs, like athenaworth's ring in this thread: https://www.pricescope.com/communit...ease-share-your-rings-with-small-gems.162059/
... and I really like that last one bluebirrrd posted. But since the stone is likely to be on the lighter side, I think a bezel will be fine, and I do looove the look of a bezel or half-bezel.)