Revisiting pendant setting for pale mint tourmaline...

[enbcfsobe]

well, either y'all think my ideas are hideous, or maybe i just needed a new thread for the setting. i'm going with the latter (at the risk of being rather a pest).

here is the stone

this was my initial choice for a setting

which i am rethinking after comments re: how to bring out more color in this rather pale blue-green stone (without making it go entirely dark. other than a very plain bezel, i was looking at the following:

so far i think the middle one is nicest b/c it combines the bezel and the drop look and also has both yg and wg.

any other suggestions??? opinions??? i would really appreciate it!! as you can tell, i tend towards jewelry with fairly modern lines, but i would consider something more antiquey as well.

thanks in advance, my gem-addiction mentors!!

 

[neatfreak]

I love that stone! In fact, my FI almost bought it and instead bought me the pale oval sapphire instead.

I know you said "other than a bezel" but I had my little sapphire set in a bezel and it just looks fantastic.

Not the best picture, but it'll give you an idea. It def. darkened the color a bit, but not in a bad way.

As for the ones you've mentioned, I don't mind the middle one, but I'm not entirely jazzed about it. Are YOU?

 

[chrono]

The doughnut on the left is hideous. The center bezel looks sleek and interesting. I like the two tone thing but some don''t. The one on the right is just "meh".

 

[enbcfsobe]

ooh, neatfreak, thanks so much for the pic -- that came out gorgeous. i think FI is miffed that i bought this for myself for my b-day instead of asking him to buy it for me. oh, well. if you have anything that''s more of a closeup i''d love to see it -- how wide is the bezel? did you have it custom made? i''d love to hear more about it.

chrono -- thanks for your honest opinions. looking at them again, i totally agree. i think with the donut i was thinking that the stone would be bigger, and the ''donut'' sides of it thinner, but i''m not sure it would work that way. the middle one is much better than the other two. i usually don''t do two-tone except for my watch, but i thought having the gold bezel might help with the color but it would still be a mostly white pendant.

i still like the first one best, but i don''t want the stone to end up looking like a pathetic greenish diamond if it''s sortof all hanging out there in the open.

 

[neatfreak]

This is the best closeup I have. There''s some weird lighting that makes it look poorly made on the right side, but it''s just an illusion. I only got it back from the jeweler a few days ago and there hasn''t been any great sunlight!!!

I did have it custom made because I wanted it set E/W. It cost a bit more because of it, but for a round stone you could probably get something stock. I had it made like the Tiffany "diamonds by the yard" jewelry, so the bezel is pretty thin.

A place called Studio Jewelers in Madison, WI did it. They are super nice and the woman Whitney is a great designer.

 

[Kismet]

My favorite is the two-tone setting followed by your first choice. I don''t really care for the other two at all.

 

[enbcfsobe]

thanks, neatfreak!! how pretty! wear it in good health, as my grandparents used to say.

i think i would want a really thin bezel as well. can you get such a thin one with a stock setting or do those types need to be custom?

 

[neatfreak]

Date: 6/26/2007 6:22:28 PM
Author: enbcfsobe
thanks, neatfreak!! how pretty! wear it in good health, as my grandparents used to say.


i think i would want a really thin bezel as well. can you get such a thin one with a stock setting or do those types need to be custom?

Well my jeweler told me that they would be able to modify a stock setting if I had wanted my oval set normal. So I assume they could get one or shave one down pretty easily.

 

[enbcfsobe]

great -- i will talk to my jeweler about it (right after i move...maybe i should pack instead of PS-ing...).
i want to get it done by the end of July so i can wear it to celebrate my b-day in Chicago w/ FI''s parents and to a wedding we''re going to in Wisconsin that same weekend. i just got my shipment from smartbargains.com with a pretty light-blue-green dress (hehe -- so much for shopping for gems in lieu of clothes...)

 

[neatfreak]

Date: 6/26/2007 7:16:20 PM
Author: enbcfsobe
great -- i will talk to my jeweler about it (right after i move...maybe i should pack instead of PS-ing...).

i want to get it done by the end of July so i can wear it to celebrate my b-day in Chicago w/ FI''s parents and to a wedding we''re going to in Wisconsin that same weekend. i just got my shipment from smartbargains.com with a pretty light-blue-green dress (hehe -- so much for shopping for gems in lieu of clothes...)

Ohhh WISCONSIN! Where is the wedding? I live in Madison!

 

[enbcfsobe]

It''s in Green Lake. I''ve never been there before. I''ve been to Madison once before, and last summer we went to Devil''s Lake, near the Dells. FI''s family is from Chicago, so they like to vacation in Green Lake.

 

[enbcfsobe]

Disregard the above -- FI''s family goes to Devil''s Lake. Its our friend''s family that goes to Green Lake. I was a bit groggy when I typed that.

Back to the topic -- would it be crazy to think about doing the setting in green gold? Would that make the color better? Or just look weird?

 

[chrono]

If you can do green gold, it would be even better. I think the green-ness of the gold would accentuate the green-ness of the stone.

 

[neatfreak]

Date: 6/27/2007 8:31:28 AM
Author: enbcfsobe
Disregard the above -- FI''s family goes to Devil''s Lake. Its our friend''s family that goes to Green Lake. I was a bit groggy when I typed that.


Back to the topic -- would it be crazy to think about doing the setting in green gold? Would that make the color better? Or just look weird?

I think might be weird personally...but that''s just me. Green gold always looks like it''s growing fungus to me.

 

[enbcfsobe]

hmmm -- maybe i need to see green gold in person. i don''t want anything remotely fungusy.

 

[gemnut]

This is a personal preference, but I would never set a green-ish stone in anything except yellow gold, the yellower the better, so I''d aim for a high K type. I believe that white gold washes out all the color from the stone and takes away any "life" it has.

 

[twodoor2]

I think it has to do with saturation of color. I have a deep green Muzo Columbian emerald in a platinum setting, it looks great. However, based on the light saturation of your stone, I think yellow would give it more saturation, as gemnut was alluding to. I think deeply saturated aquamarines look better in white gold, but light pastels of other stones tend to do better in yellow.

 

[FireGoddess]

A green gold bezel would really be interesting!!! And might bring out the color of the stone more (which couldn''t hurt). Have you seen any black hills gold pieces? They are tricolor and have the green gold in them. I have a ring, and the green gold is used on the leaves in the piece. Lemme find one if I can.

I only like the middle setting in the row, of all 4 you posted (the bezel on the drop)...don''t really care for any of the others.

I love that oval bezel, NF!!!

 

[FireGoddess]

Here's one BHG piece

 

[FireGoddess]

Here''s another. Cool green that could go great with your stone...

 

[enbcfsobe]

oooh, that''s interesting stuff, FG. I will look around for more -- that color in the last pic is pretty neat. I''m not sure, though, how it would carry in a thin bezel with a thin chain -- it might look a little "off". The ones you showed looked like purposeful multicolor gold pieces, but I don''t know how this would look. Food for thought, though!! Thanks!

 

[twodoor2]

Remember my super light saturated mint tourmaline I showed you? Well I received my yellow gold mounting today for my other tourmaline, but I thought I''d pop this one in just to see if it looked better in yellow gold. Well it really popped. I definitely think you should go with yellow gold no matter how you set it - stay away from white metals.