Side stone help, please?

[Keeliamira]

So I picked up this lovely blue zircon from mastercuts (first photo) and am toying with what to do with it. I'm thinking of setting it east to west in white gold or platinum but am not sure which way to go with side stones. Here are some of the options I'm toying with (Alex pears, tourmalines, garnets). Thoughts?

 

[Garnetgirl]

Love the blue zircon, Keeliamira!

I'm not very good with colour combinations, but I like the first and third photos you posted. In my opinion, the shape and cut of the square green tourmaline are not complimentary to your zircon.

Another suggestion - maybe something colourless (diamonds or sapphire, for example) or yellow?

 

[dk168]

Personally, due to its curvy rounded shape, I would suggest pears or rounds as side stones.

Greens as seen in the pairs of stones posted look good to me.

The contrasts with the peachy red garnets is a bit too strong for me. Personally I would choose a lighter shade in the form of Morganite or Tourmaline.

Here is my pair of mis-match pears waiting to be set one day, the blue one is an Aqua and the pink one is a Tourmaline.




Colour preferences are personal, good luck with your choice and project, and I look forward to seeing the finished ring.

DK

 

[Keeliamira]

Garnetgirl - I would love to do diamonds but I would want to use one stone on each side in about a 4.5mm size and I don't think that fits in my budget right now. Glad you like the zircon. :Smile:

DK - I am definitely leaning towards the greens over pinks for just the reason you listed. I've just not had a whole lot of luck finding complementary pairs. I adore your pears!

 

[Sungura]

Hi Keeliamira

I love that Zircon! And I have a couple of suggestions

For colors:

Yvonne Raley does lots of interesting pairings. One way to get ideas is to look in her "sold" feed on Etsy or to look at her pieces on Pinterest. I have found that she doesn't have nearly as many items on Pinterest.

Google "blue zircon rings". Search same on Pinterest and EBay to looking for other possible combinations you might like

Google "Aqua color palettes" or "light blue color palates" or search same on Pinterest

Colorless side stones. - if you like the colorless look but diamonds are out of your budget you can consider white zircons as side stones. Another option could be colorless danburite. It is not as sparkly but your zircon center will be very sparkly itself

Shape of side stones - I agree with the others that stones with rounded edges will best compliment your center stone.

I'm excited for you. This is always a fun process

 

[chroman]

I could see pink working with smaller pink stones:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/455943026/burma-spinel-emerald-cuts-35-x-2mm?ref=shop_home_active_68

But I'd agree that it would be a strong contrast. Here's a mahenge/paraiba combination:
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/david-klass-paraiba-flower-ring.222552/

How about either chrysoberyl or peridot? A greenish-yellow might look nice on the sides.

A pricier thought - blue sapphire?

 

[DDOC]

I agree with Chroman, pink would look good.
From experience, going darker in tone on the sides of a pastel coloured center can be disstracting, and take away from the stone instead of adding.
I would look for stones of a similar body tone, but in alternative colours.
Think maybe soft pink Spinel, or Mali Garnet.
Trilliants or Pear shapes would work best, but a matched pair of antique cut rectangular cushions could work, although hard to find.
I have used baby pink Morganite trillions as sides to an Aquamarine before to good effect. And round Mali Garnets against a radiant cut ice pink Sapphire.

 

[Sungura]

Here are my personal favorite pairings: zircon with tsavorite or mint (depending on the zircon's color saturaron) and zircon with violet sapphire. I'm enjoying reading others' suggestions.

 

[chroman]

Good point DDOC - we're much more sensitive to diffrences in tone than we are to hue or saturation, so two stones with similar tones will be much softer contrast, like in Sungura's examples.

Maybe a light tanzanite could be another option?

 

[Keeliamira]

Oooh, I'm loooooving all the great suggestions! I'm also trying to balance my choice against its contrast to my wedding ring (12x8mm ceylon sapphire in a halo).
I did manage to find a clean pair of 3/4 tcw diamond earrings for sale that I'm toying with picking up for the stones but I'm having a hard time visualizing whether I'll be happy with rounds next to the zircon (I'm liking the pear or cushion suggestions). If I could make the perfect stones materialize they'd be antique cushion too. I also want to be able to wear the darn thing whenever... Not just for special occasions. Would the diamonds be too over the top? They are 4.7 mm and the zircon is 9x7ish if I remember correctly.

 

[chroman]

To me, rounds would be farther down the list of shapes that would pair well with your cushion. But I'm sure it could be done if your are loving the diamond combo

If you are thinking about green, how about these? Can't beat that sale price!
https://www.mastercutgems.com/Produ...dot_Matched_Pair_2_88_tcw_-Gem.php?FromPage=1

On the pink front, these might be a little darker than deal but... they're traps!
http://m.ebay.com/itm/201417099998?_mwBanner=1

 

[Keeliamira]

Chroman, I have those rubellite on my watch list, lol. I'm just not loving how dark they are next to the zircon. As for the peridot, I'm not a huge fan of peridot in general. I did find a set of old European cut round diamonds last night from mydiamondzone which seem to be the close to what I'm looking for. The antique cut goes better with the old cut zircon imo. I may reach out to Ilya and ask if they have any old cut cushions but the price seems to skyrocket for European cut cushions for whatever reason.

 

[Keeliamira]

Random flash of inspiration... What do you think of a fine blue moonstone cab pear on each side?

 

[DDOC]

I wouldn't use Moonstone in a ring.
I know people do, but it is not terribly hard, and has cleavage plains making prone to breakage.
I have attached a GIA article on it.
Maybe look at pale yellow Diamonds. Yellows and Champagne Diamonds are often cut in cushion and radiant cuts, and the pale to even yellows are generally cheaper. If you aim for under half a carat each they will be in a cheaper price bracket, so maybe 0.40 to 0.47 each rectangular light to even yellow in SI2.
They would be bright and durable.

http://www.gia.edu/moonstone-care-cleaning

 

[Keeliamira]

Thanks for the link. I think I would be more worried about a moonstone center stone than about side stones. True, they are not the hardiest gems, but they're also not much different than opals in terms of fragility/hardness.


I did find this great pair from Yvonne R. just now. What do you think? Cushions are so hard to come by. They are also a good tonal match I think... Similar saturation to my zircon. My only hesitation is that I don't wear a whole lot of pastels... More jewel tones. If I go pink it may really limit hire often I can wear it. Ugh...so... hard..
to...decide!

 

[chroman]

Ha! I saw that cushion pair last night and thought it might be a good fit for your project! But the I fell asleep instead of posting about them... I wonder if she has a zircon in stock and would do a side-by-shide photo to help you visualize the contrast?

 

[Keeliamira]

Great minds think alike, Chroman!

Well I decided to email Yvonne and ask for her help with my quest. Now she wants me to narrow down what I'm looking for (go figure ) And I'm just not sure! Am I going about this all wrong? Should I decide on a setting first? I'm making myself nuts.

 

[chrono]

I think the pastel pink will amp up the zircon.

 

[chroman]

Here's a quicky cut and paste job to get a feel for the pink/blue contrast

 

[Keeliamira]

Great Photoshoping! I like those sweet pink cushions but I'm not loving the overall pastel look it would give the ring.

I played around with the drawing app on my tablet tonight and came up with this as an idea (in platinum with deco style piercing and engraving perhaps). The stone colors are not indicative of which way I'd like to go. I saw an Edwardian sapphire ring that got me thinking (second photo). Still stumped on side stones though. I am absolutely enamored with blue sheen moonstones I've seen in antique settings but someone mentioned a concern with their fragility. Overall, I just don't want the ring to end up looking like a platinum version of a Nicky Butler ring, lol.

 

[Keeliamira]

Scratch that last idea... It's just too busy. I bit the bullet add bought a pair of SI1 OEC .80cttw diamonds from Ilya at Diamond Zone. I like the look of a triangle on the sides of the zircon but I don't like the trillion cut next to the antique cushion. I'm going to set the diamonds in a 3 prong setting on either side of the zircon with one prong pointing down the band (the apex of the triangle) and two prongs (the base of the triangle) adjacent to the zircon.
Now on to designing the fine points of the setting!

 

[Acinom]

Ooooh great sidestone choice. Your zircon will stand out so beautifully next to the OEC's.

Great choice!

 

[Keeliamira]

Thanks Acinom! I just received my beautiful zircon in the post today. I can't wait to see it in daylight. It's not quite as blue as I thought it would be... In incandescent light it appears a bit steely, but it's a lovely stone. I'll throw some photos up when I have time.

 

[Keeliamira]

My side stones arrived from Ilya at Diamond Zone and they are lovely. The photos don't do them justice at all. I'm off to the jeweler's tomorrow... Here are a few hand shots. The first two are in full sun. The second full sun photo is close to the color the zircon appears in incandescent light at night. The next is outside full shade, then inside with indirect light from a window. It looks like it picked up a lot of darkness from my dark green awning in the shade shot.

 

[Acinom]

Beautiful zircon and I love this combination. Great proportions for your future ring.

 

[Lovinggems]

Classically beautiful, great choice!

 

[chrono]

Cannot go wrong with side diamonds. What metal are you going to use for the setting?

 

[Keeliamira]

Thanks guys. I was originally thinking platinum, but I pretty much blew the room I had in my budget for platinum with the side stones, lol. At this point, I'm going with white gold. I have family jewelry i wear occasionally in yellow and rose gold but it hardly gets any love because my engagement ring is platinum and I'm a bit matchy-matchy with my metals.