Sizing for side stones

[pregcurious]

I am thinking of buying side stones for the stone in my avatar. It is 6.4 x 8.3, and is an oval. I am thinking of buying traps.

How long and wide should the traps be? How much would a pair of diamond traps, in the appropriate size, cost?

If I did half moons, should the length and width be the same as the traps, or will half moons look bigger because they are rounded? Are half moons harder to source, or more costly than traps (for diamond)?

For diamonds, I just need eye clean SI1, and G/H color (no visible color).

Thanks folks.

 

[chrono]

Pregcurious,
Is there some reason you are looking to figure this out and buy the sidestones yourself, as opposed to having your jewellery do the homework and sourcing the traps or half moons? I am quite sure most shops will be more than happy to give you their recommendation and quote. I would try to do this in Photoshop or Paint for you if my skills are of a higher level than a 1st Grader's.

 

[minousbijoux]

Preg: I swear that someone within the last year here asked the same kind of question, and people were super helpful about comparing the length to width ratios and so forth of various options. I remember weighing in myself (though my opinion was definitely in the uninformed minority ). I know that Freke weighed in as well. Unfortunately, its like that really good movie I saw last month, only I can't remember what it was about or the name of that guy who was in it - in other words, I can't even offer you clues as to who the OP was or what the center stone was (I know, blasphemy, right?). Anyway, maybe someone else will come along who remembers as there was a lot of good info in that thread, including how much tilt the side stones should have, something that never would have even occurred to me. Good luck.

 

[the_mother_thing]

I am also looking at a similar project right now, and specifically looking for half moons. I found two rings similar to what I want to do that might be helpful.

One was cokitty's red spinel w/half moons.
[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/steven-kirsch-oval-half-moon-step-cut-three-stone.192735/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/steven-kirsch-oval-half-moon-step-cut-three-stone.192735/[/URL]

Another is DandT's spess ring.
[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/show-us-your-david-klass-bling.196654/page-5']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/show-us-your-david-klass-bling.196654/page-5[/URL]

Maybe looking through their posts will help.

I have an 11.3 x 8.5 oval garnet and thought HMs about 5.5-6 x 3.5 would be nice.

 

[pregcurious]

Chrono, I am in the stage of trying to learn more, and I am weighing the options of doing diamond sidestones versus something else. I would consider colorless spinel, but it seems difficult to find.

Minous, let me know if you find the thread.

Thanks for the links JoCoJenn.

 

[D&T]

Hey Pregcurious!

I was just emailing JocoJenn back and clicked on this thread right after, anyways, I'm resetting my half moon three stone with a new Oval Spinel size is similar to yours:

Oval Center is 8.1x6.6mm, however my current half moon I thought might a smidge too large at 6.16mm x 2.53mm so I asked David Klass to raise the center basket just a touch so my spinel will appear slightly larger and balanced.

Anyways, here is a CAD of my reset moon with my new Oval Spinel.

I thought at one point like you to source my own sidestones, and I can do that with regular shapes, like Rounds, and EC but with specialty cuts like half moons, and traps, I would recommend going through the jeweler, as the price including their mounting might be less than you think.

Sorry I don't come on PS often. so I'm going to apologize in advance if I don't happen to see this thread again.

Hope this helps in your vision.


And this is the half moon picture before I took it apart with the spess at 9x8 but set super low so it could essentially look similar to my new CAD with the 8x6.6mm gem.

 

[pregcurious]

Thanks D&T. That is very helpful! Did David 's bench also set your stone? What was the size of your original stone?

 

[FrekeChild]

I'd find a picture of the look you want to achieve and try to match those proportions to your stone. Everyone's aesthetic is different. Some people like long skinny traps, and some people like super wide traps. So it just depends on what you like!

 

[chrono]

Coloureless matched CS pairs in fancy shapes are almost impossible to find unless you go the custom route, which makes it so expensive that you might as well go with diamonds, which are easier to find.

 

[NKOTB]

Jeff Davies has started selling pink and grey spinel side stones in half moons and other fancy shapes. Not colourless, but could look interesting if you're on a budget. Sorry, I'm no good on the sizing question, as I have been trying to figure out the same thing for one of my stones.

 

[pregcurious]

Thanks, NKOTB. I was eyeing some of the greys. I wish he had colorless.

 

[NKOTB]

Me, too. Greys and pinks wouldn't go with the colour of my stone I was thinking of. Might look kinda cool with a red stone, though. But I understand wanting colourless. What about zircon?

 

[pregcurious]

Good point about zircon. I'm worried, however, of creating a custom setting for half moon zircons, then then having them chip. I feel like it would be a better investment to do colorless diamonds because the custom setting itself would be expensive, and if I had to keep on replacing zircons, that could become very tiresome and expensive. I would go for colorless spinels, but they seem hard to find.

 

[Jereni]

I have often obsessed over finding side stones myself because I am super picky about proportions. Plus I had Quest find me half moons once and I'm not happy with the result. But in the long run, I feel like jewelers just have access to more options. Either way, good luck with your search!

 

[pregcurious]

Jereni, I have used Quest before too. Did you end up using the half moons, or did you pass on them?

 

[D&T]

Have you reached out to David Klass? He may have many options, size and price range... I find that his prices for sidestones are very reasonable depending on size.. . When he sourced me my traps pair... it ranged from $450 and upwards.... from lower colors like J and higher

 

[pregcurious]

Hey D&T. I am looking for traps or half moons that total 0.4 cts. How many total carats was your $450 pair?

 

[D&T]

I think the smallest traps was approx .43ctw.. but they were all different dimensions. He might still have them but I'm thinking the pair may havw to be purchased with a custom setting? He is my go to jeweler so I prefer having him look and create my rings. The price might be a tad off though as I saw so many numbers in my string of emails maybe it was $600 starting?? I would check with him and see what he has left since he was bringing them in for proportion.. sorry but I still thought they were more reasonable than if I searched on my own which were usually in the 1500 and more and not step cuts. Hope that helps.

If I find my email with the traps picture I will post a picture of some traps option he sent me....

 

[pregcurious]

Thanks, D&T. I am on the east coast so I am hesitant of going to the west coast vendor. Hmm...maybe I should try going west coast with my next project...

 

[D&T]

Thanks, D&T. I am on the east coast so I am hesitant of going to the west coast vendor. Hmm...maybe I should try going west coast with my next project...

Reach out to David, see what he says and your concerns... He is super responsive. I mail all my gems and diamonds to David for about 2-3 yrs now and no problems.

 

[D&T]

Here were some options from David. they ranged from .37ctw J Si - .42ctw E colors VS. Anyways, give the West Coast Vendor a try

ETA: Also don't just go by carat weight, as these special fancy cut shape can vary greatly as you know I would go with dimension. I had a choice for my sidestones with the same carat weight but the other pair was cut deeper facing up smaller.

 

[pregcurious]

Wow, those look so beautiful. Shiny...man, this bug has be so bad. Thanks for the pics and great advice D&T.

 

[D&T]

Sure, I hope that helps... so what gemstone project are you working on?

 

[Jereni]

Jereni, I have used Quest before too. Did you end up using the half moons, or did you pass on them?

Sorry for the delay - I did end up using them, but was not happy with the overall final ring, including the side stone proportions. DandT's proportions, on the oval spinel ring, are perfect to me, and illustrate exactly what half moons should look like on a ring, in my opinion.

In other words, the next time I need super-perfect sides, I'm going to David Klass