royalstarrynight
Shiny_Rock
- Joined
- Oct 29, 2012
- Messages
- 354
Violet-
Sapphire 2.56ct 7.6x6.6mm color shifting sapphire from Joe Escobar in San Jose sourced from Ryan
Setting- Steven Kirsch 5 stone trellis
950 Platinum
Side stones- sourced by SK
.32tcw G/VS half moon ~2x4mm
.27tcw pears ~5x3mm The request was minimal bow ties and chubby
(Excuse my other ring tan...)
I started this journey in love with colored stones in 2012- namely sapphires. I fell in love with how many unheated sapphires had a color changing capacity encompassing both of my favorite colors of purple and blue. I had purchased and returned many sapphires from of PS favorite vendors and had a lot of advice from Chrono, MinouBijoux, Frekechild including many others and developed a taste for what I loved. During this process I learned I didn’t care for what was considered optimal on the market and lower tone was my love. I had read about Joe Escobar on the threads and since they were local, I visited. I was so very lucky to meet Ryan on one of my visits. I found out his father was a gem dealer and one weekend be brought a bunch of goodies for me to see. I easily spent 3 hours there just looking at all different types of loose colored stones. I met Violet near the end of one of visit when he told me he had something special that his father had kept for at least a decade as “old material”. She had a belly and therefore faced up a little smaller but I loved her color. I revisited multiple times and finally decided to make a purchase in 2013.
I debated over many settings and noticed that I wavered in settings and changed my mind on whims so I decided to hold this stone until I could stay steady on a single design. Yssie had her original 5 stone come out in 2011 and reset in 2012 and I was in love with the perfect curves and artistry of her setting both from the gallery and from the top. SarahB’s 3 stone trellis came out in 2013 and I was in love with those graceful curves as well. I kept wavering. Finally in 2016 I had settled that I wanted a trellis with pears and potentially half moons if possible.
I called up many vendors for approximate pricing and feasibility including JE, DK, WF, DBL, BE, VC, SK and LM.
VC told me it wasn’t possible from hand forging.
LM told me it would be ugly and he only does “classic style settings” even though he had a beautiful trellis done in the past
BE, DK, WF, SK both gave me quick quotes
DBL’s price was extraordinarily high and even higher when I asked for a quote from the uber bench- close to the price of the stones and setting
JE- gave me a relatively high quote in person. Their process would be hand carving wax. I balked when I realized they weren’t going to spend time finding the perfect diamonds for my setting and were only going to use what was on hand.
BE had just produced a lovely setting for Valmanin’s solitaire and I was impressed with the artistry of the curves and their price was reasonable so I decided to move forward. They told me a 5 stone with half moons and pears wouldn’t be possible so I opted for a 3 stone with pear trellis. After 5 rounds of CADs over many months, I had decided that they didn’t have the skill required to execute my vision despite their constant assurance they could make me happy and it would be beneficial to both parties to depart this relationship.
I took a long break since I was so exhausted from this process. Something that Frekechild reminded me was to chose a vendor who had already executed something similar. Tired of having to micromanage a vendor and knowing that both trellis’s were hand forged , I opted for that decision. I know CADs have been made of the trellis but I noticed that they lacked the crisp and clean finish I desired. Since LM and VC had turned down my project and SK had made such a beautiful ring for sarahB I opted for SK.
I was lucky that I had a trip to NY and was able to meet him in person. It was a relief to understand my vision and how important weird little details like chubby pears and the beauty of the gallery was important to me. Something that bothered me was that BE kept telling me that I wouldn’t see the gallery much so some of the details I cared about didn’t matter. He assured me it would be beautiful. I didn’t give him much instruction other than
- the images of yssie and sarahb’s trellis rings
- I wanted tapering from the top view of my ring – pears and half moons were preferable. I gave him free reign on how to choose pears and half moons. For the pears, I desired chubby pears with minimal bowties.
- I cared about how the wires looked under the basket and the gallery
- This crappy picture
We eventually scrapped sizing beads and decided to take a pause before putting them in. We also decided baguettes were too long and didn't help the taper and switched in pears.
After 6 weeks, he shipped off my baby.
This journey has been long and worthwhile. My key learnings were
1) Chose a vendor who has made something like your idea before or at least shares your vision. If you care about details, don’t fall for the lowest price. It’s not worth the heart and headache. Visiting the vendor doesn’t hurt either
2) If you’re working with side stones, work with someone who is willing to dig through a parcel of diamonds to find the “ones”. It really helps with the proportion of the stones. I found that both BE and JE were not willing to source outside stones for me. Fancy shapes are really hard to find and match on your own without abundant resources. I think that’s what makes LM separate from much of the pack, is that he’s willing to take the time to source stones.
3) Sizing can be vendor dependent. My size at Tiffany’s, JE and SK varied approximately over 1.25 sizes.
4) Colored stones are up to your own taste. Nobody can tell you what you want. Slow down and develop your own tastes. My sapphire is far from market optimally cut but it has such beautiful color. It’s deep belly is the reason why it holds color. They are so different than diamonds. Similarly learn all the weird quirks of fancy cuts. I originally set out to find my own side stones thinking that much like all the ladies on PS they would be easily found.
Sapphire 2.56ct 7.6x6.6mm color shifting sapphire from Joe Escobar in San Jose sourced from Ryan
Setting- Steven Kirsch 5 stone trellis
950 Platinum
Side stones- sourced by SK
.32tcw G/VS half moon ~2x4mm
.27tcw pears ~5x3mm The request was minimal bow ties and chubby
(Excuse my other ring tan...)
I started this journey in love with colored stones in 2012- namely sapphires. I fell in love with how many unheated sapphires had a color changing capacity encompassing both of my favorite colors of purple and blue. I had purchased and returned many sapphires from of PS favorite vendors and had a lot of advice from Chrono, MinouBijoux, Frekechild including many others and developed a taste for what I loved. During this process I learned I didn’t care for what was considered optimal on the market and lower tone was my love. I had read about Joe Escobar on the threads and since they were local, I visited. I was so very lucky to meet Ryan on one of my visits. I found out his father was a gem dealer and one weekend be brought a bunch of goodies for me to see. I easily spent 3 hours there just looking at all different types of loose colored stones. I met Violet near the end of one of visit when he told me he had something special that his father had kept for at least a decade as “old material”. She had a belly and therefore faced up a little smaller but I loved her color. I revisited multiple times and finally decided to make a purchase in 2013.
I debated over many settings and noticed that I wavered in settings and changed my mind on whims so I decided to hold this stone until I could stay steady on a single design. Yssie had her original 5 stone come out in 2011 and reset in 2012 and I was in love with the perfect curves and artistry of her setting both from the gallery and from the top. SarahB’s 3 stone trellis came out in 2013 and I was in love with those graceful curves as well. I kept wavering. Finally in 2016 I had settled that I wanted a trellis with pears and potentially half moons if possible.
I called up many vendors for approximate pricing and feasibility including JE, DK, WF, DBL, BE, VC, SK and LM.
VC told me it wasn’t possible from hand forging.
LM told me it would be ugly and he only does “classic style settings” even though he had a beautiful trellis done in the past
BE, DK, WF, SK both gave me quick quotes
DBL’s price was extraordinarily high and even higher when I asked for a quote from the uber bench- close to the price of the stones and setting
JE- gave me a relatively high quote in person. Their process would be hand carving wax. I balked when I realized they weren’t going to spend time finding the perfect diamonds for my setting and were only going to use what was on hand.
BE had just produced a lovely setting for Valmanin’s solitaire and I was impressed with the artistry of the curves and their price was reasonable so I decided to move forward. They told me a 5 stone with half moons and pears wouldn’t be possible so I opted for a 3 stone with pear trellis. After 5 rounds of CADs over many months, I had decided that they didn’t have the skill required to execute my vision despite their constant assurance they could make me happy and it would be beneficial to both parties to depart this relationship.
I took a long break since I was so exhausted from this process. Something that Frekechild reminded me was to chose a vendor who had already executed something similar. Tired of having to micromanage a vendor and knowing that both trellis’s were hand forged , I opted for that decision. I know CADs have been made of the trellis but I noticed that they lacked the crisp and clean finish I desired. Since LM and VC had turned down my project and SK had made such a beautiful ring for sarahB I opted for SK.
I was lucky that I had a trip to NY and was able to meet him in person. It was a relief to understand my vision and how important weird little details like chubby pears and the beauty of the gallery was important to me. Something that bothered me was that BE kept telling me that I wouldn’t see the gallery much so some of the details I cared about didn’t matter. He assured me it would be beautiful. I didn’t give him much instruction other than
- the images of yssie and sarahb’s trellis rings
- I wanted tapering from the top view of my ring – pears and half moons were preferable. I gave him free reign on how to choose pears and half moons. For the pears, I desired chubby pears with minimal bowties.
- I cared about how the wires looked under the basket and the gallery
- This crappy picture
We eventually scrapped sizing beads and decided to take a pause before putting them in. We also decided baguettes were too long and didn't help the taper and switched in pears.
After 6 weeks, he shipped off my baby.
This journey has been long and worthwhile. My key learnings were
1) Chose a vendor who has made something like your idea before or at least shares your vision. If you care about details, don’t fall for the lowest price. It’s not worth the heart and headache. Visiting the vendor doesn’t hurt either
2) If you’re working with side stones, work with someone who is willing to dig through a parcel of diamonds to find the “ones”. It really helps with the proportion of the stones. I found that both BE and JE were not willing to source outside stones for me. Fancy shapes are really hard to find and match on your own without abundant resources. I think that’s what makes LM separate from much of the pack, is that he’s willing to take the time to source stones.
3) Sizing can be vendor dependent. My size at Tiffany’s, JE and SK varied approximately over 1.25 sizes.
4) Colored stones are up to your own taste. Nobody can tell you what you want. Slow down and develop your own tastes. My sapphire is far from market optimally cut but it has such beautiful color. It’s deep belly is the reason why it holds color. They are so different than diamonds. Similarly learn all the weird quirks of fancy cuts. I originally set out to find my own side stones thinking that much like all the ladies on PS they would be easily found.
Last edited:
Your ring is stunning!! SK did an amazing job. Both the stone and setting are top notch. 
300x240.png)