What would you do?

[lavatea]

I'm in a dilemma, and I'm curious to know what you guys would do if faced with a similar situation. I know it will ultimately come down to personal choice and what I can live with, but maybe someone will bring up a point I haven't thought about.

As many of you know, I'm working on having a stone set at the moment. This is my present to myself for finishing my BSN last December. So this ring is important to me, and isn't just a fun ring (just to give you guys some context). I was really hoping to use all gold for this project, but in order to achieve that I will have to stretch my budget considerably. I would gladly do this except for one small problem...

...I've fallen in love with a stone, and I was hoping to wrap up this setting project and scrape together some money to buy this stone. It will eventually go into a just for fun ring, so there is no sentiment attached to the stone except that I love it and want it. I visit it just about every day.

I have no doubt that the graduation ring would look good in a silver setting (it would have gold accents). It's just not what I had originally envisioned. If you were in this situation, would you compromise one in order to have both? Or stretch the budget and pray the stone was still there months later when you were ready?

 

[T L]

I would get the stone I wanted now. You can always reset a ring, but the stone is one of a kind, and might not be around.

 

[marymm]

+1 to TL's post

But I will add - some gemstone vendors accept short-term installment payment plans - I don't know if your specific vendor does, or if this kind of arrangement would ease your financial circumstances so that you could stay with an all-gold setting for your BSN ring AND get the new stone you fell in love.

 

[Aoife]

Usually, I'd be +2 for what TL said, and I've certainly given this advice in the past, but.....

not this time.

The project you currently have is with JKT, right? This is a ring you have planned for and dreamed about, and you've chosen Julia Kay Taylor to set it. She's more than a jeweler, she's an artist, and her work is not something that I'd want to destroy so you can set your graduation stone in gold later on. So if gold is what you really want, and this ring is really, really that important to you, then do it right now. Have the ring, in gold, that you want, and either wait on the the stone you want for your fun project, or see if you could put a small deposit on it.

I guess it boils down to how important is your graduation ring to you? Really?

 

[Arcadian]

Usually, I'd be +2 for what TL said, and I've certainly given this advice in the past, but.....

not this time.

The project you currently have is with JKT, right? This is a ring you have planned for and dreamed about, and you've chosen Julia Kay Taylor to set it. She's more than a jeweler, she's an artist, and her work is not something that I'd want to destroy so you can set your graduation stone in gold later on. So if gold is what you really want, and this ring is really, really that important to you, then do it right now. Have the ring, in gold, that you want, and either wait on the the stone you want for your fun project, or see if you could put a small deposit on it.

I guess it boils down to how important is your graduation ring to you? Really?

+1 I agree with this. Julia does fantastic work. Your ring will be totally unique and handmade so do it the way you want NOW instead of having regrets later on.

-A

 

[lavatea]

Thanks for all of the comments.

I think perhaps the decision has been made for me. I did some paint editing after I posted and recolored Julia's sketches to help me "see" the ring with a white shank/rose bezels vs. yellow shank/rose bezels vs. all rose ring. Going off the recolored sketches I think I prefer the white shank/rose bezels look. I would stretch the budget to spring for white gold as the white metal for the durability factor, but Julia thinks that the palladium alloy she uses would not compliment the stone as well as the Argentium silver. Since I trust her, I think I will go for the Argentium and just be extra conscious of how well I treat the ring.

I think I'll be OK long term with this decision since it wasn't primarily driven by budget after all. I think Aoife is right about the importance of the project, and I wouldn't be happy long term if I felt I had skimped. But since it's more of an aesthetic choice I think I'll be pleased.

 

[FrekeChild]

I'd do the stone.

 

[VapidLapid]

Im a stoner too.

 

[JewelFreak]

Enjoy the ring and the stone! Happy endings are so nice.

--- Laurie

 

[Michael_E]

I would stretch the budget to spring for white gold as the white metal for the durability factor, but Julia thinks that the palladium alloy she uses would not compliment the stone as well as the Argentium silver. Since I trust her, I think I will go for the Argentium and just be extra conscious of how well I treat the ring.

I've been messing around with this a bit and as it turns out Argentium can be heat treated after fabricating and prior to stone setting. This makes it nearly as hard as platinum, just as white and MUCH less expensive. You might ask her if she can heat treat your ring for you, (maybe she already does that as a matter of course). It would be well worth the added time to pop it in the kiln and treat it. Here's a link on the technical aspects of doing this: http://www.hooverandstrong.com/category/Argentium+Sterling+Silver/

 

[lavatea]

I would stretch the budget to spring for white gold as the white metal for the durability factor, but Julia thinks that the palladium alloy she uses would not compliment the stone as well as the Argentium silver. Since I trust her, I think I will go for the Argentium and just be extra conscious of how well I treat the ring.

I've been messing around with this a bit and as it turns out Argentium can be heat treated after fabricating and prior to stone setting. This makes it nearly as hard as platinum, just as white and MUCH less expensive. You might ask her if she can heat treat your ring for you, (maybe she already does that as a matter of course). It would be well worth the added time to pop it in the kiln and treat it. Here's a link on the technical aspects of doing this: http://www.hooverandstrong.com/category/Argentium+Sterling+Silver/

Thanks, Michael. She did say something about heating it to a really hard finish, so perhaps this is what she meant. She said it would wear better than regular sterling.