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oncrutchesrightnow said:
Wow, you really managed to capture the sparkle.
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Its honestly the sparkliest diamond I have ever owned - it somehow outperforms my ideal cut round, my POH radiant and all my other brilliant and step cuts which were painstainkingly chosen for maximum performance.

For me its an interesting aspect of the lab Vs mined debate, since it was also considerably cheaper. It probably helps that its HPHT grown and the material appears top quality, but also with lab grown material I assume that there is more of an incentive to cut for beauty rather than weight.

Years ago I had a natural F, VS2 marquise which had a bit of a bowtie, but more annoyingly it somehow had transparency issues as well, but it was quite a bit smaller than this lab stone, and 12 times the price!
 
diamondhoarder said:
Its honestly the sparkliest diamond I have ever owned - it somehow outperforms my ideal cut round, my POH radiant and all my other brilliant and step cuts which were painstainkingly chosen for maximum performance.

For me its an interesting aspect of the lab Vs mined debate, since it was also considerably cheaper. It probably helps that its HPHT grown and the material appears top quality, but also with lab grown material I assume that there is more of an incentive to cut for beauty rather than weight.

Years ago I had a natural F, VS2 marquise which had a bit of a bowtie, but more annoyingly it somehow had transparency issues as well, but it was quite a bit smaller than this lab stone, and 12 times the price!
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Is this diamond larger than your others?
 
Dreamer_D said:
Is this diamond larger than your others?
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Not really, although it probably faces up a bit bigger than some of them due to the marquise shape. This is a replacment for a larger natural princess I sold a while ago.
 
diamondhoarder said:
Not really, although it probably faces up a bit bigger than some of them due to the marquise shape. This is a replacment for a larger natural princess I sold a while ago.
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Bigger face up size means larger facets which may partially explain the added sparkle. New rings are also very clean and our existing rings are not:) And maybe you just love pinpoint sparkle!

I’m glad you love it!
 
Hi everyone, I need some help on this CAD - it's for some 4ctw diamond stud earrings. Do we think the base is wide enough so it won't be droopy? Should I have it even wider? The width of the prongs is throwing me off, from the upside-down view it almost looks OK. Would appreciate any thoughts.

Screenshot 2025-06-23 at 6.41.49 PM.png
 
Grymera said:
Hi everyone, I need some help on this CAD - it's for some 4ctw diamond stud earrings. Do we think the base is wide enough so it won't be droopy? Should I have it even wider? The width of the prongs is throwing me off, from the upside-down view it almost looks OK. Would appreciate any thoughts.

Screenshot 2025-06-23 at 6.41.49 PM.png
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Re:droop
The base is flat so I think that’s most of the battle, but isn’t the size & type of the back also a large part of the equation?
 
@Rfisher Yes-- I have disc backs but each earring is 8.1mm so I just don't want there to be a structural problem I won't ever be able to correct with backings. Being able to even have a regular friction back would be nice in a pinch.
 
seaurchin said:
Oh my, it gets complicated, doesn't it? :p

So, as mentioned, I prefer yellow gold settings with yellow stones, so I set the chrysoberyl aside for now. But then the green vanadium lab YAG above just didn't look quite right to me. Maybe because I also had a yellow gold setting in mind for it too, I don't know.

I'm trying again and just ordered this cornflower blue lab sapphire. Can't go wrong with a "classic," right? It's from Jeff Davies and Sons, as is the green lab YAG above (11x9mm). He really does such a wonderful job. If anyone is interested, his lab gems are half off right now.


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Thought I'd post an update. I had no idea it would be so hard to find a stone I like a lot in the setting and that fits the setting! I love the blue lab sapphire but it's a tad too large to fit the setting well.

Now I'm trying again and just ordered ten oval zircons from JTV, in sizes between 10x8 and 11x9. (I already have a blue zircon ring). Nine of them are pink and one is green. They range in price from $130 to $1,600 (for the green one). One of them is bound to be just right, right? I hope ordering so many to try to find just the right one isn't very poor manners. But I figure they probably like sending a bunch because then you might keep more than one. Especially if you are me. :p

Will post real life photos when they arrive. My DH made me promise not to eat them.

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As long as I'm at it, decided to add this lab emerald cabochon from Etsy, too. It's coming from Italy so if it doesn't work for the ring setting, I'll keep it for a future project.
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diamondhoarder said:
Its honestly the sparkliest diamond I have ever owned - it somehow outperforms my ideal cut round, my POH radiant and all my other brilliant and step cuts which were painstainkingly chosen for maximum performance.

For me its an interesting aspect of the lab Vs mined debate, since it was also considerably cheaper. It probably helps that its HPHT grown and the material appears top quality, but also with lab grown material I assume that there is more of an incentive to cut for beauty rather than weight.

Years ago I had a natural F, VS2 marquise which had a bit of a bowtie, but more annoyingly it somehow had transparency issues as well, but it was quite a bit smaller than this lab stone, and 12 times the price!
Click to expand...

OK, I THOUGHT I didn’t like Marquis-cut diamonds, but I think your ring is gorgeous. I think those side stones are what makes it so stunning. That is one heck of a beautiful ring.
 
Chelsea Palmer said:
OK, I THOUGHT I didn’t like Marquis-cut diamonds, but I think your ring is gorgeous. I think those side stones are what makes it so stunning. That is one heck of a beautiful ring.
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This is the part I don’t understand about people who speak derisively of LGDs as not having “magic”, or whatever qualifiers they use to tout the superiority of Earth-mined diamonds. Your diamond ring certainly looks magical to me. And it sounds like you’re saying you prefer this diamond over your original one that cost 12 times as much. There’s magic in that too as far as I’m concerned.
 
Dreamer_D said:
This is amazing! Did you source the gens or buy it as a completed piece?
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When Alistair was making my sapphire ring I mentioned to him that I liked opal and was thinking my next piece would be an opal necklace. Fast forward a year and Alistair got in touch letting me know that he had found some lovely black opal if I was interested. We came up with a design and he sourced the two other stones to align with that design.
 
Gorgeous design @CMN Sydney has some amazing jewellery designers
 
This is my new lavender jadeite ring with rubies, rubellite, diamonds, set in 18K gold with blackened rhodium. The jadeite is just over 20mm in diameter.
To me, it is a work of art, rich in symbolism. The circular “bi” represents safety and eternity. The sugarloaf in the centre adds a square, and hints
at Chinese coins, which were circles with square hole in the centre. Around the circumference are two swallows and four Chinese words “一生相守“ (protect each other for la lifetime).

in daylight.
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Indoors


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@seaurchin I’m coming in late to your project - how many CTWs is the halo? The reason why I ask is that I went down a similar journey where I had a great semi mount with beautiful diamonds I picked up for a song. I tried fitting a stone into it, and eventually gave up. I went to DK to harvest the stones and because I was providing the halo stones, it basically ended up being a free original setting (ie I got about a 50% discount vs having him source the diamonds). I still had to obviously pay for the new halo but I am so, so so SO happy with the results. It was worth the $$$ to have him do it custom for just the right stone. I ended up buying another cheapy sapphire and he did the rest (I say cheapy but it was a $1500 2.4 ct mystery meat sapphire I loved and sent to GIA; Madagascar, 2.4cts and then I sold that semi mount for $400). Overall I still probably saved $3.5k. I know you may not want to hear that but just something to consider. IMG_4397.jpegIMG_7222.jpeg
 
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