Creating my dream paraiba ring

[SparkliesLuver]

Hello, fellow PSers.

I've been searching high and low for a paraiba, and I finally found one that’s a keeper. It safely arrived at AGL last Friday, and I thought it'd take me awhile to come up with a design. However, after talking with my best friend about the stone, we unintentionally came up with a design.

I wanted to share my progress, especially since I haven’t designed a ring like this before. I want to think through everything, and what better way to do that than to collaborate with all of you?!

Here we go ...
Main stone: 8.2 x 5.9 x 3.9mm (already purchased)
Inner halo: 1.2mm; material: diamonds
Outer halo: 1.5mm; material: paraiba tourmaline (already purchased from Yvonne Raley)
Metal: 14k white gold or rose gold
Details: no airlines; low overall profile; other things undecided; ideas welcome for the gallery
Prongs: I like the placement and style of the prongs in the inspiration picture. Is that enough or should I add a "v" prong to the tip as well?

Any and all feedback welcome as I won’t officially begin the process until mid-2016. Also, this will be my first halo ring, so please share what you love and don’t quite love about your halos. I'd also really appreciate profile pictures of double halo rings so I can get more ideas.

A big “thank you” goes out to Elle (http://thegemstoneproject.com/) for graciously sketching several halo options. It helped me decide on the 1.2 and 1.5mm melee.

Thank you!

 

[Acinom]

How exciting for you! The ring will look great with a diamond and a Paraiba halo.
Personally I am not a halo girl but I love mine from VC. I especially love the brightcut pave. For your beautiful stone I think it will be nice to see more defined (larger) melee in the outside border. Based on Yvonne's pics and the size of the melee it will indeed have that look.

Thanks for sharing your process.

 

[chrono]

I can't wait to see this come to fruition! Is the DBL ring 2 toned? If so, I'd do the same. Rose gold to play up the green blue and white gold for the diamonds.

 

[SparkliesLuver]

Thanks, Acinom. This will be my first and probably last halo ring, as I'm usually not a fan of them either, but something about this one really grabbed me.

Hi, Chrono. Yes, it is two toned. See picture. Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[mochiko42]

This is going to be a very amazing work of art! So, so, exciting! Thank you for sharing - it will be fantastic to live vicariously through you! [emoji7] Have you settled on a jeweler for the setting yet?

I would go for white metal for the diamond melee and rose gold (or even green gold?) for the paraiba..

 

[SparkliesLuver]

Acinom, this is the gallery of your zircon ring, right? Do you love it? I'm trying to figure out what to do there - keep it simple or go for something else/more.

Thanks for stopping by, mochiko! I greatly appreciate your kind words. I have not yet. I figure I'll start that process once my budget is where I want it, because I know once I find someone I'll want to get started. That makes two votes for two-tone. Good to know. Ohhh, green gold. I don't think I've seen that. I'll have to Google!

 

[Acinom]

It's indeed my ring in the first gallery pic Sparkliesluver. I love the melee on the struts as it gives some additional detailing and oomph. For your ring I would choose the third romantic design as it will complement the shape of your stone so well.

 

[SparkliesLuver]

I thought so! I love that setting (and your stone). That's why I saved it - I thought it would complement the shape too. Hopefully some others will come along and post their rings and/or other inspiration photos!

 

[dk168]

I am sure I read in another thread about the importance to protect the tips of pears and marquises to minimise the risk of chipping.

Apart from that, I have nothing to add, and am enjoying ride to see how this ring turns out, thanks for sharing your journey with the PS CS community.

DK

 

[Lovinggems]

Beautiful, I love the idea of a paraiba outer halo.

 

[T L]

Beautiful stone! Halo's are always awesome.

 

[SparkliesLuver]

Oooo, good note, DK. Thanks for mentioning that. I'll definitely discuss it with the jeweler. Sure thing! I'm happy to have you all along for the ride.

Thank you, Lovinggems! It was my friend's suggestion. I told her I hadn't seen that material in melee before, but low and behold I did a little searching and found Yvonne's listing. I didn't believe they were still available so I contacted her and sure enough they were (although she had others asking about them). Crazy how things turn out sometimes!

hehe I thought you might like my choices, TL.

 

[minousbijoux]

I love your stone and love the idea of a halo. I can tell already that this is going to be an amazing ring. I have a few thoughts:

1. I love the gallery of the last shot you posted; I agree with the other poster that said that the elegant curls complement your stone perfectly. But I worry that the way it is attached to the shank is not structurally sound and worry that it could bend or snap off, so I think it would behoove you to have a stronger connection - like struts - from the head to the shank.

2. Your stone is magnificent. While I love your inspiration with the pink stone and the double halo, I would suggest that you focus on whether it works the same way for such a bright color. I'm being selfish here, but I wouldn't want anything competing with the star of the show. My concern would be that if the color is too bright or the contrast between the white diamonds and the outer halo of Paraibas is too great, it might draw the eye away from the center stone, but you will only know this by playing around with it.

I am so looking forward to watching this project unfold!

 

[Kimberley]

Beautiful colour in that paraiba. I love the idea of setting the diamonds in white, and using rose gold for the paraiba and band. Looking forward to see this completed.

 

[ElleK]

I like yellow and rose gold for bright teals.

 

[chrono]

If your paraiba is well saturated, the diamonds will only complement it.

 

[Siameseroo]

Oh I cannot wait to see your ring! Your paraiba is insanely gorgeous.

 

[SparkliesLuver]

minousbijoux, thank you for your points! I have to say I completely agree with your first point. That was one of my biggest concerns with that image and my inspiration ring despite the fact that this will be an occasional wear ring. So I'm glad it's not just me! I'll definitely need to discuss that with the jeweler. As for your second point, that was my initial question to my friend. I wondered if the outer layer would compete with the stone and she didn't think it would. The best part of it all is that Yvonne let me pay for the stones and she's holding them until I get my stone back from AGL. That way, I can see everything (well, minus the diamond melee) together and see what I think. I appreciate your honesty.

It's funny you mention that, Diane. That was among the first few questions to my friend. haha I asked her if she thought a hauynite halo, instead of diamonds, would be better. She said no. I thought about it some more too and I think I'm 99% sure about diamonds too. I love the hauynite color so much though. (Yvonne does actually have a bit more!) And yes, I definitely don't want much metal to show, which is a great call about it being more of a background element.

Thank you Kimberely for another vote on the white and rose.

Ooooo, yellow and rose, Elle? Hm. Do you have any images of that, by chance? Don't think I've ever seen those two together.

I'd say my stone is pretty well saturated, Chrono. I appreciate the pictures - those help to visualize!

Thank you very much, ricezo.

 

[minousbijoux]

minousbijoux, thank you for your points! I have to say I completely agree with your first point. That was one of my biggest concerns with that image and my inspiration ring despite the fact that this will be an occasional wear ring. So I'm glad it's not just me! I'll definitely need to discuss that with the jeweler. As for your second point, that was my initial question to my friend. I wondered if the outer layer would compete with the stone and she didn't think it would. The best part of it all is that Yvonne let me pay for the stones and she's holding them until I get my stone back from AGL. That way, I can see everything (well, minus the diamond melee) together and see what I think. I appreciate your honesty.

It's funny you mention that, Diane. That was among the first few questions to my friend. haha I asked her if she thought a hauynite halo, instead of diamonds, would be better. She said no. I thought about it some more too and I think I'm 99% sure about diamonds too. I love the hauynite color so much though. (Yvonne does actually have a bit more!) And yes, I definitely don't want much metal to show, which is a great call about it being more of a background element.

Thank you Kimberely for another vote on the white and rose.

Ooooo, yellow and rose, Elle? Hm. Do you have any images of that, by chance? Don't think I've ever seen those two together.

I'd say my stone is pretty well saturated, Chrono. I appreciate the pictures - those help to visualize!

Thank you very much, ricezo.

I am glad that you understood my question! My concern has nothing to do with the diamonds, but, as you understood, with the bright contrast created by stones of such strong color and saturation. So I too look forward to when your stone is back from AGL and you can start playing around with how it all looks together!

 

[SparkliesLuver]

Just received my stone back from AGL. Admittedly, I missed it. But it's back safe and sound with a prestige report. Everything came back great, so full steam ahead. I've asked Yvonne to send me the melee, so I can't wait until those arrive. Yay!

 

[Acinom]

That's great news Sparkliesluver! Looking forward to see your project progressing. Which design decisions did you make till sofar?

 

[derbygal]

Your pear paraiba just made my heart go pitter patter. Can't wait to see her set!

 

[SparkliesLuver]

It is great news, Acinom. I think it was Chrono who said "trust but verify." Good advice. I've only made the decisions that I've talked about above. I'm waiting to make any more until I'm sure about the melee.

Thank you, derbygal! I didn't realize I'd miss it when it was off at AGL but I actually did. I got even more excited when opening the box this time!

 

[ElleK]

Oh, I didn't mean together, but just rose OR yellow gold for bright teal stones. The contrasting color really helps them pop! But you really can't go wrong with any color metal!

 

[minousbijoux]

I have a copper bearing tourmaline in rose gold which I could not resist purchasing because of the color combo. Like Elle W, I urge you to seriously consider rose gold - makes the Paraiba color pop. Then again, you could wrap that stone in dull brown paper and it would still pop

 

[SparkliesLuver]

Ohhhhh, okay. That makes more sense, Elle. Gotcha!

minousbijoux, you know you can't say that without posting a picture!

 

[minousbijoux]

minousbijoux, you know you can't say that without posting a picture!

Ha ha, I just feel like I've posted it more than once here and don't want to bore PSers!

This is the only cuprian I have set in a ring. If I were going to do it again, I would likely choose rose gold again - if not, rich, buttery high karat gold. Yum!

 

[SparkliesLuver]

I know I don't speak for everyone, minousbijoux, but I could never tire of seeing pictures like that! It's very helpful to see all the rose and yellow gold pictures because I feel like all I primarily see is white gold. Rose is outside of my comfort zone but I'm definitely intrigued by it the most. I think I need to see and try on as much rose gold stuff as I can over the next few months.

 

[minousbijoux]

I totally understand about the gold color. In general, I would agree that white gold is currently more prevalent - probably because it goes so seamlessly with pave. I am not a rose gold woman as a general rule, but 18k rose gold is subtler, and I would say one hardly notices the color against a Paraiba. Its just so breathtaking a color that thats what one notices, and it just seems to bring out the color of the stone even more. The same would definitely be true of your stone. So at least check it out against yellow gold if rose gold is too much of a stretch.

 

[SparkliesLuver]

Thanks for mentioning the 18k, minous. I checked the metal on my inspiration picture and it's also 18k. Good to know. I only have one other ring that's two-tone (white and yellow), which I designed in high school, but it doesn't often see the light of day anymore. Yes, I'll definitely check it out against several metals!