Custom Halo Help Please

[dc888]

Hi fellow members,

My gf and I have waited just over a month for our custom halo design to be completed. We provided the Harry Winston halo as a reference (thanks Angelainjapan). The gf fell in love with the delicate appearance of this ring. With no real consultation(aside from the pictures), or periodic follow up, the ring was constructed. There's no denying it looks beautiful, but it doesn't look as refined or as delicate as anticipated. This can be attributed to the way the melee is set. In the HW setting, the melee seems to be bead set, and the band is very thin. This is shown below:

HW ring

The melee in our custom halo is set in a chunkier fashion. The band appears alot thicker. The melee appears to be encased by metal, which appears to overshadow the melee. Instead of beads, they're more like crescents, which my gf finds distracting. Any idea what type of setting our custom ring would fall under (pave, fishtail, shared prong, bead-set, etc). The non-bead like setting....is this common or uncommon...better or worse than the traditional beads/prongs? I've attached a zoomed image for your convenience. I apologize in advance for the fuzziness of the image, but that's the best picture provided to us.

Are we being unreasonable to want it refined? It would certainly give it a more delicate look. I'm not totally sure why the melee in the ring was set in that style. Perhaps the maker had concerns about ethics/copyright (maybe others can chime in on this subject). However, numerous other custom designs I've seen have mimicked the dainty/delicate look using beadset (or shared prongs). Also, I'm sure less obvious design changes could have been made to appease the maker's moral conscience. My gf is pretty adamant the ring is set according to what we asked for, as she believes a ring with less metal showing will look better on her small fingers. This was to be the gf's dream ring. Should she settle?

In terms of custom work, has anybody else had experience with ring revisions? What was the process from beginning to end? We appreciate everyone's feedback.

Thank you.

 

[IluvEmeralds]

Hi again DC-

I would say that since its YOUR CUSTOM RING....then if it''s not right you should be able to rework it with the jeweler. That''s the point of a CUSTOM set. That you get EXACTLY what you are looking for. There is no doubt it''s very beautiful, but if it''s not what you and your GF want, then it''s not perfect for you. Make sense? Have you tried approaching them about redoing it? I would think that the jeweler should be able to fix that for you. (Or should offer to if they know you are not satisfied.)

 

[corgan]

I see what you mean about the band looking a bit more chunkier. It doesn''t look bad but its not what you wanted so I would take it back and ask them to redo it.

 

[Allison D.]

Just looking at the pictures, it appears the stone in the HW ring is more rectangular and rounded-cushion like, while your stone seems more square in proportions.

I also wonder if the stone sizes are comparable.

If not, these two things could be contributing to the less dainty look. A band can only be made so thin and still retain structural integrity, especially when it's filled with melee.

If the shank is 2mm, for example, 2mm against a 4-ct ring looks much thinner than 2mm against a 2-ct ring.

Do you know the proportions of the HW ring?

As to bead set or not, the custom version does look less bead-set than the inspiration; perhaps that can be refined.