Designing my 20th Anniversary Ring

[Dreamer_D]

My fave 3 stone ratio is 8mm with 5mm sides Sometimes I wish that is what I did with my 8mm. But like you said - you collect the small ones and then there are the setting prices - egad! So I agree that going with the 5 stone one first makes the most sense.

Edit - I also love the proportions of @Skymonkey2000 's ring and how she set it. I haven't seen her pop up here in a while. It's divine. https://www.pricescope.com/communit...one-ring-found-thanks-to-pricescopers.271991/

Yeah, I agree those proportions do look pretty nice. When I was planning my three stone reset back in 2019, I just didn’t have the budget to be able to buy large side stones, although of course, in retrospect, I should have just spent the money. But also at that time, my diamond was set in an enclosed mounting that really emphasized the angularity of the cut and so it really felt like it did not match with more classic OEC proportions. But as soon as I had the diamond loose and now that it’s in a very open six prong mounting, the faceting looks much more flowery, and it really seems to play nicely with the more classic, later, flowery OEC style. That opens up a lot more options because diamonds cut identically to my diamond are virtually impossible to find. I couldn’t find a single one. But finding a really perfectly cut flowery OEC is much easier to do. Not “easy“ but easier.

My plan is to wait until the OEC that I bought that is currently in postal jail arrives, and see how well that one matches the LVS2 that I have currently — Linda for anyone who’s playing along. Linda is the most absolutely perfect of the flowery OECs that I currently own and the new one is similarly perfect. If those two stones are as amazing a match as I think they might be and if they really do match my 8 mm I might put those aside and hang onto them and find another 5 mm for the five stone. We shall see!

 

[Dreamer_D]

And since everyone is around this morning, I will post about how I’m waffling about setting again and keep wondering if I shouldn’t just be choosing an ultra simple shared prong, really low set daily driver, kind of mounting which will not only cost me less, but also be more practical for daily wear. That is where I’m at in this terrible decision/non-decision process!

 

[newtojewels]

And since everyone is around this morning, I will post about how I’m waffling about setting again and keep wondering if I shouldn’t just be choosing an ultra simple shared prong, really low set daily driver, kind of mounting which will not only cost me less, but also be more practical for daily wear. That is where I’m at in this terrible decision/non-decision process!

One setting to rule them all!

But seriously, I think you're a jewelry person and not just a diamond person and I don't think the setting you're considering now would be too impractical. So basically I think you should get the more special setting, for whatever that's worth.

 

[lulu_ma]

I also hope that you’ll get the more elaborate setting. I just enjoy the gallery of my five stone ring so much!

 

[Mreader]

One setting to rule them all!

But seriously, I think you're a jewelry person and not just a diamond person and I don't think the setting you're considering now would be too impractical. So basically I think you should get the more special setting, for whatever that's worth.

Ditto!

 

[Dreamer_D]

OK! Yes. You are all absolutely right! I was feeling nervous about the decision because I was digging through my old pictures and came across some photos of the five stone I sold about five years ago. It was about 1.5cctw. The diamonds were gorgeous but I almost never wore it! I got it in 2014 and I had little kids at the time and it was a different place in my life. But the prongs were really scratchy and uncomfortable. And then I started freaking out about getting another ring with a billion prongs and not liking that feeling either!



(Note that my finger size is so much smaller here, these diamonds look huge lol)


So that's why I'm trying to minimize the prongs and definitely no pointy ones.

So help me decide about prongs!

I definitely want to do little V-prongs between the diamonds. I think they will be very smooth and won't catch on things or poke. DK has done some really nice examples of larger-scale cluster rings. Like this one has 4mm diamonds in the halo, so they should scale up nicely to my 5 mm stones. And its a classic design element in the era on both Victorian swoopy baskets like @Mreader has and also fleur de lis baskets from the Edwardian and Deco eras.



The decision I am making is whether to do a double or single prong in the middle.

Double version scaled to my CADs.


And I would aim for a finish like this (but with more delicate Vs between the stones):


Or a single prong like this:


Aiming for a finish like this (but with deeper more delicate Vs):



I like the way the split prongs look from the gallery view. But I also prefer fewer prongs. I'm leaning single and if I went that way I would find a way of shaping the single prong on the gallery that was more interesting that just a straight up line. With a single prong I could probably also lower the height about half a millimeter without sacrificing aesthetic

 

[maryjane04]

OK! Yes. You are all absolutely right! I was feeling nervous about the decision because I was digging through my old pictures and came across some photos of the five stone I sold about five years ago. It was about 1.5cctw. The diamonds were gorgeous but I almost never wore it! I got it in 2014 and I had little kids at the time and it was a different place in my life. But the prongs were really scratchy and uncomfortable. And then I started freaking out about getting another ring with a billion prongs and not liking that feeling either!



(Note that my finger size is so much smaller here, these diamonds look huge lol)


So that's why I'm trying to minimize the prongs and definitely no pointy ones.

So help me decide about prongs!

I definitely want to do little V-prongs between the diamonds. I think they will be very smooth and won't catch on things or poke. DK has done some really nice examples of larger-scale cluster rings. Like this one has 4mm diamonds in the halo, so they should scale up nicely to my 5 mm stones. And its a classic design element in the era on both Victorian swoopy baskets like @Mreader has and also fleur de lis baskets from the Edwardian and Deco eras.



The decision I am making is whether to do a double or single prong in the middle.

Double version scaled to my CADs.


And I would aim for a finish like this (but with more delicate Vs between the stones):


Or a single prong like this:


Aiming for a finish like this (but with deeper more delicate Vs):



I like the way the split prongs look from the gallery view. But I also prefer fewer prongs. I'm leaning single and if I went that way I would find a way of shaping the single prong on the gallery that was more interesting that just a straight up line. With a single prong I could probably also lower the height about half a millimeter without sacrificing aesthetic

Oh gosh I'm feeling the exact same. I don't wear my cluster ring much because of all the prongs and it catches onto things. I also love that our finger sizes grew lol darn kids.

And my vote is for the double prongs. They just look so nice and such a nice little detail.

 

[lulu_ma]

Mine has fishtail double prongs-they only split at the girdle into mini tabs.