Help with pink sapphire + diamond u-prong eternity

[cooper211]

hi!

I designed a u-prong pink sapphire + 0.1 ct diamond eternity band in plat w/ my jeweler. The previous bench jeweler she used made my wedding band which was u-prong in plat with diamonds, 2mm in diameter. Very dainty, delicate, perfect!

The current pink sapphire + diamond ring is super bulky with way too much metal on prong. I love the low profile of a basket-setting (some, not all are like that) but also wanted hearts cut out instead of circles like Jean Dousset does.

I'm now told that the u-prongs can't get any slimmer/"daintier" because of the flexibility of the platinum which I find curious given my wedding band is just fine and only 2mm wide vs this 3mm sapphire diamond bond.


Would loves thoughts/opinions! Was told redo of setting would be $1K and I've already sunk a bit into this ring, so not happy at all. Was not told that the ring couldn't be "dainty" with platinum as "too flexible" also wasn't told prongs couldn't be set further into the stones as they'd chip (unlike being covered in basket setting).


Thoughts? The notches made to make the u-prongs look like u's are really rigid and look bad, the jeweler thinks they can at least round them out but it's still way too much metal IMO for only 0.1 ct stones that are 3mm.

Had originally sent jeweler this Roberto Coin Cento pink sapphire for inspiration


Original CAD- told jeweler way too bulky and she assured me it would be "slim and dainty". It has one tiny heart diamond and alternates pink sapphire/diamonds from an old ring I had.





My ring below (zoom in to see how the u's are formed by just "notching" the metal so super square/rigid. And too thick of metal):



Much slimmer basket setting (not opposed to this)


Roberto Coin Cento I originally sent for inspiration


My 2mm plat Wedding band with the heart cut out

 

[icy_jade]

Unfortunately I’ve no experience in this but bump for you but if no response maybe you can try to move this thread to rockytalky?

 

[Rfisher]

I think your ring looks pretty but understand if it’s not what you were expecting.
No solution for you - just thoughts and questions below

‘The previous bench jeweler she used made my wedding band which was u-prong in plat with diamonds, 2mm in diameter. Very dainty, delicate, perfect!’

What was your jewelers reply to not using the same bench as your previous ring? same question to the platinum comments on this ring compared to your previous ring?

Original CAD- told jeweler way too bulky and she assured me it would be "slim and dainty".

this “slim and dainty” designation is opinion based. ideally measurements would be involved to clarify communication. But once again, if this same jeweler provided your original ring..........

It has one tiny heart diamond and alternates pink sapphire/diamonds from an old ring I had.

is you supplying the stones have any issue with dictating the construction of the ring being different than you wished? Is the sapphires cut uniformly and same size as the diamonds? I know if not- it would give my local jeweler fits!

paying more to re-do a ring is something thats not unheard of with custom work. I don’t think that many jewelers can completely eat the cost of redoing a miscommunication issue. A gross mistake on the jewelers part is a different scenario. I think additional information on questions above would sway my opinion to one or the other. But really it depends on what was actually said vs what’s on the work order. Plus is 1k a duplicate of the original quote or a reduced price of a whole new ring?

Also I don’t think it’s often an ideal situation to try and talk a jeweler into doing something they’ve already given you reasons it can’t be done. they don’t want to - or they can’t.

best wishes

 

[motownmama]

I think it’s pretty, but I understand it’s not what you wanted. May we see the CAD?

 

[cooper211]

I think it’s pretty, but I understand it’s not what you wanted. May we see the CAD?

Thanks! Yes, the CAD is the picture w/ the pink sapphires and the single heart diamond below. The other pics are in original thread in Colored Gemstones (lots of pics there).

 

[cooper211]

I think your ring looks pretty but understand if it’s not what you were expecting.
No solution for you - just thoughts and questions below

‘The previous bench jeweler she used made my wedding band which was u-prong in plat with diamonds, 2mm in diameter. Very dainty, delicate, perfect!’

What was your jewelers reply to not using the same bench as your previous ring? same question to the platinum comments on this ring compared to your previous ring?

Thank you so much, answers in purple. She just stopped using the bench jeweler who made my previous ring for various reasons; either the quality wasn't consistent or things weren't completed on time. The current bench jeweler has done some beautiful work with other pieces I've seen (family members) so I was pretty shocked by this CAD.

Original CAD- told jeweler way too bulky and she assured me it would be "slim and dainty".

this “slim and dainty” designation is opinion based. ideally measurements would be involved to clarify communication. But once again, if this same jeweler provided your original ring..........

This one could be my fault...I told my jeweler I didn't want the ring wider than 3mm and she said she knew exactly what I wanted. I should have gotten the wax casting but we were traveling all the summer so we just communicated via text/email.

It has one tiny heart diamond and alternates pink sapphire/diamonds from an old ring I had.

is you supplying the stones have any issue with dictating the construction of the ring being different than you wished? Is the sapphires cut uniformly and same size as the diamonds? I know if not- it would give my local jeweler fits!

I supplied the 10, 0.1 ct diamonds (VS, G) from an old ring and she procured the 3mm pink sapphire, very uniform, great quality. I got to look at those in person before we settled on them. She hasn't mentioned anything about the stones being the issue. It's more of an issue with the u-prong requiring too much metal which wasn't communicated and also the fact that she doesn't think it can be shaved down much bc of the flexibility of that plat which also wasn't communicated. I let her choose 18kt WG vs Plat, figured Plat was better as that's what my wedding band and head of e-ring are.

paying more to re-do a ring is something thats not unheard of with custom work. I don’t think that many jewelers can completely eat the cost of redoing a miscommunication issue. A gross mistake on the jewelers part is a different scenario. I think additional information on questions above would sway my opinion to one or the other. But really it depends on what was actually said vs what’s on the work order. Plus is 1k a duplicate of the original quote or a reduced price of a whole new ring?

1K is in addition to the 2500K I've already paid for the ring, plus or minus trading some parts of the old ring I used the diamonds from. I am not educated enough to know if 1K is fair for a CAD re-do, recasting, and the resetting the same stones. Thoughts?

Also I don’t think it’s often an ideal situation to try and talk a jeweler into doing something they’ve already given you reasons it can’t be done. they don’t want to - or they can’t.

Yes, this weekend was the first time I heard things from the jeweler regarding the issues w/ Platinum, etc etc. None of this was disclosed before and I was assured it was going to be delicate/dainty just like my wedding band which I'm thrilled with. They said that essentially the issue is that I like both the basket setting that are very slim (like Jean Dousset or Steven Kirsch) and also like the u-prong like the Roberto Coin (pictured in original thread in Colored Gems), but it's hard to combine. The hearts cut out under the stones are the issue with some of the bulkiness of the current setting, I would have been totally fine to nix them but it wasn't communicated. I had even asked about ditching them but was told it was going to be fine.

best wishes

Thank you!