How to reset my original e-ring sapphire?

[newtojewels]

For a second I was contemplating something like this, which is a gorgeous suite of deeply toned stones. But the purples don’t hold up in my northern hemisphere daylight the way I would like so they won’t go in a ring. Still, purple and blue = yummy.

(I also cleaned by sapphire with one of those gem cloths and she perked right up! Much prettier.)

What a difference in sparkle, and this color combo is so pretty! I don't have setting ideas for you, but I do hope you'll find this lovely stone a permanent home. Maybe it's just very photogenic, but I feel like you're underselling it!

 

[Dreamer_D]

What a difference in sparkle, and this color combo is so pretty! I don't have setting ideas for you, but I do hope you'll find this lovely stone a permanent home. Maybe it's just very photogenic, but I feel like you're underselling it!

Back in 2006 before I found pricescope and while I was daydreaming about my future engagement ring, I found a photo of a massive emerald cut blue sapphire in a pave split shank. Like this:




I sent the photo to my husband so he’d know what I wanted. Of course, I didn’t know it was a 4ct gem in the photo. And we were so young and I was in school and my husband had just changed careers. He only had $1500 Canadian dollars to spend on the ring and it took him a whole year to save up.

He chose this sapphire all by himself. I just grilled him right now about how he chose it and he claims he can’t remember anything about it! No memories, just vibes He lives in the moment.

Anyway, I admit to being disappointed by my ring when I got it. It was smaller than I wanted. What I didn’t know then but what I know now after so many years experimenting with jewelry is that I like my jewelry to be original and unique and the setting is just as important if not more important than the jewels it holds. And the setting, while a split shank, was chunky and inelegant. And boring. I know this sounds bad. I certainly felt guilty for feeling that way. I tried to fix it with the reset with EC sides but it still didn’t help. So I put it away in a drawer for the next 15 years.

With all of this in mind I’m trying to get to know the beautiful sapphire that my husband picked for me as an expression of his love and commitment. This year is apropos since it marks 20 years since we met. I cleaned her and used my macro lens with those later photos. It’s her best lighting too. But she is beautiful. The blue is very deep and a pleasing hue. She perks up paired with the right colors. She seems mysterious to me, with depth. I would like to play that depth and darkness up in the setting.

 

[Avondale]

Aaaare you suuuure she’s not royal blue, actually? Doesn’t seem like a twilight colour to me from those photos.

 

[Dandi]

I love this. LOVE it

 

[Dreamer_D]

Aaaare you suuuure she’s not royal blue, actually? Doesn’t seem like a twilight colour to me from those photos.

I think my phone camera might be helping out a little bit!

 

[RMOO]

For a second I was contemplating something like this, which is a gorgeous suite of deeply toned stones. But the purples don’t hold up in my northern hemisphere daylight the way I would like so they won’t go in a ring. Still, purple and blue = yummy.

(I also cleaned by sapphire with one of those gem cloths and she perked right up! Much prettier.)

This color combo made me gasp when I first saw it. I love it! I find it much more interesting than a single side stone color.

 

[PastryGirl]

@Avondale you have inspired me. You are totally right and I need to stop being so hard on my sapphire!

And I think you may all be right that she needs diamond side stones. These are just CZs but it really looks sharp. I’m loving the step cut traps too. This could be a good time for my to dip my toe into the world of lab diamonds…

Yes. This is the answer. Soooo beautiful. I have been wanting a sapphire with traps or maybe half moons for awhile now. I love it!!

Have you thought of making a pendant? It would be closer to your heart that way.

 

[Dreamer_D]

This color combo made me gasp when I first saw it. I love it! I find it much more interesting than a single side stone color.

I agree! And to be frank I was all set on it but the purple sapphires shift in different directions in my northern latitude sunlight so they don’t match! One veers more blue and the other more magenta. I am going to save them for earrings some day, they are too pretty in incandescent light for me to return. But for a ring it doesn’t work. I suppose I could get another pair….

 

[BoulderGal]

Back in 2006 before I found pricescope and while I was daydreaming about my future engagement ring, I found a photo of a massive emerald cut blue sapphire in a pave split shank. Like this:




I sent the photo to my husband so he’d know what I wanted. Of course, I didn’t know it was a 4ct gem in the photo. And we were so young and I was in school and my husband had just changed careers. He only had $1500 Canadian dollars to spend on the ring and it took him a whole year to save up.

He chose this sapphire all by himself. I just grilled him right now about how he chose it and he claims he can’t remember anything about it! No memories, just vibes He lives in the moment.

Anyway, I admit to being disappointed by my ring when I got it. It was smaller than I wanted. What I didn’t know then but what I know now after so many years experimenting with jewelry is that I like my jewelry to be original and unique and the setting is just as important if not more important than the jewels it holds. And the setting, while a split shank, was chunky and inelegant. And boring. I know this sounds bad. I certainly felt guilty for feeling that way. I tried to fix it with the reset with EC sides but it still didn’t help. So I put it away in a drawer for the next 15 years.

With all of this in mind I’m trying to get to know the beautiful sapphire that my husband picked for me as an expression of his love and commitment. This year is apropos since it marks 20 years since we met. I cleaned her and used my macro lens with those later photos. It’s her best lighting too. But she is beautiful. The blue is very deep and a pleasing hue. She perks up paired with the right colors. She seems mysterious to me, with depth. I would like to play that depth and darkness up in the setting.

Holy Moly! I really dig the idea of a five stone with the stones you have! Or the east west with the pink stones! How about east west with soft yellow?

 

[BoulderGal]

Yes. This is the answer. Soooo beautiful. I have been wanting a sapphire with traps or maybe half moons for awhile now. I love it!!

Have you thought of making a pendant? It would be closer to your heart that way.

Maybe I spoke too soon! The traps, maybe a little smaller to match the sides of your sapphire, would be amazing! I'm no help at all am I?

 

[Dreamer_D]

Maybe I spoke too soon! The traps, maybe a little smaller to match the sides of your sapphire, would be amazing! I'm no help at all am I?

You are following my same thought process lol Can’t decide to save my life. Too many options! But I’m leaning pretty strongly towards icy white diamonds of some sort. It really compliments the blue and it’s so classic.

 

[Dreamer_D]

I have been hemming and hawing about this project for the past four weeks, going back and forth and back and forth. But I think I made some progress tonight!

I just pulled the trigger on a couple of 4mm OECs I found on eBay. Both have GIA reports, which is wild to me given my experience buying old cuts on eBay back in the day, but obviously it's a huge bonus. They are nicely matched I think, but I’ll find out for sure in about 200 years when my packages arrive eBay international shipping is comically slow.

Anyway, I am hoping to use them as side stones in a setting inspired by @BrownGinger's beauty. But an exact replica would have needed larger diamonds. I have a budget in mind for this project, so I would have had to go with lab grown diamonds to get the size I needed. I toyed with the idea for a while but just kept circling back to my love of natural old cuts. I also have some concerns about bezeling my sapphire, which is already fairly dark.


So I was wondering to myself if I could create a design where the center stone was prong-set -- tab prongs of course -- and the sides were bezeled. I came across this epic beauty which also belongs to another PSer. If anyone recalls their name please let me know as I did not record it! Their stunner has a very large and glorious center sapphire, but I love how the side stones are set.



The diamonds I just bought will look like this with my sapphire, shown here with 4mm OEC CZs:



I'm not totally set on a three stone yet. A part of my wants to add another pair of either 3mm diamonds or sapphires to make a five stone, which is what I am really pining for. I also might use the diamonds with one of my other little gemmies. I'm on the fence. But for right now this is where I'm headed!

 

[Dandi]

I love the proportions, I think they're spot on. But a 5 stone would be beyond delish - although I am a tad biased as 5 stones are my favourite

 

[Niel]

I hope you do a 3 stone over a 5 stone… I think matching sapphires is hard anyways, and doing round sapphires with a step cut center will not look as polished. It’ll cheapen the look, I think. I also think additional round diamonds will give a look like you cobbled the ring together from spare parts. Less intentional than the 3 stone you have going.

 

[Dreamer_D]

I hope you do a 3 stone over a 5 stone… I think matching sapphires is hard anyways, and doing round sapphires with a step cut center will not look as polished. It’ll cheapen the look, I think. I also think additional round diamonds will give a look like you cobbled the ring together from spare parts. Less intentional than the 3 stone you have going.

Good points. I have played around with a graduated five stone layout with rounds using CZs and it looked pretty delish, but I’ll see how it goes when I have them. My ring size is very large and I feel like I need more coverage than a three stone of these proportions will give.

I love the proportions, I think they're spot on. But a 5 stone would be beyond delish - although I am a tad biased as 5 stones are my favourite

I have spent a lot of time perusing graduated five stone rings and yours is definitely one I have spent time looking at!! I do kind of agree with Niel on one level because ideally I think a graduate five stone with a 5mm round center would be better. Better than an EC center.

BrownGinger’s ring has this lovely detail on the shank, which is very pretty. I will need to ponder about how to maintain a clear aesthetic while also providing the horizontal coverage I like. Then again, sometimes a more delicately scaled ring can be very pretty and very wearable, which I am wanting.

 

[Dandi]

What about a 3 stone with the sapphire EW?

 

[Dreamer_D]

What about a 3 stone with the sapphire EW?

Definitely a possibility. It feels more modern that way? I need to decide the design direction I want as I like both antique repro styles but also chunkier yellow gold styles that are very fashionable right now.

Once the diamonds arrive I will play around with layouts. I have been playing with the CZs I have but they don’t have the same depth that diamonds have so the look and feel isn’t exactly the same.

 

[Dreamer_D]

I finally have an update!

The pair of round OECs I purchased back in January ended up not being a good match. One was poorly cut. So returned the ugly sister and kept looking for a mate for the stone I kept. Finally today the perfect match arrived!





















I bought these stones from the same vendor. I don’t think they came from the same ring originally because the lab reports are dated about 5 months apart. But they are really little twinnies. And so white for old cuts! They are very sparkly and I’m super happy with them.

 

[Autumn in New England]

I finally have an update!

The pair of round OECs I purchased back in January ended up not being a good match. One was poorly cut. So returned the ugly sister and kept looking for a mate for the stone I kept. Finally today the perfect match arrived!





















I bought these stones from the same vendor. I don’t think they came from the same ring originally because the lab reports are dated about 5 months apart. But they are really little twinnies. And so white for old cuts! They are very sparkly and I’m super happy with them.

They're perfect! This is going to be a stunner...

 

[Dreamer_D]

They're perfect! This is going to be a stunner...

They are super sparkly too! Of course in person you can’t see the faceting, but they definitely look chunky and like old cuts, even this small. The twinkle is the perfect compliment to the sapphire. Not too much so they would draw attention, but just enough to be interesting.

Now I just need to figure out how to set them I’m waffling around on that as usual!

 

[Autumn in New England]

Now I just need to figure out how to set them I’m waffling around on that as usual!

But that's the fun part! And I agree about the sparkle... we all love MBCs, but there is just something special about the way the facets glitter on an OEC. You know how there is fine glitter flakes and chunky glitter flakes? OECs are the chunky glitter version of diamond brilliance. lol This is why I chose them for my studs. And yes, it took forever to find a perfect match!

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

I finally have an update!

The pair of round OECs I purchased back in January ended up not being a good match. One was poorly cut. So returned the ugly sister and kept looking for a mate for the stone I kept. Finally today the perfect match arrived!





















I bought these stones from the same vendor. I don’t think they came from the same ring originally because the lab reports are dated about 5 months apart. But they are really little twinnies. And so white for old cuts! They are very sparkly and I’m super happy with them.

im so excited for you
also for your hubby who must also be very found of the origonal stone
i cant wait to see it (back) on your finger where she belongs

 

[Dreamer_D]

But that's the fun part! And I agree about the sparkle... we all love MBCs, but there is just something special about the way the facets glitter on an OEC. You know how there is fine glitter flakes and chunky glitter flakes? OECs are the chunky glitter version of diamond brilliance. lol This is why I chose them for my studs. And yes, it took forever to find a perfect match!

A very nice analogy! I fell for old cuts about 15 years ago and I just love them! The history and craftsmanship. These two are a really classic old European cut pair, likely later cuts I think based on the proportions. I’d guess early decades of the 20th century. Of course I love bigger diamonds too, but I’m happy with smaller ones. Having macro photography as a little hobby means I can enjoy smaller diamonds, even if the faceting isn’t visible with the naked eye. Like a little secret just for me.

And yes finding matched pairs is hard. The lab reports for these help. But the vendors photos are only mid lol! I’m glad it worked out.

I need to start collecting my inspiration images. I was antique inspired.

 

[Autumn in New England]

A very nice analogy! I fell for old cuts about 15 years ago and I just love them! The history and craftsmanship. These two are a really classic old European cut pair, likely later cuts I think based on the proportions. I’d guess early decades of the 20th century. Of course I love bigger diamonds too, but I’m happy with smaller ones. Having macro photography as a little hobby means I can enjoy smaller diamonds, even if the faceting isn’t visible with the naked eye. Like a little secret just for me.

And yes finding matched pairs is hard. The lab reports for these help. But the vendors photos are only mid lol! I’m glad it worked out.

I need to start collecting my inspiration images. I was antique inspired.

Indeed! You may not be able to distinctly see every facet with the naked eye on smaller OECs, but that unique, deep fire is still there. And your ring will be all the more special for it. When do you think you'll begin preparations in earnest? And who is creating the piece (if you don't mind my asking)?

 

[Dreamer_D]

Indeed! You may not be able to distinctly see every facet with the naked eye on smaller OECs, but that unique, deep fire is still there. And your ring will be all the more special for it. When do you think you'll begin preparations in earnest? And who is creating the piece (if you don't mind my asking)?

I have no idea! I’m torn between doing something very simple just to have a pretty little ring to wear, and keeping the costs down, or sending it off to like Caysie and investing in a real work of art. The Canadian/US exchange is so brutal right now though.

 

[Autumn in New England]

I have no idea! I’m torn between doing something very simple just to have a pretty little ring to wear, and keeping the costs down, or sending it off to like Caysie and investing in a real work of art. The Canadian/US exchange is so brutal right now though.

Even if you decide to do something simple... it's still going to be an impressive 3-stone ring. You really can't lose.

 

[RMOO]

For something as sentimental as your original engagement stone, I think an investment in a setting that will make it really special is appropriate.

 

[Dreamer_D]

Hmmmm

 

[AllAboardTheBlingTrain]

Hmmmm

I LOVE this idea! I think it looks so unusual and it’ll give you such lovely finger coverage too!!

I do have other suggestions if you’re still open to them:

Ever since I saw your sapphire I haven’t been able to get the idea of a step-cut diamond halo around the sapphire out of my head (something similar to the reset that @lulu_ma designed for her mom’s (diamond) EC, if I remember correctly). Then I saw the diamond OEC side stones you bought and had another crazy idea - what if you do a diamond halo around the sapphire (step or round melee) and then sapphire halos around the diamonds? And set them in a 3 stone?

But having seen this arrangement… I like it better than my halo 3-stone idea!!

 

[Avondale]

Hmmmm

Hmmm indeed. Although, how about something floral? I can't help it, I'm all for florals. This comes to mind: