Nervous about custom halo

[sukiisukii]

Hi Everyone! A family friend of mine who is overseas in the jewelry industry made a halo setting for my stone. I emailed him many images of my inspirational ring (the HW halo) along with my stone hoping he will be able to make something similar custom fit to my diamond. Basically I was going into this project blind because it was done as a favor for us and I am not paying retail therefore not expecting the retail experience either (no cads, progress reports etc.). He did have a wax model made (which I assume was custom to my stone dimensions) and we decided on 0.015ct for the halo and 0.02ct for the shank. My diamond is a 1.84ct round. The ring is now ready but I am nervous. He sent me quick images but they were super blurry! From the blurry images, it looks like the diamond is set really high up and the prongs are ginormous. It looks like the diamond is sitting on top of the halo rather than inside the halo and the the prongs are very chucky in the side shot. I asked him to email me clearer pictures and am waiting for them before panicking. Do you all see what I see?? I will post the clearer pictures once they are ready so we can re-evaluate.

 

[antelope1]

It's really hard to tell because it's so blurry!

The girdle may be above the halo, or it could be the photographer moving his hand. Height may be difficult to fix.

The prongs could be gigantic, or it could be the photographer moving his hand. Prongs may be able to fix.

Either way, you're getting it for free, right? So you could wait until you get it, then take it someplace local for adjustments to your liking.

 

[sukiisukii]

Thanks for your quick response! Yes, after staring at the picture I did start to think that the extra height may be caused by the movement of the camera. And you are correct, if the prongs are large that is a relatively small fix. I am going to go pick up the ring in person in about three weeks. I guess I will just have to sit tight and be patient, which is OH SO HARD

We are paying for material costs only, no labor or markup. Since it is still money out of our pockets, we wanted to get it as close to perfect as possible. But I guess beggars can't be choosers

 

[afreebird]

I'm seeing what you're seeing. The girdle appears to be raised much higher than the halo, almost like the halo is too small for the diamond to settle in comfortably. It's harder to tell about the prongs, but their outside corners look like they are a little chunky.

It's a beautiful, blingy setting, and I love the matching band, but I can understand why you're concerned. even though you didn't pay "retail" price, you still deserve to get what you want.

 

[Cehrabehra]

I think you're right - and if what I see is correct, the only way to get it to sit flush is to get a smaller center stone

The prong size should be fixable and when they do they *may* be able to lower it some, but I seriously doubt to flush.

 

[afreebird]

Did you ask that the wedding band be able sit flush against the e-ring? That might explain why the diamond is raised higher so that the bottom part of the basket (I'm not sure of my terminology) could be smaller in diameter where it meets the shank. It looks like there won't be a gap between the two rings.

 

[antelope1]

It's hard to tell from the pix angle if the halo is too small or if the diamond is above the halo, but I definitely think that the photographer's hand moving (down, as the shutter is depressed) is making everything look worse than it is.

Think, you press down on the shutter, and you start capturing the image, and as you press down on the shutter more, your hand moves down more, which causes this ghosting downward in the image.

If you're picking it up in person, you can ask to have it fixed, but just be tactful and think about how to say what you want in a really gentle way -- after all, this is a family favor! You are so lucky.

 

[Cehrabehra]

Did you ask that the wedding band be able sit flush against the e-ring? That might explain why the diamond is raised higher so that the bottom part of the basket (I'm not sure of my terminology) could be smaller in diameter where it meets the shank. It looks like there won't be a gap between the two rings.

the e-ring has a donut, they won't sit flush.