Please help with CADs from ERD

[pregcurious]

Chris at ERD has been working with me to design a new setting for my ering stone. The stone is a half carat white diamond, which I recently had graded by GIA (F, SI1). I will wear this setting with a plain yellow gold half-dome band (wedding ring),or a white gold diamond eternity right (anniversary ring). I chose to go two-tone to complement both rings. The ring will be platinum, with a 18K YG halo made of fancy yellow melee.

I will post one pic from the first draft, which was just standard cushion halo for the diamond (two-tone color was not yet added), just so you can see the deliberate things that have been added.

The second set of CADs is 2nd draft.

I feel like it is missing something. I want a unique element to the ring. I like the idea of having a bit of white melee somewhere in the shank or gallery. I want to keep the small donut without melee. I like rings with a slight vintage touch. I love art deco. I feel somewhat conflicted about the leaves on the gallery; they look too modern to me. I like leaves more when they are engraved on to a shank, or have more detail in general.

I welcome suggestions, especially those with pics.

For those not familiar with ERD, I started a thread of ERD rings here:
[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/show-me-your-erd-brilliantly-engaged-thread.192763/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/show-me-your-erd-brilliantly-engaged-thread.192763/[/URL]

 

[pregcurious]

Re: CADs from ERD

First version, which was just a basic cushion halo. Please imagine fancy yellow melee in the halo.

 

[pregcurious]

Re: CADs from ERD

Second draft, with the following changes:
-cushion halo is more square on corners
-gallery has leaves
-shank is half-dome
-shoulders are tapered
-donut is plain, with no melee

 

[sonyachancs]

Re: CADs from ERD

the leaves at the gallery are gorgeous! I am toying with something like this vs a gap for an open gallery in my ring.

could I ask what the size dimensions are for your centre stone and melee?

 

[pregcurious]

Re: CADs from ERD

I don't know the exact dimensions of the center stone, but it should have a diameter of about 5.1 mm. (Chris has the diamond report because he picked it up directly from GIA with the stone.) My ring is a size 4.5. I don't know the measurements of anything else. I think the melee are in proportion with the center stone.

 

[pregcurious]

This is the anniversary ring. I will wear the ering above with this eternity ring, or a plain half-dome YG ring.

 

[emmmme]

I think your ring is very unique as it is!

I think adding some white diamond melee with milgrain will definitely add to the vintage feel and add to the overall look. Or, instead of melee on the shank, just some milgrain/engraving (you can continue the leaf motif - kind of like this: http://www.timelessdesigns.com/content/r1549rd10). I think integrating some of the design details to the shank will definitely kick it up a notch.

 

[chel180]

I think the CAD looks great and I love the leaves. I would suggest you ask to have milgrain added to the leaves to make them look a little more vintage. Also I would love to see a bit of engraving on the shank.

 

[chrono]

The lines are very clean and very modern. I may be going totally off base but I'll throw these ideas out anyway.

1. Would you consider a hexagonal halo which is very antique in look and feel?
2. The leaves seem too simple and plain. Perhaps have them milgrained and add tiny white melee diamonds within the leaves?

 

[pregcurious]

Thanks, Chrono, chel and emmme. I pondered a hexagonal halo, but at the end decided against it. I think that hexagonal halos look beautiful with a lot more detail than I would like for an everyday ring (too much stuff to mess up). I love it when they have a shank full of engraving, that widens to meet one of the hexagonal sides, and has melee and delicate open areas on the shoulders or gallery. Too high maintenance for my lifestyle right now. I did have a thread about it though:
[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/please-help-me-with-halo-reset.185358/#post-3376628#p3376628']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/please-help-me-with-halo-reset.185358/#post-3376628#p3376628[/URL]

I really like your combined suggestions of milgrain and melee in the leaves on the gallery, and engraving leaves on the shank to continue the theme.

Should the leaves be YG or platinum? I was thinking that if the leaves were platinum, with white diamond melee in each leaf, it would look better with my WG eternity ring.

 

[chrono]

Photoshop time!

 

[pregcurious]

Hmm, two more questions.

1) Will the profile of the ring look okay with both the WG eternity, and the YG half dome (shown below)? (The diamond is the one being reset.)
2) Do I put the engraving on all surfaces of the shank?

 

[chrono]

With a second band worn next to it, I would not add engraving on the side surface because not only will it be hidden, it will be worn down quicker too.

 

[SB621]

With a second band worn next to it, I would not add engraving on the side surface because not only will it be hidden, it will be worn down quicker too.

I totally agree!!!!! I can't wait to see this finished. I love antique inspired rings in 2 tone! I will be stocking the SMTB for the big reveal!!!!

 

[FrekeChild]

Just so you know, over time the gold vs. the platinum of the rings will rub each other and wear away metal if you wear them together. You might want to consider white gold instead if the other two rings are gold.

 

[Scarlett1]

Can't wait to see this when complete. It's going to be stunning!

 

[pregcurious]

Just so you know, over time the gold vs. the platinum of the rings will rub each other and wear away metal if you wear them together. You might want to consider white gold instead if the other two rings are gold.

Good point, FrekeChild. I thought about this but I will probably not wear this everyday because I have 2 kids. Also, my eternity is 18K WG (w/rhodium plating), and my band is 14 K YG. I think the 14K YG would be harder than 18K WG, which I would use for this ring (if I didn't do platinum). I think I'm in a bind either way.

 

[pregcurious]

With a second band worn next to it, I would not add engraving on the side surface because not only will it be hidden, it will be worn down quicker too.

Will it still rub with the donut? I guess it would rub on the bottom where the 2 rings met. I like the donut because I want the ring to sit lower.

 

[pregcurious]

Okay, here is some really bad Photoshop work.

In the first picture, I changed the leaves in the gallery to platinum, with melee.

The second picture is supposed to represent engraved leaves, with tiny melee (half pointers) in the shank. There is milgrain just around the engraved portion, which ends in a V.

The third picture is an inspiration picture, which I love.

 

[FrekeChild]

Just so you know, over time the gold vs. the platinum of the rings will rub each other and wear away metal if you wear them together. You might want to consider white gold instead if the other two rings are gold.

Good point, FrekeChild. I thought about this but I will probably not wear this everyday because I have 2 kids. Also, my eternity is 18K WG (w/rhodium plating), and my band is 14 K YG. I think the 14K YG would be harder than 18K WG, which I would use for this ring (if I didn't do platinum). I think I'm in a bind either way.

If you don't wear it a lot, it shouldn't be a problem. People who wear different metals or stuff like 3 sided pave, typically put a thin cheap spacer band between rings so they don't hurt each other. I actually have bands and rings that are: silver, 14kt, 18kt, platinum and palladium. BUT I wear rings together so infrequently that it's not likely that any of them will damage the others.

Just a consideration.

As for design, I feel like the shank just looks like a wide expanse of plain metal, and the only details is in the head. There are a million and a half things you can do to the shank, it just depends on what kind of look you want, AND what the budget is.

 

[chrono]

The updated design with the added engraving on the shank makes it a more interesting ring and I like it. My preference is to have 3 melees in each leaf at the side instead of 2. tiny - larger- tiny as circled in red below. I am also wondering if having it in yellow gold and yellow melee will make it stand out more as opposed to blending in as it currently is. Looking at it again, they look like owl eyes or a Mardi Gras mask and might look better if the curvature is softened a bit.

 

[pregcurious]

Thanks, Frekechild. I always wanted something in the shank, but not too much. I like the halos with plain shanks ([URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/show-me-halos-with-plain-shanks.157864/page-2']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/show-me-halos-with-plain-shanks.157864/page-2[/URL]), but I agree with you that this design warrants more on the shank because the halo is yellow and milgrained (vs white melee with no milgrain).

Chrono, thanks for finding that picture. I like your suggestion of doing 3 melee instead of 2, and of having the leaves curve more. I'm not sure I want it to be yellow gold with yellow melee because I think that would start competing with the halo. I'll ask if Chris can do CADs in both colorways.

BTW, the yellow on the pics is too intense for me. I will talk to Chris about having the effect be more pastel. LD pointed this out in the other thread about a hexagonal halo.

 

[pregcurious]

I think I would also like brightcut white melee with milgrain towards the shoulders/upper part of the shank, with engraving on the inside, and a YG cuff at the end. Here's the inspiration ring, and the Photoshopped version:

 

[pregcurious]

I don't think I like the wrap, or the engraving. Here's a version with just bright cut white melee in the shank, with milgrain. I think I like this best. I do not want more melee on the shank because I feel it will be too fragile to wear with my kids.

While I like some vintage inspired details, I don't want this ring to read vintage. The cushion halo for a RB is a pretty modern look, and I like how it flows.

Comments? Ideas? Is Gypsy around?

 

[chrono]

The cuff design has a more antique touch than the other. Two questions about the cuff:
1. Is it just a double row of beading or will it be an actual cuff that will protrude a little from the shank?
2. If the latter, your band may not sit flush with this ring. Will this bother you?

In general, I find that the cuff design looks best to my eye when the shank is either the same width all around or is graduating from thicker to thinner, not thinner to thicker.

 

[pregcurious]

The cuff design has a more antique touch than the other. Two questions about the cuff:
1. Is it just a double row of beading or will it be an actual cuff that will protrude a little from the shank?

It would protrude.

2. If the latter, your band may not sit flush with this ring. Will this bother you?

I keep on revisiting if I want the rings to be flush. It already has a donut that would stop other rings from being flush. I am going to ask if I can get rid of it because the diamond appears to be much higher...I'm not sure why the donut is there.

In general, I find that the cuff design looks best to my eye when the shank is either the same width all around or is graduating from thicker to thinner, not thinner to thicker.

I didn't think of that. Hmm.

I think I am going to go simple, and do the 2nd ring without the cuff anyway.

I feel like it's too confusing to design a vintage style ring without basically copying an existing ring, or taking concrete elements. I will probably get an antique style occasional ring at a different time, and completely deck it out. I originally was going to do a plain shank halo, but I do see this needs more than just a plain shank.

For the second version, without the cuff and engraving, I'm not sure how I feel about the leaf gallery. First world problems.

 

[pregcurious]

I am going to put up a poll for 3 different versions of this ring in a new thread.

 

[yssie]

What do you think of curving the outline of the halo out a bit, and into points in the corners like the WF Bella halo? It seems a bit more "antiquey" to me - whether or not it actually is! - and would also give the curved-to-points leaves in the gallery some common ground.

I like the plain shank a lot - I actually think adding melee/engraving makes it look less unique, since most halos also have melee on the shank, and I personally like the contrast between a busy head and a plain shank! I would probably want the prongs on the centerstone changed to white metal since the centerstone is white, and changing the flowers to white metal is an interesting proposition - it gives you more options for melding metal & melee colours... I'm also wondering about making the doughnut yellow gold to go the other way and completely isolate the yellow "head" and white "shank"...

Is having some white melee so that you can wear white diamond bands a "mind-clean" thing for you, you know they share that design element whether or not anyone else sees it when you're wearing them, or do you want it to be more obvious to the casual observer? If it's just for you then you could do something like adding bezeled "surprise" (white) melee at the bottom of each leaf opening, or on either side where the leaves join, if there's room...?

Though, well, I honestly can't really think of a more perfect complement than a bead-set milgrain-edged FLY YG band Am I allowed to say that?

 

[pregcurious]

What do you think of curving the outline of the halo out a bit, and into points in the corners like the WF Bella halo?

I love it, but for a RHR. And in earrings, they look fab!

Is having some white melee so that you can wear white diamond bands a "mind-clean" thing for you...?

Yes, and I like a little big more bling, but 3-sided melee all the way around would be too much. I'm tempted to not add too many details to this ring because I also want it to look nice with my plain YG band. I am leaning heavily towards just white melee on the shank, no engraving, and no YG cuff/wrap. If I only wanted to wear it with the WG eternity/anniversary ring, I would not have fancy yello melee, or any YG, and I would have gone full out filigree, engraving, etc..

Though, well, I honestly can't really think of a more perfect complement than a bead-set milgrain-edged FLY YG band Am I allowed to say that?

You are a good PSer. Thanks Yssie!