Star sapphire ring project

[2Neesers]

Thank you so much for sharing this @2Neezers! I was hoping you might pop by as it was your threads about Holly that led me to her designs. I wonder, how would you describe the comfort of these style rings for daily wear? I haven’t worn a ring with a large face area like this before so I wondered about that.

I’m so happy I popped by and might be able to offer some insight . My rings from Holly are very comfortable! The ring designs are smooth and polished metal, which I find comfy to wear. I should note that I don’t wear rings a lot lately, and when I do I tend to rotate through them, so I haven’t had daily use of my rings from Holly. My hands tend to get puffy on and off throughout the day, so I usually size up 1/4 to 1/2 a size when ordering a ring that has a large face area, otherwise they end up being too snug for me.

 

[Mrsz1ppy]

I adore your star sapphire, and am enjoying your process. I love all of the feelings you want to incorporate into the design.

The snake design I think really needs tweaking so the body and the belly look like they belong together, not that mama snake is expecting. But I love the snake and power connection, so it’s worth pursuing.

Of course I love the Caysie, but understand it’s not possible.

Have you ever considered https://www.annesportun.com/collections/bridal-engagement-wedding-rings?

I have one of her rings, and it definitely gives off a powerful energy. Much more so that just looking at 2-D images online. A woman , and Canadian.

All just late night ramblings. I know whatever direction you go, it will be quite the totem.

 

[fel]

I am following this thread -- I love star sapphires (and have way too many) and your design suggestions are right up my alley. My initial preference is for the snake with some tweaking, maybe a tiny little diamond eye in there somewhere, and a bit more asymmetry? I love enameled gold with diamonds, but with a large colored stone I think it might be too much.

Also congrats on your academic achievement. I was in that world for some time, and know what that means. You deserve your dream ring.

 

[Dreamer_D]

Have you ever considered https://www.annesportun.com/collections/bridal-engagement-wedding-rings?

I have one of her rings, and it definitely gives off a powerful energy. Much more so that just looking at 2-D images online. A woman , and Canadian.

I don't know if I mentioned, but I am Canadian too, so this suggestion is very welcome. The designs all have a lovely flow and I especially love the hammered gold finished and the soft rounded lines. I would very much love to work with a Canadian designed for a number of reasons, not least of which is the current exchange rate for US goods is atrocious (nearly 1.3 to the Canadian dollar). I don't see anything in their catalogue that is what I want for this project, though I do see they do custom. I am kind of obsessed with these "bombe" rings.

 

[Dreamer_D]

Update!

As I started to really sink into imagining the design for this ring and envisioning the process, I started feeling pretty anxious about the whole thing, which is like, the opposite of what I need right now! Deep inside I felt an intense resistance to going through the rigamarole of shipping my gem across the border to be set. Like a small child was inside me balling her fists and stomping her feet, “No!”

The whole process of working with a jeweller in another country is so stressful. Insurance is hard to get for shipping loose stones, customs is a PITA, collecting the ring at the end is aggravating and small vendors rarely know how to handle the customs paperwork so that I don’t get dinged for the cost of the stone all over again. I swear I started having flash backs from previous times I’d gone through it all! And my whole approach to life these days is low stress, take the easy road, Jack.

And one promise I have made to myself in middle age was to listen to myself and never do things I really didn’t want to do unless it was absolutely necessary, like a medical procedure. And this situation definitely didn’t qualify.

So I decided I’d do a grand tour of my local jewellers just to see what I could see. I live in a medium sized city, but we have three local jewellers who hand forge and fabricate their pieces in house. I had visited them all a decade ago when I was very active in vintage jewellery shenanigans, but that was a long time ago and I thought it was time to visit once more now that I am older and wiser and my tastes have changed.

 

[Dreamer_D]

It was funny going into all these shops again after so many years. One place that mostly worked with stock settings and didn’t have their own bench claimed to do lots of custom work, but also seemed very confused by my request to see examples? Apparently, no one had ever asked for that? They just…. Walk in and, I guess, trust them that they can do it? No clue what that must feel like. Freeing I imagine. The shop is very old and in a swanky area so they must do a lot of business to afford the staff and rent. It’s a mystery to me.

Oh and the best/funniest part of this store was that when I did check their social media for pictures I discovered that they had once made a (beefy, inelegant) copy of the CVB ring I posted a couple pages back! The dream ring I cannot afford. Their version was terrible but the coincidence made me laugh.

Another shop I visited was a family owned place that had been around since the 60s and the father-son duo hand fabricated all their jewelry. They are very well known in my town. But when I showed up the store was almost empty save lots of loose gems on display — which were really gorgeous I must say. Turns out the father died recently and the son was retiring soon, so the shop was basically empty. I liked the son and the price he quoted for making me a setting was very reasonable, but once again he didn’t have any samples or photos to share of his work! No social media except an ancient IG that hasn’t been updated in a millennia.

The next place I visited is a very fancy place indeed. They are very famous in my area and have won awards and had pieces on display in museum exhibits. They hand fabricate everything and I thought they would be out of my price range, but I went in anyway. Very lovely style with natural elements and mixed metals. Generally wide bands and such. But then they pulled out the most perfect and delicate little bezel setting. It has a polished lip around the gem (some weird brown, included diamond that looked like dirt. Literal dirt. What is up with that trend? I don’t get it) and brushed finish elsewhere with the thinnest band/groove around the gallery that was also high polish. It was the first time I had seen such delicate work in person that rivalled what Caysie can produce.

But it was about double my budget. Just, really far too much. I did dream about it for a few days and almost convinced myself. But in the end I knew if I went with a bezel I wanted a fatter donut of gold, and this didn’t have that presence I needed.

 

[Dreamer_D]

At this point it seems important to say that when I was imagining a setting for this stone, I also contemplated a nice, chunky, textured gold bezel. I love gold, especially hammered and brushed, and I saved a bunch of inspiration pictures of bezels that just made me feel lustful.

Neptune has a gold bezelled spinel that stops me cold whenever I see it. Modern meets ancient. And all that gold!



I also love these fat gold bezels that Caleb Meyer has been making.




And I love marymm‘s bezels from Janish Jewels on Etsy. Especially the hammered finish (will be buying something from her in the future)




So these were the styles I was mostly looking for as I visited the local shops.

 

[Dreamer_D]

The final shop in visited was one I had worked with before. They did the repair work on the antique platinum mount that my diamond originally came in and it was well done. They also hand fabricate everything, but in the past I wasn’t so keen on their settings which trend towards more modern and bezelled styles. But now that was more aligned with what I was after, so I felt cautiously optimistic when I visited.

They had moved locations since I last visited and had a much larger shop and a nice open area for their bench jewellers (there are two) in the back. Best of all they had probably hundreds of samples on display, nearly all of which they made. And in their case of opals I saw The One. A gorgeous oval gem set east-west in a nice fat gold bezel floating above the band like a space ship. Or as the designer who helped me described it, like a beautiful pebble resting on the band. Very modern but also harkening back to ancient styles.

I got a quote, which was totally in my budget. And I wouldn’t have to ship my stone or travel to collect it, and I could sit down with the designer and discuss all my options for the finer details and hold samples in my hand, which all felt really appealing to me.

So I left and i pondered for a week or so, and then today I went back! And I’ll describe that experience tomorrow.

 

[Begonia]

The final shop in visited was one I had worked with before. They did the repair work on the antique platinum mount that my diamond originally came in and it was well done. They also hand fabricate everything, but in the past I wasn’t so keen on their settings which trend towards more modern and bezelled styles. But now that was more aligned with what I was after, so I felt cautiously optimistic when I visited.

They had moved locations since I last visited and had a much larger shop and a nice open area for their bench jewellers (there are two) in the back. Best of all they had probably hundreds of samples on display, nearly all of which they made. And in their case of opals I saw The One. A gorgeous oval gem set east-west in a nice fat gold bezel floating above the band like a space ship. Or as the designer who helped me described it, like a beautiful pebble resting on the band. Very modern but also harkening back to ancient styles.

I got a quote, which was totally in my budget. And I wouldn’t have to ship my stone or travel to collect it, and I could sit down with the designer and discuss all my options for the finer details and hold samples in my hand, which all felt really appealing to me.

So I left and i pondered for a week or so, and then today I went back! And I’ll describe that experience tomorrow.

Popcorn, lawn chair, beer... waiting, waiting...

 

[Dreamer_D]

Popcorn, lawn chair, beer... waiting, waiting...

Well “tomorrow” has ended up being two weeks lol! End of term caught me and I needed to mark so many papers. But it’s done now and I start sabbatical in a few months so it’s easy street baby!

Anyway, I went back to the store a few weeks after my initial visit. It was a very easy and pleasant experience. I sat down with the designer and the ring I loved and we walked though all the decisions. It was so nice to be able to touch all the samples and point at things I liked and didn’t like. It was great to have a face to face conversation! We spent about an hour or so together and it was all planned! Working remotely the same process might take weeks and dozens and dozens of emails.

I chose 18k gold because this is a special piece and the design is very gold forward, so to speak. The gold is really an important part of the piece and I wanted the depth and richness you get with 18k.

We also talked about how the bezel would be scaled up to fit my slightly deeper stone. The bezel is quite substantial… it is a rounded donut shape perhaps two mm wide. So much lovely round smooth gold

And we discussed options for the shank, which was interesting. The sample ring had a slightly domed/rounded top surface but flat sides and bottom. She said it was made from a squared length of wire and then the top edges were filed/sanded to make the dome. But there was also an option of a half round, made from a length of rounded metal (like a spaghetti noodle) that was cut in half. I liked that shape better and she also said it would work better with the finish I was leaning towards.

On that note we also talked about width and finish of the band. I wanted to mix textures for visual interest and chose a high polish for the bezel. We looked at about 10 different sample finishes they do and I chose the hammer finish made with the smaller hammer, brushed. I also chose a wider shank than the sample, 3mm tapering to 2.5 under my finger, both to show off the gold finish and to better fit the promotions of my right middle finger which is a size 12 or something equally scandalous!

Once we agreed she wrote down all my choices on the back of a little Manila envelop and popped my gem inside in a baggie. Seriously I am just choosing to trust them at this point lol All these old jewellers use that same “organizational system” so who am I to judge?

Anyway they said it would be ready in 4 weeks so I have a couple more to go! I’m eagerly waiting and staying open to whatever the end result will be. They are artisans and I am choosing to just trust their skills.

 

[Dreamer_D]

Oh! And today I learned that the President of my university formally approved my promotion to full professor, so it’s official official now! I submitted my intention to apply for promotion a year ago, formally applied in September, was approved by the departmental committee in Dec, by the Dean of my Faculty in February, and by the President today. It was a long an painful process. Almost as stressful as custom jewelry design. Almost, but not quite

 

[Dreamer_D]

Omg my ring is ready and I am going to pick it up I’m so nervous about what it will look like and I hope I love it!

 

[Mrsz1ppy]

Omg my ring is ready and I am going to pick it up I’m so nervous about what it will look like and I hope I love it!

Can’t wait to see it!

 

[Dreamer_D]

I love it. The vibe feels right and it feels very luxurious and a little witchy. The craftsmanship on the mount is very fine but it’s also obvious it is hand made and I like that.

4.08 ct natural purplish-pink star sapphire from Sri Lanka in a hand forged, 18k gold setting. Hammered and brushed finish on the shank and high polish on the head. Sapphire from Finewater gems and setting made by my local jeweller.

 

[Dreamer_D]

It’s getting dark but I tried by best!

 

[Dreamer_D]

 

[2Neesers]

It’s gorgeous and looks perfect on you! The rich color of the 18k yellow gold looks beautiful with your star sapphire

 

[Dreamer_D]

Thanks @2Neezers !!

I got this video in the sun showing the mystical magical star

And the sapphire looks a little weird in this one (it goes very deep purple in high potlights) but this photo shows how the high polish on the bezel just glows.



It’s like a golden nugget on my finger.

 

[stracci2000]

Thanks @2Neezers !!

I got this video in the sun showing the mystical magical star

And the sapphire looks a little weird in this one (it goes very deep purple in high potlights) but this photo shows how the high polish on the bezel just glows.



It’s like a golden nugget on my finger.

It's truly gorgeous
So unexpected and modern!
The stone and setting are just perfect together.

 

[Starstruck8]

It's dazzling with the star and beautiful without it. The purple no-star colour in the last photo goes perfectly with the yellow gold.

 

[monarch64]

@dreamer_dachsie if you knew how many times I had that sapphire in the cart… I had an entire plan for it and then never pulled the trigger as I became distracted with home buying. I absolutely LOVE that stone, and it looks great in its setting! (If you ever want to unload it, I would like to be first in line!)

 

[elle_71125]

It’s gorgeous! The star is so bright and the yellow gold contrasts perfectly. It looks like such a fun ring to wear!

 

[Slickk]

It’s so lovely!! What a beautiful and wearable piece of jewelry! Love!