total newbie needing suggestions for custom anniversary ring

[kallard]

Hi. I have been doing some research on my own, but I am a novice on selecting quality jewelry.

The background:
My 25th wedding anniversary is coming up and I would like to replace my current ring. The one I have now was purchased from a JewelryRoom.com auction (yes, I know, not a good decision, but it was quite a while ago). My original wedding ring was stolen. I have no band, so would like a whole set. The ring is an aquamarine with alexandrite and diamond accents, 14k white gold (if that can be trusted). Here is a photo - sorry for the quality and offset.



I love the design of the ring, but I think it is missing a diamond or two (they are so small, I cannot tell and need a magnifying glass), and the aquamarine is my birthstone, but is too light-colored for me.

What I am considering:
I love ocean colors, and I am nontraditional, but yet not modern either. I like vintage or even unusual settings/nature inspired. I like split shank or wider bands. I also use my hands a lot. I would like a setting with one large stone, and then complimenting stones. I don't have to have diamonds, the ring could be combinations of blues and greens, or even purples or blacks.

When looking for settings, I find that I often like silver settings and the intricate carving work, but keep feeling I should be buying gold.

As far as stones go, I LOVE alexandrite or color changing stones, and also just discovered the Paraiba tourmaline - the blue green/neon is beautiful. But also like London blue topaz and mystic topaz.

However, I am on a budget up to $3,000, but would rather keep it around $2,000.

Here are some of my main questions:
1. What main stone would you suggest that is sturdy, bright, and not one of the more expensive variety?
2. Is it really a no-no to have silver instead of gold? Like, I would rather spend the money on the stones rather than the metal, but don't want take away from the stones either.
2. How do I go about designing my own ring - or can I find a picture of one and give it to a jeweler?

Here is a link to my Pinterest board of rings I found that I like. I will warn you that there is a LOT of variety and quality in the board. https://www.pinterest.com/kimberlyaallard/rings/

 

[chrono]

Re: total newbie needing suggestions for custom anniversary

For your budget of $2K, I would dismiss paraiba and alexandrite unless you don't mind a cabochon or smaller stone or non-desired hues. A tourmaline isn't durable enough for everyday wear, especially if you use your hands a lot. If you like silver, there's no reason to stick with it. Just make sure that the design and prongs are sturdy enough to hold the stone safely. You can find a picture and have it custom made but custom work tends to cost more than ready-made/off-the shelf.

What size mm gemstone are you hoping to get?
Light blue and light green are your sweet spots?

 

[kallard]

Re: total newbie needing suggestions for custom anniversary

There are a couple people on Etsy that I was considering for the design. One of them I discovered was on the list of vendors on this site. The other is not.

If I can make payments on it, then I might be able to go above the $2,000. The vendor that is not listed here will do that.

Not light blue or light green so much - for example, even though aquamarine is my birthstone, most of them are too light for me. I might like them if they were a darker variety.

I guess medium would be a better description. Many blue sapphires are too dark for the main stone for me, but I have no problem with dark stone accents, even black. I like teals, but also the tone of the London blue is nice too.

 

[chrono]

Re: total newbie needing suggestions for custom anniversary

Etsy is hit or miss. Unfortunately, Etsy does nothing to protect the customers and the reviews are not always accurate. Please do your homework and research the vendors before selecting one.

 

[kallard]

Re: total newbie needing suggestions for custom anniversary

Totally understand that.

Was hoping to find someone in San Diego or from recommendations here.

 

[katharath]

Re: total newbie needing suggestions for custom anniversary

Warning - this turned out to be long, sorry! Just started typing and kept thinking of more to add, lol...

1) If you need a truly sturdy stone, you would want to stick with spinel, perhaps aquamarine, or ruby/sapphire. Topaz should be ok too. Garnet and tourmaline are slightly less sturdy, this is true, and many people will tell you that you should avoid them for an everyday ring. However, I've used all of the above stones except topaz in my everyday rings, and have had no issues. In large part in depends very much on how careful you are with your jewelry. (I take my rings off for literally every little thing, including hand washing, lol. I keep multiple ring holders all over my house and in my purse so that I can easily store them at any time if I need to take them off). It's my personal opinion that you should choose a stone you like - while factoring in the hardness/sturdiness of a gem is important, and even I wouldn't recommend just choosing any old gem, you can safely wear many types of gems for years with no issues. Some people even wear opal rings daily without problems (although I wouldn't really recommend this, I did wear a lightning Ridge black opal pendant every day for a couple of years with no issues - pendants are easier to keep safe though). Much depends on you and how hard you are on your jewelry.

But this is just my opinion

With that said, if you like blues I think topaz would be fine for everyday. There are a ton of lighter blue sapphires though. Before I got deep into this hobby I tended to dismiss sapphires because I thought they were too dark for my taste. In reality, I just didn't know the range of color available in sapphires - I was used to dark ugly mall quality sapphires. Now, for blue stones, sapphires are my favorite. The good thing is that the lighter blues are more affordable too. And have you looked at Montana sapphires? They show a very neat range of colors (blue and green) that are different from typical Ceylon and Burmese sapphires.

2) A few things about silver. It can be a good choice, and there are relatively newer options like Argentium silver that don't tarnish nearly as easily. While it is not as durable as gold, it is still a totally viable option. It will show wear easier and will tarnish more easily though. My main concern is that it can be harder to find a vendor who works with silver. But they are certainly out there, just might require searching. Also, if you're going to the trouble to put together a quality ring (which you can certainly do with your budget), many people prefer to just spring for the gold. However if you like the look of silver, don't mind needing to clean the ring more often, don't mind a slightly softer metal, and can find a vendor that will do it (and I know of one, see below) then my opinion is to go for it. I've done many mixed metal rings (silver and gold), have even had diamonds set in them, with no issues.

3) IMO vendors can be the hardest part. I live in Vegas and don't trust anyone local to set my colored stones. Too many jewelers don't have the proper experience and can damage colored stones. I mail off all of my gems for setting. I use Yvonne Raley who is a VERY reliable vendor, well known here, and can make settings in just about any metal. I know that she uses Argentium silver and "regular" silver all the time. She can also source gems for you. However, she will probably not agree to set a gem for you unless you buy it from her (this is common for many many jewelers - they simply can't take the responsibility for setting stones they don't source). She could quite possibly find what you want though.

I also use Stephanie at etsy store Metalicious for setting my gems, she's done a good 5 or so settings for my gems (plus I've bought many other pieces from her). She will set things for me that I didn't buy from her, provided that she is comfortable doing it, but I have to agree that she won't be responsible if breakage occurs. I trust her so I am ok with doing this. I don't know if she does this for everyone though - I have a very established relationship with her.

In the past we used to recommend etsy ship DanielM for setting, and he was really great bc he did good work for very reasonable pricing. He was extremely popular here - but then many people experienced severe delays, literally 6 months or longer, terrible communication, etc - so we no longer recommend him. I don't know how things are with him now, because if it's back to normal, he really would be a good choice.

I've heard good things about etsy shop Adzia and love their work, although they seem a bit pricier. I think they do customers' gems though.

I think David Klass is a setter that a lot of people here use, I would use him but haven't yet.

JuliaB is another vendor who I know for a fact had a ton of gems unlisted on her etsy site, and she can help you choose a gem and then set it. I don't think she works in silver though, not sure...

I've purchased from a ton of etsy vendors, many many of which aren't on the list. It can certainly be hit or miss, as Chrono said, but I've had a huge amount of great experiences via etsy - I found my two favorite setters there. Neither were on the recommended list when I began using them, although Yvonne is now (and Stephanie should be).

I hope you find something helpful here, if you need clarification on anything feel free to ask! And good luck...

 

[PieAreSquared]

Re: total newbie needing suggestions for custom anniversary

There are a couple people on Etsy that I was considering for the design. One of them I discovered was on the list of vendors on this site. The other is not.

If I can make payments on it, then I might be able to go above the $2,000. The vendor that is not listed here will do that.

Not light blue or light green so much - for example, even though aquamarine is my birthstone, most of them are too light for me. I might like them if they were a darker variety.

I guess medium would be a better description. Many blue sapphires are too dark for the main stone for me, but I have no problem with dark stone accents, even black. I like teals, but also the tone of the London blue is nice too.

Ditto on the Alexandrite and Paraiba; unless they are microscopic, they will eat your whole budget.

Tourmaline is chippy; Personally, I think topaz only looks good until it gets a little dirty, then it looks dead.

True, low quality aquamarines are very pale, but you can find much deeper color from a vendor that sells high quality aquas.

There is also blue zircon, which comes in saturated turquoise colors.

Sapphires are tougher of course, but depending on how large you have in mind, you may have to sacrifice on size due to price and the fact they just aren't commonly that large.
Pale blue sapphires tend to be less expensive than the more saturated ones, however Asian- and African-origin pale blue ones often have the violet modifier, and so appear more 'periwinkle'.
Montana sapphires have more greenish tone to the blue, so you might find a light teal one, but you really have to see them in person to know if their gray modifier thrills you or bothers you.

If you like silver, who cares what anyone else thinks? Although I would recommend Argentium silver or similar that doesn't tarnish as bad.
If it is just that you like white metal, you can always go the rhodium-plated white gold route as well.
Are you in San Diego?

 

[kallard]

Re: total newbie needing suggestions for custom anniversary

Those are both great posts that help me quite a bit. I will check those out. Yes, I live in San Diego county. Had considered tourmaline because there is tourmaline that comes from here - but I think a harder stone is called for. I don't take my rings off except to clean. Maybe I should!

My first choice, just color wise, would be something in between blue and green (teal). I only briefly looked at the Montana, but if there were a sapphire that was in that color range, I would be interested in that. Sapphire is my husband's birthstone. But I am also not opposed to purples or pinks. I just know I don't want white, yellow, orange, or brown. Not opposed to black.

The ring examples I posted below are only for the ring design...not the stone.

I was looking at this ring by Adzia even before discovering this site:



But was thinking of a different stone. I did ask about making the ring a little larger and maybe with some accent stones, which I was told they could do. This one is gold, not silver. However, that ring is completely different than what I was originally looking for. This was my husband's favorite. I like the ocean look.

I was also looking at rings by Laurie Sarah Designs - (Etsy, but don't know about her, not one of the vendors listed here).

Here is an example, but would use different stones:


She suggested a bezel setting because I mentioned the using my hands a lot.

I love the heart shape though, like this:



Lastly, these are cheap rings, but this is why I like silver - and I don't mind the tarnished/medieval look to them either.

 

[deskjockey]

Re: total newbie needing suggestions for custom anniversary

FWIW here's my montana:



There's a bunch of them here: http://www.earthstreasury.com/product-category/gemstones/sapphire-gemstones/

I'm a huge montana fan, if you can't tell

You could probably get a brighter, clearer color with a blue topaz, though.

 

[katharath]

Re: total newbie needing suggestions for custom anniversary

That is awesome that you're considering Adzia, I love their work!! They seem to be excellent at customizing options from what I've seen.

 

[katharath]

Re: total newbie needing suggestions for custom anniversary

Oh and I agree about the bezel setting being a good idea - but then I'm partial to them myself

 

[SparkliesLuver]

Re: total newbie needing suggestions for custom anniversary

I think Gemfix has several Montana sapphire options that fit your desired color:
http://www.gemfix.com/sapphire_montana.html

Also, if you're considering a bezel of any sort, I'd highly recommend checking out Julia Kay Taylor: http://juliakaytaylor.com/rings.html.. I'm currently working with her on a second project. She works in various metals and her finished pieces are outstanding.

 

[agingsparkle]

Re: total newbie needing suggestions for custom anniversary

Zircons aren't quite as hard as sapphires, but this particular design is quite well protected, and it seems like the sort of color you're looking for https://www.etsy.com/listing/205854485/blue-zircon-in-white-gold-gerbera?ref=shop_home_active_3&ga_search_query=zircon

While there don't seem to be any on the site at the moment, I know JuliaB has done teal sapphire/diamond rings in the past. Let me look… here's a picture. if this is the sort of color you're looking for, you can contact her and see if she has any more available… https://instagram.com/p/31k7RRF2FT/?taken-by=juliabjewelry

I love the designs at Adzia's using teal diamonds for the halo. If you like that design, you might be able to see if she'd work with a stone you provide or would help you source one. There are some nice teal-ish montana sapphires at http://www.gemfix.com/sapphire_montana.html

Good luck!