Custom Ring - Need information

[Eclypz]

Hello, I came up with an idea for a engagement/wedding ring set that I know would be perfect for my girlfriend. Although it may sound corney, it revolves around the "triforce" from the game Zelda. The reason for my posting is to determine a ballpark guesstimate for the ring set, as well as suggestions and critiques of the entire idea. Lets get down to business, I'll try to explain my idea in words as well as attach some pictures I crudly drew up in photoshop. First, the engagement ring:

The engagement ring will be a solid 18k white gold band with a floral/leaf/vine design. For the stones, there would be 2 triangle shaped gemstones (either diamond or moissanite) side by side. These would be no bigger than the width of the ring and wouldnt be protruding too far off the ring's height as well. Pretty simple.

For the wedding ring, It'd be the same ring base, with the vine/leaf theme, however, it might have some smaller gemstones around the band. The center of the stone would be 1 triangle shaped gemstone with the same details as above.

My questions come in here, is there any way to give an estimate of how much the rings would be at 18k white gold with the 3 main stones as diamonds? What about the wedding ring as a diamond and the engagement made from moissanite? What about the entire thing moissanite? My girlfriend is one to love cheapness over a lot of things. Its not one of those "well I'll do it for him" type deals, she really would rather me not spend an arm and a leg on this. Is there a difference between diamond and moissanite? From what I see there is no downside to having moissanite other than just its not a diamond.

Any input would be amazing, I will likely come up with more at a later time.

Thanks everyone!

 

[Gimmethebag]

Moissanite might have a weird green/grey tone. It is also not as hard as a diamond, so with daily use you may need to eventually substitute the stones out for trillion cut diamonds anyways.

I don't think the diamonds you have in mind will be terribly expensive *all relative, because you are looking at three smaller stones instead of one big one. Plus, trillions look large for their carat weight since it is a spready/shallow cut (*but may not give major sparkle).

The expensive part for you will be the custom work. All of that vine scroll work is going to be custom. I would expect to pay $5k for the set, but it may be less.

If your girlfriend is a Zelda fan, it sounds like a very special and unique gift for her! I'm sure she'll treasure all of the thought you've put into your engagement more than the materials used to make the actual ring!

 

[Eclypz]

Thank you for the quick repsonse. I'll have to get with a jeweler I suppose for quotes on which diamonds and prices. My girlfriend isnt too crazy about material posessions, so even if its like an extremely small diamond it'll mean the same to her.

As for the custom work, I found that vine design on an existing ring, would it be possible to modify a band such as that to accomidate the layout I want, and would that reduce the price at all?

(also up for consideration is the sound effect of a zelda treasure chest for the ring box, probably getting a little too nerdy with that though )

 

[citrusacid]

I own a trillion moissanite solitaire (1.5ct diamond equivalent), as shown in my avatar. While it's not as white as diamonds in the G-H range, I think mine is more of J-K colour. It's a non-enhanced moissanite. It's also 7.5mm in size, so a warm colour shows up more prominently than a moissanite in 4-5mm in size.

Older moissanites are known to have a greenish tinge, but newer moissanites no longer show green. They look like gorgeous warm diamonds.

Moissanites are 9.25 on the Mohs scale of hardness, even harder than sapphires. No one complains very often that a sapphire will need to be replaced after a while, so I think you should be fine with mossanites. I have knocked mine a bit, still no damage to it.

Some pics of my moissies:

In sunlight.

All my moissanite jewellery: 3mm studs, 7.5mm trillion in palladium, 2.5mm in sterling silver. Taken in daylight, overcast.

My ring again, daylight but not in direct sunlight.

Fire shots are great! This thing sparkles like mad in real life. No diamond would ever compare.

Compared to my G colour asscher diamond. There is a bit of warmth noticeable, but only when you compare side by side.

Last pic, these are both moissanites. 4mm loose and my 7.5mm. To me, the 4mm round is whiter than my trillion, because it's smaller, and also rounds show the least amount of warmth compared to other cuts in moissanite.

I understand that most people prefer diamonds, so you may still want to go with that option. But they will be more expensive than moissanites.

As for the vine design, these style rings are usually hand carved in wax and casted into metal, so it would really need to be done again from scratch to your specifications. The company that made the original ring might have a CAD of it and may be able to do the 3D modifications using their computer program, and then cast it. (feel free to correct me if I am wrong! )
Either way, it will cost you some amount for the custom work.

Good luck!

 

[ame]

It's a cool idea but this is not a design I would surprise someone with. I would sooner prefer a proposal with a simple solitaire and then design the set together. You can share your design with her.

IF you both expect to have this be a lifetime worth of wear, do not cheap out.

 

[Eclypz]

@Citrus: Thank you so much for you great post. You have a gorgeous ring. How much did that run price wise compared to the diamonds? As for the custom design, I would very much prefer a CAD design, that way I would be able to get an eye on it before its made. I have a lot of shopping around to do for the right jeweler, unfortunatly the ONLY ones I know of now are Kay, Zales, and Jared. Thank you again for your post!

@ame: I can understand your point, however, knowing my girlfriend she would very much prefer something like this than a store bought generic. In all honesty I could design a ring with an Apple logo (she hates mac) and she'd still love it just the same. Which I know sounds rather naive of me, but it truely is the case. I really do not want to go cheap on this ring, 18k gold (she's allergic to 10 and lower) and I would love to have at least one diamond preferably in the wedding ring, but money for our life together/kids/house/responsibilities > big expensive ring. Not to mention if I spent over a few grand on a ring for her I'd be sleeping on the couch on our honeymoon!

 

[Contessa]

@Citrus: Thank you so much for you great post. You have a gorgeous ring. How much did that run price wise compared to the diamonds? As for the custom design, I would very much prefer a CAD design, that way I would be able to get an eye on it before its made. I have a lot of shopping around to do for the right jeweler, unfortunatly the ONLY ones I know of now are Kay, Zales, and Jared. Thank you again for your post!

@ame: I can understand your point, however, knowing my girlfriend she would very much prefer something like this than a store bought generic. In all honesty I could design a ring with an Apple logo (she hates mac) and she'd still love it just the same. Which I know sounds rather naive of me, but it truely is the case. I really do not want to go cheap on this ring, 18k gold (she's allergic to 10 and lower) and I would love to have at least one diamond preferably in the wedding ring, but money for our life together/kids/house/responsibilities > big expensive ring. Not to mention if I spent over a few grand on a ring for her I'd be sleeping on the couch on our honeymoon!

Eclypz, you have great imagination & from what I've been able to gather, you are quite talented!

I think your idea is very ROMANTIC!!!! This is truly one-of-a-kind & so for me, it doesn't NEED a centre diamond as the entire design speaks for itself.

Good luck on getting it handcrafted. Do you have someone in mind to make this for you?

 

[citrusacid]

Your design looks great, btw! Even better if your gf is fine with a modern ring design!

 

[Eclypz]

Eclypz, you have great imagination & from what I've been able to gather, you are quite talented!

I think your idea is very ROMANTIC!!!! This is truly one-of-a-kind & so for me, it doesn't NEED a centre diamond as the entire design speaks for itself.

Good luck on getting it handcrafted. Do you have someone in mind to make this for you?

Thank you for the kind words!

As for someone in mind, I do not. I dont even really know where to begin! I was going to talk to numerous jewelery stores around to see what services/prices they offer. I could also look online to see if there are any there, it seems there are a few companies that specialize in online designing with AutoCAD drawings.

 

[Stophle]

If you know it's what your girlfriend would love, then I would say go for it. I honestly have no idea on pricing, but may I suggest that you make the engagement ring the single stone and the wedding band the one with 2? That way there's still one stone for the engagement ring (more traditional) and the wedding band it supposed to go closer to the heart (lower on the finger) anyway, I believe, so the placement of the wedding band with the two stones makes sense both in that respect and in the design of your Triforce.

 

[Eclypz]

If you know it's what your girlfriend would love, then I would say go for it. I honestly have no idea on pricing, but may I suggest that you make the engagement ring the single stone and the wedding band the one with 2? That way there's still one stone for the engagement ring (more traditional) and the wedding band it supposed to go closer to the heart (lower on the finger) anyway, I believe, so the placement of the wedding band with the two stones makes sense both in that respect and in the design of your Triforce.

That could be done as well, the reason its designed the way it is is so she could see the triforce when she looked at it. If the wedding ring would be the first on the finger then yes it could be with 2 stones. The 2 and 1 stone ideas were only to make the triforce form so she could see it and it wouldnt be upside down. As for tradition as far as the number of stones, I was bouncing the idea of the engagement ring having 2 moissanite stones and the wedding having a diamond. I just have to look at similarities between the 3 stones if i do that. Much to think about

 

[Stacee]

I think it's an amazing idea. I'm a zelda-freak and this ring is awesome. She'll love it!

 

[Chloe]

OP - As mentioned, if your girl is down with Triforce, she is going to love this ring, and especially the thought behind it.

Bluenile and other websites will give you an idea of diamond prices and sizes. Your $$s are going to be spent creating this intricate band. If you found premade bands, there are some modifications that can be done, but it seems like it would still be a lot of customization.

Best bet for pricing is to find a local jeweler that does has in-house labor. If the custom vines bands turn out to be too much, perhaps he can help you source a similar premade band.