Weddingbee boards

!!!!! the short version...i checked my etsy account this morning and had a message that my ring was done with a link to the custom order listing!  here she is!

do any of you have RHRs that you treasure, or one that you want?  show her off!

the long version (if you care to read it)...i thought the design process was kind of neat, so i figured i'd include a a long version, lol.  (sit back for a story complete with pictures!)

so i've been absolutely smitten by the custom rose gold and tourmaline e-ring belonging to another bee (hermia) ever since i first saw it, and when she posted pictures of it a few months ago i asked her who made it for her.  shortly after that, i contacted the artisan on etsy (daniel M jewelry) and started designing an aquamarine RHR.  i'd decided a while ago that i wanted an aqua for my right hand, since i wear my wedding band that DH1 gave me there and aquamarine is our son's birthstone.  i wanted to be able to wear it alone or stacked with the wedding band, so strong enough to stand on it's own, but simple enough to sit with a patterned wedding band as well.  i contacted them early in november about finding an asscher aqua and using a rose gold trellis setting similar hermia's, but minus the side stones and with slightly different detailing.  (my wedding band is white gold, but i like the look of white and rose gold together.)

first we had to find a stone.  this took a couple of weeks.  their supplier didn't have any asschers, but offered to recut a cushion aqua that was the right size.  very pretty stone...i almost didn't want to recut it, but i really had my heart set on an asscher.

after the stone was recut in early december, they started working on the setting in CAD.  they sent me some CAD renderings to tweak a week or so before christmas.  since i'd mentioned hermia's ring as inspiration, they started with something similar to hers.

i decided to eliminate the cuffs, and the jeweler suggested adding a groove around the shank so that it would look more natural where the prongs divided.  cue another round of CAD renderings just in time for the new year...

perfect!  (i just love a design that's elegant in its simplicity like that!)  so they sent it to casting and said they'd have it back and finished in a couple of weeks.  this morning, the listing was waiting for me.

the design process was a bit long, but being the holidays i'm not surprised, and any custom design takes time i guess.  i can't wait to see her in person!!!

Gorgeous!  Here's one of my RHRs...(stock website photo)...the sapphire is MUCH darker in real life, almost black.  I have another sapphire and diamond ring, as well as a white and blue diamond RHR.

thanks ladies!  i'm on pins and needles waiting for her to get here!

@GoldfishPie: i just love how clear morganite is, with that touch of pink to it!  beautiful!

I have a few that I alternate...but these are my current favorites (and the only ones I have pics of).  The blue and white sapphire I've had for years (I got it at Zales) and the other is the diamond from my original engagement ring in a new setting.

@cardus:  Your new ring looks beautiful!!  I can't wait to see real real-life pics of it!!

@MerryWidow: thanks!  the idea for me (well, my idea anyway...i THINK FI is on board, lol) is to have a few with relevant birthstones to rotate out.  my old ering is one of them currently (and still fits with the theme, since my birthstone is diamond and DH1's was garnet...he did that on purpose, lol)...the ring is so unique and he'd put so much thought into it, i couldn't change the setting, so i just had it resized for my right hand right along with the wedding band.  this aqua ring is the next one in line, as DS's birthstone, and a peridot/diamond ring will be next, for FI and me.  so they're chronological too, lol.  any children we have together will come after that.

this is my old ering (with the band too, but i wear the band every day still and keep the ering put away except for occasions that would call for a RHR):

I dont have one right now, but I just wanted to say you all have GORGEOUS RHR's!!! Now I want one too!!

@cardus:  Ooh I love your original wedding set too!  I still occasionally wear my firsst wedding ring on my right hand (FI is completely OK with it, he told me to wear it on my left if I really wanted to...he knows how special they are) but unfortunately my tastes have changed and they're yellow gold.  I'm thinking of having a sapphire put into the original setting and wearing it with the wrap sometimes...but we'll see how that goes.  I love your idea of having everyone's birthstone!!

@dcdt212:  i'm drooling over that diamond ring...soooooooo pretty!

i'm pretty excited right now because today SHOULD be the day that i finally get to see my ring in person!  i live in a townhome complex with mailboxes grouped together at the end of each building, so the post carrier doesn't actually come to the door with packages that need a signature.  they leave a card in the box and take it back to the PO, and then you take the card in and sign for it there.  FI has the only mailbox key, and he doesn't get home till six, plus DS has been being such a pain in the butt right now about going places.  (he's almost 2 and he's good at it.)  so he took the card with him to work today and is leaving work a bit early to stop by the PO on his way home and sign for it.

on the off chance that they will only take my signature, i'll have to run out tomorrow and get it while FI watches DS.

w00t!  what an appropriate 1000th post!  lol.  i'm a bee addict.

my RHR has come home and she's even more beautiful in person than she is in pictures!  i must admit, i've never seen an asscher...or even an emerald...cut stone of any kind in person before this. OMG, i'm totally sold on them!  i think ovals are still my absolute favorite, but only by a hair now, lol.  this stone is profoundly clear in brighter light and so luminous in low light...the way the facets catch light when it's dim, it almost glows.  it's impossible to catch how beatiful it is with a camera.  the colors aren't as intense as the preview photos the seller sent...the blue in the stone and the blush color of the gold are both more delicate, less bold.  the entire ring is more delicate in person than it appears in the pictures...next the real deal, the pictures almost look chunky, lol.

this is the best i could do with my little point-and-shoot camera, even with a macro setting.  there's a nikon SLR in my future though...  ;)

these first three i took without flash and then messed with color balances and saturation (mostly yellow and magenta were too strong) in GIMP until it looked more like what i actually see when i look at it and less like...whatever the hell it was the camera was seeing.

these next two i took with flash, so you can see the blue and rose a little better, and check out that shine!

a few more in daylight today...since it's DS's birthstone i decided to take some on his toys!

@dcdt212:  lol, they reminded me of tree branches or vines, which is why i fell in love with that particular trellis setting!

WOW, it looks even more amazing in your pictures!!  It is beautiful, and looks awesome on your hand with the band!!!  I love it, good for you!

*bump* I'd love to see more RHR pics!