Member- anikaof9
- 11 months ago
Hi Bees,
I am a long time lurker and occasional poster but I never really started threads because I didn’t want to be yet another waiting post.
BUT I AM NOW OFFICAILLY ENGAGED!!!! YEA!! I know shocking given the title 🙂
Anyways as the title suggests I would like help from more creative and experianced Bee’s on what direction I should take my engagement ring in. I am very type A and will happily obsess about the smallest of details. But generally once I decide something is “right” I don’t really second guess myself. Which puts me in a weird situation as I don’t know if my desire to make changes to the e-ring is because it’s not “right” to me yet or because I have spent so long on the details that I can’t see the bigger picture. I was hoping that by posting I might get some clarity.
My ring was originally based off of a design in the “Lace” collection by Micheal B. I absolutely obsessed over this ring online and am sheepish to admit that I loved it before I even met my now Fiancé. But then we were ready to become engaged and I saw the ring in person and….. was very underwhelmed. It had several flaws that I just couldn’t get around. In a way it helped me solidify what I was looking for but given that my tastes aren’t in fashion at the moment there was literally not another ring that I could find in person that came close to my original “idea” of the Micheal B ring. I wanted a wider band, the “Lace” ring was just scrapping 2mm, while my current ring is 4mm. I wanted a lower set main stone to lessen the risk of hitting it on things and to make it easier to wear lab gloves over it. I wanted different cuts of diamonds instead of all rounds like in the inspiration ring. And most importantly I wanted a very stark square profile to the band that they had discontinued in the “lace” ring at that time. (Thank God for Pinterest for saving the older collection photos). I knew to get my style I had to go custom,and my Fi and I settled on a jeweler who turned out to do very very basic CAD, which was practically unhelpful when designing completely from a “vision” (but that’s another post). However, they do offer a three month guarantee, if you don’t LOVE it they will remake it until your happy. So basically we have little over two months to figure out any additions/changes we want made before we would have to pay to have them done. Which I admit is GREAT but after a month I am still no closer to knowing what I think is “missing” or what changes would make it perfect.
While the inspiration ring wasn’t my cup of tea I was still in LOVE with the idea/symbolism of it and the emotion it evoked in me. I wanted to translate that abstract idea into another ring that had more of the aesthetics I listed above. Basically, I loved that it was a ring of opposites melded into one. It has intricate diamond groupings placed on a plain stark square band. Also the inspiration of “Lace” made of diamonds evoked my love of history and very ornate Victorian jewelry that I think is stunning while still being a very contemporary band profile. I think it’s modern but still somewhat traditional in its thickness. I love the details of the basket but also that’s its not too blingy overall, for my tastes. It’s nearly perfect but still something is missing. I love it, I don’t want to fundamentally alter it, (aka melt it down and start over) I just feel like I am wasting the time I have to correct any issues by being indesisive.
I guess the best way I can put it is the ring doesn’t feel cohesive. I want to look at it and see “Lace” but instead I just see pretty diamond clusters and then plain band. That never bothered me on the inspiration ring, so I don’t know why it does now. The diamonds have been scaled up and number of clusters reduced to account for the wider thickness but the percentage of diamond to plain band has been kept the same. Also I love the intricacy of the side profile but don’t get the same feeling looking down at the top of the band. I was thinking about adding similar milligrain to flow around the clusters to echo the milligrain that wraps around the inside edge of the ring but I don’t know if this would make the clusters stand out even more from the plain band. Equally I could add more diamonds or other decorative bits to the “plain” section to make it flow around the ring better and be more “Lace” like, however I do love the plain bits and don’t want to cover them up completely. Also I haven’t got a clue what I could add without overpowering that area. I like the idea of maybe adding decorative scroll work like on the basket but again don’t know how to pull this off. Or I could change the band profile slightly to make it more fluid and less square? Basically, I want to pull it together somehow but can’t think of a way to do so without completely remaking the ring. I am hoping someone else may have a great idea that sets me on the right track…equally maybe I should do nothing? My Fi loves it but is happy to make changes if I want them but that still leaves it up to me to be decisive and decide what I want. HELP 🙂
Any ideas or comments are welcome, also feel free to post your own E-Rings, and say if you knew they were right immediately or like me agonized over all the details. Thanks for reading.
Side Profile:
Band View:
Cluster Close-Up
Basket:
On the Hand:
Inspiration Ring:
