OK I’ve been asked to design and set an ~1/2ct diamond solitaire
ring, the down side is that the stone in question is a slightly
tinted one and my customer wants it to appear as white as possible.
He does understand that quoting his words “it won’t be actually
white, but it would be nice to have it look as white as possible”.
Now right now I’m travelling (I’ll be back in my studio at the end of
next month) so I don’t have any metal samples with me so I’m having
trouble visualising what effect the differing shades of gold (14K)
will do to the apparent intensity of the yellow tint of the stone.
So I guess I’m asking for an opinion from the group on what colour
gold will best mute the N/M yellow tint of this stone. I figure
white gold would probably not be a good idea (bigger contrast and
all usually high lights colour differences), so I’m starting to
think a muted yellow/almost white gold might be an option, maybe
even a green gold.
The current ring design candidates are all designed to be cast etc.
so thistoo is a major consideration.
Thomas-You are right that if you set an off color stone in white, the
shade difference will be very obvious. My advice would be to bezel
set it in yellow with a high polished rhodium finish on the inside of
the bezel and seat to reflect some white into it.
So I guess I'm asking for an opinion from the group on what colour
gold will best mute the N/M yellow tint of this stone.
I wanted to buy a diamond but not the mounting from a coin dealer the
1 ct. stone faced up white. Out of the setting, quite a surprise for
me, but even bigger for the dealer, the color was easily seen as a
very yellow color. I passed on the stone. The mounting was platinum,
so I believe platinum or paladium would be the metal to use.
The color of the metal in contact with the girdle is what affects the
color of the stone.
If the ring was white or yellow gold but you used a platinum bezel I
think you would get the lessening of the yellow color. Easy to try.
So I guess I'm asking for an opinion from the group on what colour
gold will best mute the N/M yellow tint of this stone.
The color of faceted stone more depends on the design of the setting,
then the color of the metal, but the short answer is patinated
silver, stainless steel, electrum (Ag-55/Au-45). In that order. None
of the commercial gold alloys are of any help.
Well, there’s no way to change the color but you can effect the
eye’s perception of it. This is subjective.
With an unlimited budget I would construct a setting of 18Y with an
applique of 18W or PT INSIDE the prongs and polish real well. White
material must be thick enough to withstand the cutting of the seat.
I think though this particular project may not have the imperititive
of a larger stone so ehh, maybe rhodium the inside AFTER cutting the
seat and before setting.
Unless this an OM, OE. I’ve seen some of those set in PT that were
markedly darker than they appeared set, once they were popped out.
Couldn’t tell you why. Maybe the stones were more grey than yellow?
In my experience, a darker yellow alloy works best with yellow/brown
lightly tinted diamond. Also, because we were in the custom design
business, it was not difficult to fashion a bowl-shaped reflector as
the base of the head or bezel. Polish this well before setting the
stone and plate it with rhodium. This creates a small mirror-like
reflector behind the stone…the effect is significant.
The richest yellow possible would make the diamond appear whiter as
contrast. Royal yellow gold casting grain from Hoover & Strong would
be best. I had the same issue some years back with the same color
diamond. If you are using side stones, make sure their color is
about the same and not too white either.
Your thinking sounds right in terms of the white gold, and I would
think that yellow or green gold would accentuate the yellow in the
stone, seeing as they are in the same color family. I would go for
rose gold… The contrast would bring out the lightness of the stone,
instead of drawing on the yellow tones.
OK, this is a blanket response to the various replies I’ve received
so far, BTW thank you all, it’s been very helpful and thought
provoking.
I don’t know much more about the stone than I have related so far,
but as soon as I return from vacation I’ll be giving it the once
over personally.
OK so at this point the design that the gent and I have in the works
is a four prong inverted wrap around style. Yeah took me quite a
while to figure out what he meant too!
The good part is that this design would lend itself to a “white
reflector” surface below the stone that would be well out of direct
sight, and so aesthetically not obvious, which should/might make
enough of a difference to get the job done. I may also discuss with
him the use of either platinum or palladium prongs, but I don’t
think he’ll go for the additional expense.
Ok so now I can hopefully get back to my holidays…
