Custom Jewelry: What are the best tips and tricks for shopping for a setting to go with a diamond?

I think the best idea is to abide by the classics: More on settings: http://www.helzberg.com/category/education/settings.do http://www.adiamondbuyingguide.com/diamond-ring-settings.html (Note: the two links are from different sites) As for price, check with multiple vendors and compare it against online prices. There are ring settings on sale: http://www.zales.com/category/index.jsp?categoryId=13337274 http://www.kay.com/en/kaystore/ring-settings/1003440000/100006/1/0/0/0/100006.100007.100344 http://www.brilliantearth.com/engagement-ring-settings/ can give you some inspiration, as well. Good luck in your search! Thank you for the A2A.

A good designer will be interested in the wearer's age, profession and lifestyle. This may influence the style and how the stone(s) are set. Typically a designer will listen to you and incorporate your ideas into a design that they can quickly sketch in front of you. If the design incorporates accessory stones, they will typically have samples to show you so you can get a sense of the size, color and how they work in the design. They will typically have a portfolio of previous work to convey their style, quality and diversity of work. It's easy to undervalue the roles of the designer and manufacturing jeweler (even if it's simply to set the stone into a casting). Once upon a time labour was cheap and stones were expensive. Now it is the other way around. You should not be surprised if you are quoted as much for ring manufacture as for your (say) one carat weight diamond. The setting is what will make your ring really get compliments. It can make stones look bigger, stop them falling out (!), make your ring seem better than others you see, or really express a concept of beauty that you have chosen. The crowning achievement in my jewelry career was, of course, my wife's engagement ring. After much searching, I found a manufacturing jeweler who was working with his father who is a gem merchant. I was lucky that they weren't too offended by my having purchased the centre stone elsewhere (but it was an Australian sapphire and not normally something they would stock). These guys had an office - not a shop front. You want to look for professionals whose primary focus is making settings not retailing. Large cities have a jewelry district and one or more buildings with suites occupied by merchants, setters, etc. go knock on some doors and get some advice and referrals. Also ask about past students who really impressed at the local Gemology school. For your money you could get many more hours of labour from a passionate and gifted young jeweler. Don't rest until you find exactly what you want - and come back here and show us the end result. Good luck! Pictures stolen from all over the Internet in the tradition of fair-use. If this offends please let me know and I'll change them.

The choice of setting is really up to personal aesthetic preference. Most settings can be altered to better hold whatever diamond you have. To get an idea of what setting would work best with your diamond, I would recommend just going to shops and looking at what they have in the case. Ask the jeweler for examples of settings that hold the same diamond shape as what you have, and you can pull your inspiration from that.

If you already have a stone, the setting boils down to aesthetics.  If you don't know a jeweler, browse the local stores to see if you like anything they have - most engagement rings are designed to have a solitaire selected separately, so you can use the size of the diamond you already have to scope out your choices there.  I'm also a big fan of browsing online.  Look for designs you both like, compare the stone sizes, and ask people you know for referrals.  If you live in a big city, you should be able to have something done locally - I live in a smaller town and would likely end up sending out my stone for mounting (after making sure it was insured) to a jewler I contacted online.  Good luck!

A jeweler can show you catalogs full of settings, as well stocking the most popular current settings. Just shopping around will give you an idea of what you like.you should be able to pick a decent setting without going to the expense of having something made, unless you have a very specific idea or significance in mind. Personally, if you have a nice large diamond, I think it's most tasteful & elegant to just use a 6 prong Tiffany solitaire setting, then a diamond band or even just plain gold, in white or yellow.  I would recommend avoiding those settings that use a whole bunch of tiny diamonds for accent around the edge, those get gummed up very easily by soap & lotion, and in a few years it will look very dated.  I think white gold is most popular now & some people say it shows off diamonds better.  Avoid 18 kt gold, 14 kt is harder & will endure better.  Platinum is even harder, & more expensive, but a grayer color.

First, narrow down your search by deciding what your needs in a setting are. Will this be set in a ring or a pendant? Will this diamond be worn everyday or infrequently? If this is for an engagement ring, for instance, how active is your lifestyle and what is your personal style? Google search images and price compare on-line to get an idea of what jewelers can create. http://www.krikawa.com/ring-advice is where many of our clients begin. Answering these questions will guide you in the next stage of finding a jeweler to help you in the technical and design choices. Get references from friends and visit your local jewelers. A good jeweler will be happy to help and educate you.

Our store sells both custom and branded bridal.  The one thing that amazes me the most is how many women do not know what they want in a ring before they come into the store (or the website). Have an idea on the style ring you want and a realistic idea of a budget.  Diamonds are not cheap and neither is gold and platinum.  I paid $350 in 1979 for a 1/3 carat round brilliant cut solitaire, which was a huge amount of money for a college student of modest means. That same ring today would easily cost $2,000 today (probably more depending on the diamond).  Not that many 20 year old college students have that sitting in their bank accounts.

Think about what you like and dislike, colors of metals, maybe gemstones if you want to add color to the design, how active you are, if you do a lot with your hands, etc. While I personally don't disagree with the classics, I work a lot with my hands so I designed my own ring to be as low-profile as possible. A classic Tiffany setting would have stuck up too far and gotten caught on things, if it was my ring I was wearing every day. I did this ring of otters holding hands for a couple who loves the ocean and otters, for example. His budget was modest, so he chose silver and a blue topaz, but it incorporates a favorite color, a very low profile shape for an active person (nothing to stick up or snag on things), and meaningful to the two of them as a couple. :) The great thing about doing custom work is that the design can literally be whatever you and the jeweler come up with, together, and the prices aren't very far off from big box retail for the same or better quality. [Image: Silver ring with blue topaz]

You can choose from the following settings, however it depends on personal preference and which diamond shape you have selected. The prong setting holds the diamond with 3 or more prongs which allows the diamond to show more. The bazel setting holds the diamond with a metal band that surrounds the stone. The martini-style setting is shaped like a cone, and the V-shape resembles a martini glass. The crown-style setting is made with a flat bottom, but the construction is more solid, as they are made with more metal. When many stones are set very closely together, about 1 millimeter apart, that is called pave setting. It depends on personal choice.