Sapphire and Diamond 3-stone
October 29, 2010Here’s a really nice engagement ring I made last week…
The center stone is a 2.22ct octagonal cut Ceylonese Sapphire and the two side stones are brilliant cut diamonds, 0.20ct each. The ring is made in predominately 18ct yellow gold with the diamond settings in 18ct white gold. Yellow gold is often used for settings for coloured stones as the yellow colour gives the stone a much warmer look than white gold, whereas white gold is used for diamonds so they retain their brilliant whiteness.
The setting for the center sapphire is a basket style setting. Two thin, flat bars of metal are crossed beneath the stone and bent upwards to form four claws. A plate of metal the same dimensions as the sapphire with a hollow carved out to seat the stone is then soldered in place. When the Sapphire is set, the plate is completely covered so that from the top only the four claw tips show, and from the side much of the beautiful blue of the sapphire is still visible through the basket.
