OOOOOOH, Aaaaaaah.
Shiny stuff.
So I had originally planned on going with Diamonds Direct to cast the ring. They offered a two week turnaround on the ring after receiving the CAD design. From there, they would make it from either Platinum or White Gold.
Each material is beautiful. They're both bright, neutral to be worn with anything, and make the stones shine as they reflect white light.
Typically, Platinum is a bit more expensive than White Gold, one of the reasons being its hardness and low-maintenance. When a platinum ring bumps into something, it creates light scuffs and scrapes rather than deforming or digging. White Gold is still hard, but softer than platinum. When it comes into contact with another hard surface, it deforms or digs. Granted, nobody intentionally walks around smacking their engagement rings on things, but stuff happens. All of these things can be fixed, but it just depends on how much you're willing to put into it. If there are any misconceptions here, please let me know! I'm still learning:)
White Gold is really nice, but a common misconception is that it's ...white....gold, when in reality it's just normal 14K yellow gold with a microscopic layering of Rhodium/Nickel plating on the outside. After a year or two of taking the ring on and off, people say it "yellows" or ages... in reality, that's just the plating wearing down, and the yellow gold showing through. It's very common and tons of jewelers do the replating for a fee. Diamonds Direct offers a full coverage plan that replates your ring for free if you go through them. It's a pretty sweet gig, seeing that it's a $100+ process that needs to happen every one or two years.
However, I was able to find a friend of a friend who could do the casting for me, and therefore, the Platinum became much more affordable by avoiding the retail markups:)
Therefore, Christine, your ring is going to be Platinum!
Shiny stuff.
So I had originally planned on going with Diamonds Direct to cast the ring. They offered a two week turnaround on the ring after receiving the CAD design. From there, they would make it from either Platinum or White Gold.
Each material is beautiful. They're both bright, neutral to be worn with anything, and make the stones shine as they reflect white light.
Typically, Platinum is a bit more expensive than White Gold, one of the reasons being its hardness and low-maintenance. When a platinum ring bumps into something, it creates light scuffs and scrapes rather than deforming or digging. White Gold is still hard, but softer than platinum. When it comes into contact with another hard surface, it deforms or digs. Granted, nobody intentionally walks around smacking their engagement rings on things, but stuff happens. All of these things can be fixed, but it just depends on how much you're willing to put into it. If there are any misconceptions here, please let me know! I'm still learning:)
White Gold is really nice, but a common misconception is that it's ...white....gold, when in reality it's just normal 14K yellow gold with a microscopic layering of Rhodium/Nickel plating on the outside. After a year or two of taking the ring on and off, people say it "yellows" or ages... in reality, that's just the plating wearing down, and the yellow gold showing through. It's very common and tons of jewelers do the replating for a fee. Diamonds Direct offers a full coverage plan that replates your ring for free if you go through them. It's a pretty sweet gig, seeing that it's a $100+ process that needs to happen every one or two years.
However, I was able to find a friend of a friend who could do the casting for me, and therefore, the Platinum became much more affordable by avoiding the retail markups:)
Therefore, Christine, your ring is going to be Platinum!