-Mike

P.S. Here's a picture of the ring on her hand

© 2012, Brian Gavin. All rights reserved. Including all photographs, written word and video, but not limited to unless noted.

Hi Denise, Leslie, Brian and friends! Hope you are all well and nice and busy leading up to Christmas. I am currently researching the idea of resetting my engagement ring (1ct, in a simple solitaire setting) as I recently broke my wedding band and I'm not too sure if I want to stay with the traditional e ring / w band. I'm pretty hard on my rings and everything that I am drawn to with a lot of bling (pave, halos) isn’t really right for my lifestyle.  Anyway, I was thinking of resetting into a 3 stone, but then I'm not sure if that will be enough bling so I'm looking at a Graduated 5 stone using my current 1ct stone as the center.

Denise worked with Alani to come up with the best combination of diamond sizes to get the flowing, graduated look she was after and also worked on several different ideas for the setting. The final diamond specs were as follows:

• Center stone 1.05ct F SI1 is a GIA XXX round diamond.
• 2 x 0.423ct F SI1 Brian Gavin Signature Hearts and Arrows diamonds.
• 2  x 0.20ct F VS Brian Gavin Signature diamond melee.

Alani decided not to ship her center stone to us and searched to find a qualified local Australian jeweler to set it. We had all the measurements of the stone and were able to create the CAD with that information. We tweaked the center prongs to make sure that only the prongs showed from the top view, and that the trellis wires were not visible from the top. We sent the updated CAD, received approval and proceeded to caste the ring in platinum and then set the 4 side stones. We e-mailed Glamor Shots of the almost finished ring and then shipped it:

I picked up the package and the ring is beautiful! I can't wait until I get the center stone set…

A few days later we received this e-mail:

Hello Denise, Lesley, Brian and the team at BGD! I am please to let you know that the ring has been completed with the center stone being set today!! I am in love with the ring and it is exactly what I imagined it to be. It's amazing how you guys can take a drawing and bring it to life! The ring is just one ball of sparkle at the moment. It is really unbelievable! I find myself laughing every time I catch a glimpse of it because it is just so unreal. Thanks again, Alani.

Feast your eyes on the picture gallery below!!

© 2012, Brian Gavin. All rights reserved. Including all photographs, written word and video, but not limited to unless noted.

Dear Lesley and Brian,

I got the earrings yesterday! They are so beautiful, I am extremely happy how they turn out. I absolutely adore the truth setting, it’s so delicate, unique and compliments the stones beauty. My worries regarding the clarity are blown away as I truly can’t see the difference to my IF ering. I might try and get the loupe though, as I am very curious to see those "birthmarks of the stones".

It was a pleasure to work with you, Lesley. I definitely have never experienced that great customer service here in Germany. Talking to Brian was a highlight in my diamond education, I felt I could trust his opinion and experience. Please, let him know that I am a very happy customer, he mentioned on the phone that that is very important for him to know:)

With many thanks and best wishes from Berlin, Ekaterina F

**The Truth Settings are eligible for our Diamond Stud Earring Sale which ends on February 10, 2012. Get $175 off the earring setting of your choice when you purchase  a pair of Brian Gavin Signature diamonds. No other discounts or offers apply.

© 2012, Brian Gavin. All rights reserved. Including all photographs, written word and video, but not limited to unless noted.

When he got back to his PC he sent us a rough free-hand sketch of what he had in mind. Jamie discussed the details with Brian Gavin and then e-mailed Ian a quote. He approved the quote and then Jamie worked with him to select a beautiful one carat K VS2 Brian Gavin Signature “Blue”.

We e-mailed him the first rendition of the CAD and he requested that the head be integrated into the shank. We fine tuned it and sent him the second and final rendition which he approved. We cast, set the and shipped his beautiful ring. He e-mailed us, thrilled with the result:

Jamie! This is even better than I thought it was going to be! I can't express how great of job you and everyone else did on my journey to get this ring made. Thanks for all your hard work. You guys truly have a gift of not only designing but bringing stories of love to life! Although it was a lengthy process it was very much worth it. Please express my gratitude to everyone else who played an important role in this wonderful ring. I look forward to working with you in the future and I know alot of people will also too! If I have any more questions I will contact you. Thanks a bunch again! I'll keep you posted. Take care! Ian

Customer's sketch, CADs and Glamor Shots:

© 2012, Brian Gavin. All rights reserved. Including all photographs, written word and video, but not limited to unless noted.

Anthony contacted us in October. He had been shopping at several internet companies and wanted to come in and meet with Brian and look at several Brian Gavin Signature Hearts and Arrows diamonds in the 0.80 – 1.00 carat range. After a couple of visits he selected a beautiful 0.918 H VS2 Brian Gavin Signature H & A. We then started discussing the setting and he wanted to know if we could custom make a diamond wedding set comprising a cathedral style fishtail pave setting with the Truth head and a matching fishtail pave band using our Brian Gavin Signature Melee. He e-mailed us the specs and some inspiration pictures and we set to work to create the CAD. Once he had approved the CAD, we cast the setting in 18K White Gold and set the F/G VS Brian Gavin Signature Melee. We set one "surprise" diamond and one "surprise" sapphire on the inside of the engagement ring shank. A few days after he had received the rings, his fiancee Erika e-mailed us this wonderful testimonial:

Hi Lesley,

This past Saturday on Dec 17th, Anthony asked me what I wanted to do during the day. I noticed that he was looking at his phone for the weather updated and said, "Oh good, it's sunny." I told him I wanted to go to the museum. He was opposed to that. So I thought of another idea-the Houston Zoo, which was one of our most fun dates ever since we've been dating. His reply was, "Actually I was thinking about that too." Sometimes I like to get all made up on the weekends. I curl my hair and/or wear my "weekend" outfits. As I was curling my hair, I heard Anthony shuffling in his study closet and I was a little suspicious that he was messing with the engagement ring. It was a beautiful and fun day at the zoo. I had the best time there. After a while, Anthony asked me what I wanted for dinner. I told him I wanted some hot pot, which would require us to go to Chinatown. He was not up for it. He asked me if I wanted Italian food. I was neutral about it at the time until I was starving a few hours later and didn't care where we were going. While he was driving, I asked him where we were going to eat. He played dumb and said, "I don't know where we are going?" I replied, "TELL ME!" He again said, "I don't know where we are going?" As he turned onto Ella Blvd., I knew right away where we were eating. He was taking me to our first date restaurant called Cavatore. As we walked into the restaurant, he asked the owner if we could sit by the live music. There was a live duet playing that night-a guitarist and singer who were a couple. Since it's around Christmas time, they sung Christmas songs. Throughout our delicious Italian dinner, I noticed that Anthony had his "thinking face" on. I asked him a few times if everything was okay. He just gave me a short, "yeah" reply each time.

After dinner was over, I had to run to the restroom before we left. I came back and Silent Night was being sung live. As I sat down, Anthony looked at me deeply into my eyes and said, "It's a silent night, isn't it?" I looked at him funny and said, "Yeah…sure is…" As he reached out for his glass of water, I then reached out for mine and noticed that the engagement ring was sitting right on top of an ice cube. I was shocked and said, "OH MY GOD!" I looked at him and he got down on his knees and proposed.  He made me cry. It was a very emotional moment. After I said yes to him I had to remind him that he had to put the ring on my finger (it was still in the glass after all this time). The live singer came up to us and told us that nobody has ever proposed while she was singing and congratulated us. Shortly after, the owner of the restaurant came up to us and congratulated us. He surprised us with some champagne on the house. We both told him we didn't think anyone noticed the proposal, but he claimed that everyone in the restaurant did. After dinner, we called it a night and left the restaurant as a newly engaged and very happy couple. =) Erika O.

© 2012, Brian Gavin. All rights reserved. Including all photographs, written word and video, but not limited to unless noted.

A Gallery of Some of Brian Gavin's Jewelry Highlights…

© 2012, Brian Gavin. All rights reserved. Including all photographs, written word and video, but not limited to unless noted.

At the beginning of October Ian contacted us about creating a unique setting for a topaz he was considering purchasing. He had visited John Dyer’s website and was fascinated by the magnificent colored stones he had been cutting. He specifically wanted the topaz to be a deep “windex” blue. The first stone he liked was sold but he managed to secure a magnificent 22.01 carat cushion cut blue topaz.

Pretty basic ring design. Could be "no stones" modern and a little clunky to some nice side stones

We got to work on several sketches and e-mailed him out 4 different options (see below in gallery). He selected design #2. We then created the ring on CAD, e-mailed it to him for review and then cast the ring in platinum.  Ian had said that he would need it no later than February 8, but we wanted to make sure he had it in time for New Years Eve. The ring took many hours to clean and prepare for setting and we thankfully managed to ship it out on Friday evening – our last shipment of the year.

She loves the ring, fits perfectly! The pics were spectacular but also showed just how much work goes into these and that they don’t pop out completely done. Nice to get an appreciation for all of the craftsmanship. Happy Holidays! Ian

The process and magnificent Glamor Shots are chronicled below:

© 2012, Brian Gavin. All rights reserved. Including all photographs, written word and video, but not limited to unless noted.

© 2011, Brian Gavin. All rights reserved. Including all photographs, written word and video, but not limited to unless noted.

 We are looking for a pendant with a back that allows the chain to slide through, and a front that is free of distractions.

He originally wanted the Barbara pendant with a bezel finish but aquamarine is a soft stone and if we bezeled it there was a 50/50 chance that we would either scratch it or it would break when heat for the bezel process was applied. We explained this to Brian and he wrote back:

We have been browsing through the website to look at more prong settings for ideas and came across the V-Prong Lever Backs<http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/home/ring-details/?product_id=5373>. We like how smoothly the prongs and basket fit together. Is it possible to adapt the basket and prong design for our pendant?

After some discussion we decided to create the back basket similar to that of the v prong lever backs and set it with 4 split claw prongs. In addition, Brian wanted her to have the option to wear the pendant both straight and kite set. We explained that the design would not allow for it and so we created it to be kite set with an invisible tube like bail to allow the pendant to move on the chain.

We set about creating the wax model for the pendant, cast it in platinum and then very carefully set the magnificent aquamarine.

Hi Shandel, We picked up the pendant last night and it looks absolutely amazing. Please send our most sincere thanks to Jamie, Lesley, Brian, and everyone else involved in the process. Thanks, Brian

The process and results are in the gallery below.

© 2011, Brian Gavin. All rights reserved. Including all photographs, written word and video, but not limited to unless noted.

1. Product ID 5437R18 18K Rose Gold Half Bezel Solitaire with a 0.45 ct Brian Gavin Signature Hearts and Arrows diamond
2. Product ID 5409R18 18K Rose Gold Hand Made Bezel Stud Earrings
3. Product ID 5542R18 18K Rose Gold Classic Truth Sleek Micro Pave with 18K White Gold Head and an additional Milgrain Finish set with a 1.35 ct Brian Gavin Quadex (and 6 surprise pink sapphires set inside the shank)
4. Product ID 5540R18 18K Rose Gold Tapered Tiffany Style Half Round with 18K White Gold 6 prong Tiffany basket set with a 0.78 ct Brian Gavin Signature H & A diamond and a surprise garnet set inside the shank

© 2011, Brian Gavin. All rights reserved. Including all photographs, written word and video, but not limited to unless noted.