02 Oct San Diego Custom Halo Engagement Ring Designs
Seen Above: Custom made antique style engagement ring in 18K yellow gold and platinum, featuring a 3.25 carat natural sapphire, surrounded by Old European Cut diamonds.
If you are looking for a San Diego jewelry designer who specializes in halo engagement rings, Carl Blackburn of C. Blackburn jewelers would love to make your dream ring. Carl has been designing halo style engagement rings set with diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and emeralds for over 25 years. He commonly works with exceptional large carat precious gemstones, where a halo of diamonds makes the center stone even more eye catching and stunning.
If you are not familiar with halo engagement ring designs, we’ll cover some of the basics in the following.
What Is a Halo Ring?
While the classic look of a diamond solitaire might always be the most coveted engagement ring, the halo ring is the second most popular, and offers classic styling with a twist. From celebrities to brides-to-be in La Jolla, halo rings have continued to increase in popularity, and for good reasons.
Making their debut in the Art Deco period of the 1920s, halo rings at their simplest refer to a ring with a setting that encircles the center stone with a collection of smaller stones. The halo of smaller, surrounding stones (often round brilliant pavé or micro-pavé diamonds) serve to redirect the viewer’s gaze to the center stone. As one can imagine, custom halo rings, like all custom made jewelry, can be designed in countless ways, and are available at different price points.
The Benefits of a Halo Setting
Far and away the biggest benefit of choosing the halo setting is that the basic design (center stone surrounded by small stones) makes the center stone appear bigger. A high carat weight center stone in a halo setting will appear gigantic, and a quarter or third of a carat stone can, by some estimates, appear as much as half a carat larger. With a less pricey center stone, your budget is effectively bigger, allowing you to make a big statement with a modest budget.
Center Stone Options for Halo Settings
While the most classic halo setting might be a round brilliant diamond center stone encircled by a number of smaller diamonds, there is no hard and fast rule requiring the center stone to be a particular cut, or even a diamond at all. Halo rings can feature a variety of center stone cuts, including emerald-cut, oval, and even pear and marquise cut diamonds. The relatively sharp edges of marquise and pear cuts that can occasionally chip or break are not only “softened” by the effect of being surrounded by the halo stones, but they’re protected a bit as well.
Radiant cut diamonds (an exceptionally bright combination of emerald and round cuts) are also a popular choice for the center stone. You can consider the option of making the center stone a cluster of small or pavé diamonds. The effect can be stunning, and you’ll wind up with the same carat weight of a single, larger stone at a fraction of the price.
The center stone doesn’t necessarily have to be a diamond. Other popular choices include fancy colored diamonds, or even a colored stones like tanzanite or sapphires. By introducing color in the center stone, you open the possibilities for contrasting the center stone with the halo stones. This contrast can work in both directions. Beautiful examples include ruby or sapphire pavé set stones surrounding a colorless center diamond, or a vivid-yellow center stone surrounded by colorless diamonds.
How Many Halos?
The look of a single halo has given rise to double, and even triple halo settings. With two or three rows of pavé set stones encircling the center, these rings tend to get large in a hurry, so they may only look appropriate if you have a particularly small center stone. These types of halo rings can be a good solution if you’re trying to feature a smaller, family heirloom diamond in a setting that doesn’t seem diminutive.
Metal Choices
Like nearly every other custom engagement ring style, halo rings are available in a variety of metals. From the truly classic “white on white on white” look of a colorless center stone encircled by colorless pavé stones on a white gold or platinum ring, to the vintage feel of rose gold, halo rings can be made in nearly every combination.
Using color in the metal can play nicely with the stones, such as selecting a yellow gold band to downplay a yellow tint in a diamond, or combining the pinkish hue of rose gold to compliment a colored gemstone, like green peridot.
The Shank
The biggest option here is whether or not to pavé the shank. Often, a larger center stone in a halo setting is better served by a shank that is not pavé set, as the clean, simple look highlights the center stone. A ring with a smaller center stone and a single halo can achieve a fuller look with a thicker, pavéed shank.
One final thing to consider if you choose pavé for the shank is how much of the shank should be pavéed. Adhering to the original Art Deco look requires symmetry, so you’ll want the number of stones on each side of the shank to be even. Remember as well that if the entire shank is set, the ring becomes difficult, if not impossible to resize.
Start Designing Your Custom Halo Ring
Contact Carl Blackburn at C. Blackburn Jewelers to discuss the custom engagement ring you would like designed. Carl can work off photographs of engagement rings you love, or provide you with unique options based on his decades of experience designing custom engagement rings.
Our boutique jewelry store is located in the beautiful neighborhood of La Jolla By the Sea, less than 30 minutes from many San Diego communities, such as Rancho Santa Fe, Del Mar, and Point Loma.
To schedule an appointment at your convenience, call 858-251-3006 or send Carl an email via the contact form below.
