If you've been following my blog you'll remember that my engagement band is this emerald baguette art deco ring.

It is a very unique shape and due to its side triangles and descending bezel set baguettes, it makes designing a contour band (also called a nesting or tracer band) quite challenging. But since I love a challenge, I thought I would design one on either side so my customers can see that creating a wedding band for uniquely shaped rings is entirely possible, and actually a lot of fun. 

Here are some things to think about when designing a contour wedding band. Will you ever wear this band by itself? Let's say you go traveling abroad and you don't want to take your engagement ring because if you lost it or it gets stolen, it is an  irreplaceable heirloom. Does the band look good on it's own without the engagement ring? Are there any design details that you need to look out for when you create the wedding band? Let's breakdown a few of these questions, and how I addressed them. 

Will I ever wear this band by itself? I thought so. When I went traveling to Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos last December I didn't bring my engagement ring and brought one of our Artifex skinny wedding bands as a placeholder. I didn't want to risk losing my engagement ring and since I would be traveling solo for a bit I wanted something that signified that I was married. The s&p diamond kite contour band looks great on it's own. There's enough design detail to make it interesting, if I was to lose this ring the calibrated baguettes are easily replaceable as is the s&p kite. The slight V shape will also contour around other rings I have which made this style a beautiful workhorse.

One edit I made to this V design is that originally I had it being a much more angular V. There was a good amount of space between my emerald baguette and the kite diamond. I ended up bringing the angle down because my finger length is not very long, and the tip of that kite extended into my knuckle which I knew would make it look funny when bending my finger, not to mention the possibility of it getting caught increased. By lowering that angle it made the triangle a bit harder to see but since I knew the side that faced me would be open I was ok with that edit. 

Let's address our second question. Are there any design details you need to look out for when designing the contour band? Well I've got these s&p triangle diamonds on the sides, and since that design element symbolizes the trinity of my family unit (husband, me, son) I definitely wanted it to be seen at least on the side that faces me. Creating an open ring allowed me to still see that triangle diamond and I felt its negative space really framed the emerald. 

I have been a fan of setting diamonds upside down (or inverted) for a long time. I just needed a reason to make something with diamonds that are set with the culet (point side) up. It makes the style edgier, a little wicked-witch-of-the-west, and an excellent contrast to all the baguettes I used, it gives the set more texture. You'll see that I flipped the smaller diamonds (after the third inverted diamond) to setting them with the culet down, that curve is right where the ring will start to hit my other finger, and the inverted diamond would not be comfortable rubbing against my skin. Inverted diamonds work well when they are on the top of a ring or on earrings/pendants that aren't going to touch skin.  

Lastly, I wanted this ring set to be very interchangeable. With each option giving a very different look. By creating an open ring I was able to flip the inverted contour band to the top which made the ring have a crown effect when paired with the kite contour band. 

I also thought the two contour bands looked great on their own if I chose to not wear my engagement ring. 

I've been wearing my set for the last few months, and I can say with confidence that it was a challenge worth taking on and I absolutely love it!

Do you have an engagement ring that you want a contoured wedding band to trace? Let's chat! I'm pretty certain we can make a beautiful compliment to your engagement ring.