- Joined
- Jun 16, 2009
- Messages
- 1,065
I was not planning to do a review or show & tell thread, because it takes a lot of work to prepare. I skipped my other purchases before. This time, however, I feel obligated to do one, because the craftsman who made my diamond necklace really did a superb job. My necklace reflects his talents, skills, and passion. It will be a shame not to share this beauty on Pricescope. Make sure you pay special attention to the details of the necklace, especially the dbty’s. The necklace is platinum, and there are not many skilled craftsmen who can work on platinum and produce such fine quality product.
A little background – Years ago, Bob from Whiteflash showed me a photo of a lady wearing her gorgeous, long dbty necklace of 36-inch length with sparkling 16x0.16ct dbty melees (2-inch diamond spacing). The image stuck to my mind ever since. However, the daintiness of my short dbty necklace (one with pear pendant) makes me wonder about the “thin” chain. Besides, the price of 16 diamond (F color, VS clarity) ACA stations can be prohibitively high. Thus, I had given up the idea of the long necklace for a long, long time.
One day while I was organizing my old (pre-PS) jewelry, I found two 18-inch, platinum necklaces (my wedding gifts) sitting around unloved and neglected. The chains have the thickness that I prefer. I thought they could be used to make a long necklace. To match the thick chains (also thick bars), I would need larger diamonds than 16-pt. I found a 0.385ct (AGS ideal) diamond from PS’s Pre-loved Section. Then, I proceeded seeking out to Whiteflash for this necklace project.
At first, I had planned to have nine stations with 2.5-inch spacing (minimal number of diamonds for cost savings purpose). Then, I found a 0.35ct GIA ExExEx diamond from Blue Nile, and remembered a 0.62ct diamond that my mother gave me for my wedding. Although the 0.62ct diamond is poorly cut, it does hold special meaning to me. By placing it in the center would make my necklace special and can forever remind me about my mother. At the end, I increased the number to thirteen total, so as to make the necklace less scattered and maintain a diamond spacing closer to 2 inches.
I placed the order late last year. At the time, Whiteflash’s inventory was very limited due to the holiday buy. Originally, I wanted to get I or J color diamonds to keep cost to a minimum. The lack of available diamonds in the 30-some-pt range forced me to settle on colors ranging from G to I. At the same time, I had to consider non-ACA diamonds. Still, I ended up with all AGS ideal zero ACA and ES diamonds. Vera told me that Leon was very confused when he saw my list of diamonds being all over the place.
Although Leon and Vera did not say anything, I bet they frowned upon the thick metal bars in my chains. I am sure they had doubt about the proportions and the uniformity appearance (e.g., metal bars being too distractive). Even my diamond friend voiced her concern about the metal bars destroying the dainty and elegant look of a dbty necklace. Yet, I was not getting a dbty necklace, I argued. I just wanted a multi-station, diamond necklace. To make matter worse, I asked WF to put three U-bars on the back side of the settings to protect the cutlet. Well, you know the story about what happened after I posted the question on Pricescope.
Anyway, once again, I am pushing the envelope by challenging Whiteflash with a “new” “dbty” necklace that employs diamonds larger than the usual range of 7-pt to 20-pt. Last time, I challenged Whiteflash with my huggies that contained 30-pt+ diamonds (while the largest were 20-pts). Well, my huggies turned out perfect, and I find myself wearing them more often than I expected. This time, Whiteflash rose up to my challenge, AGAIN. I must say, the long necklace is very, very lovely and elegant. I think I’ll be wearing it very often.
Don’t mean to sound like a broken record; I really, really appreciate Whiteflash’s staff for making this long necklace a great reality from a crude idea in my head and my rough drawing/sketch.
A little background – Years ago, Bob from Whiteflash showed me a photo of a lady wearing her gorgeous, long dbty necklace of 36-inch length with sparkling 16x0.16ct dbty melees (2-inch diamond spacing). The image stuck to my mind ever since. However, the daintiness of my short dbty necklace (one with pear pendant) makes me wonder about the “thin” chain. Besides, the price of 16 diamond (F color, VS clarity) ACA stations can be prohibitively high. Thus, I had given up the idea of the long necklace for a long, long time.
One day while I was organizing my old (pre-PS) jewelry, I found two 18-inch, platinum necklaces (my wedding gifts) sitting around unloved and neglected. The chains have the thickness that I prefer. I thought they could be used to make a long necklace. To match the thick chains (also thick bars), I would need larger diamonds than 16-pt. I found a 0.385ct (AGS ideal) diamond from PS’s Pre-loved Section. Then, I proceeded seeking out to Whiteflash for this necklace project.
At first, I had planned to have nine stations with 2.5-inch spacing (minimal number of diamonds for cost savings purpose). Then, I found a 0.35ct GIA ExExEx diamond from Blue Nile, and remembered a 0.62ct diamond that my mother gave me for my wedding. Although the 0.62ct diamond is poorly cut, it does hold special meaning to me. By placing it in the center would make my necklace special and can forever remind me about my mother. At the end, I increased the number to thirteen total, so as to make the necklace less scattered and maintain a diamond spacing closer to 2 inches.
I placed the order late last year. At the time, Whiteflash’s inventory was very limited due to the holiday buy. Originally, I wanted to get I or J color diamonds to keep cost to a minimum. The lack of available diamonds in the 30-some-pt range forced me to settle on colors ranging from G to I. At the same time, I had to consider non-ACA diamonds. Still, I ended up with all AGS ideal zero ACA and ES diamonds. Vera told me that Leon was very confused when he saw my list of diamonds being all over the place.
Although Leon and Vera did not say anything, I bet they frowned upon the thick metal bars in my chains. I am sure they had doubt about the proportions and the uniformity appearance (e.g., metal bars being too distractive). Even my diamond friend voiced her concern about the metal bars destroying the dainty and elegant look of a dbty necklace. Yet, I was not getting a dbty necklace, I argued. I just wanted a multi-station, diamond necklace. To make matter worse, I asked WF to put three U-bars on the back side of the settings to protect the cutlet. Well, you know the story about what happened after I posted the question on Pricescope.
Anyway, once again, I am pushing the envelope by challenging Whiteflash with a “new” “dbty” necklace that employs diamonds larger than the usual range of 7-pt to 20-pt. Last time, I challenged Whiteflash with my huggies that contained 30-pt+ diamonds (while the largest were 20-pts). Well, my huggies turned out perfect, and I find myself wearing them more often than I expected. This time, Whiteflash rose up to my challenge, AGAIN. I must say, the long necklace is very, very lovely and elegant. I think I’ll be wearing it very often.
Don’t mean to sound like a broken record; I really, really appreciate Whiteflash’s staff for making this long necklace a great reality from a crude idea in my head and my rough drawing/sketch.