5pt or 10pt Diamonds for IDJ Jacket-Style Pendant?

[tara3056]

I'm the happy owner of a pair of IDJ earring jackets that have 3 pointer diamonds. The jackets were originally made to hold 0.50/ea or 1cttw *prong-set* studs, but I really prefer bezel settings, so I worked with IDJ to get a pair of 0.66cttw studs that, when bezel set, have the same spread as the 1cttw prong-set would have. So here's what my earrings & jackets look like:


I eventually want to replicate this look by having IDJ make me a matching pendant that is a bit bigger than my earrings & jackets, but has about the same proportions. I'm thinking of using a single earring jacket that's made to hold a 0.75ct prong set diamond, but because I would bezel my center stone again, I'd probably only need a 0.55-0.60 carat center stone. I'd then ask IDJ to bezel the center diamond and weld it directly into the earring jacket. Apparently my melee options for this size are either 3pt (too small for a pendant, IMO), 5pt, or 10pt. I'm leaning towards using the 5 pointer stones, but wanted to ask if anyone here has any experience with either of these sizes in a pendant?

 

[facetgirl]

Hi- I don't know if this helps but this is is my favorite pendant of all time.

It's Cellentani's- and I really hope she doesn't mind that I've included her post here:

[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/the-jacket-saga-continues-with-id-jewelry.176397/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/the-jacket-saga-continues-with-id-jewelry.176397/[/URL]

Your necklace will turn out beautiful!

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Definitely 5 pointers.

 

[Enerchi]

I would agree with DS to keep it in the 5pt zone. The 10's could give you more of a 'flower' look and loose the same proportion as the studs have.

They look great with the bezels!! this is going to be an BEAUTIFUL pendant!!! Good luck!!

 

[tara3056]

Thanks everyone! I LOVE that pendant facetgirl posted and I've bumped the thread to ask a few questions about it.

I think you guys are right about the 5 pointers instead of 10, especially because I did the following math:

My current 3 pointer melee stones have a diameter of about 2mm each. My center stones are about 4.5mm each. So that's about a 44% ratio between the melee to the main stone.

A 5 pointer diamond averages about 2.3mm-2.4mm, and my planned center stone for the pendant would be about 5.4mm, giving me a 42-44% ration between melee to center stone....

So it seems that using 5 pointers would ensure that the pendant would look like a slightly enlarged version of my earrings, which is what I'm going for. I'm excited! Now just to talk to IDJ about it soon and also see if there's any way we could upgrade the whole thing to be in platinum instead of white gold.. I think they get their castings from Adwar, who does appear to work in several types of platinum I have until August to work it out. It's intended to be a gift celebrating the birth of our daughter. I hope to be able to pass it to her someday.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

That sounds like a lovely idea, and I like the idea of doing it in platinum!

 

[cellentani]

Hi tara, so finally here are a couple photos which are now useless, given that you've already decided on melee size, lol. Are you able to get the setting done in platinum like you wanted? I can't wait to see it finished - it's going to be stunning! I still love mine and wear it almost daily, and can't tell you how many compliments I've gotten on it.

The jacket with 3-pointers has a 5.77mm OEC sitting on top, and the pendant with 5-pointers has a 5.6mm transitional in the center.

 

[Enerchi]

Cellantini, those are spectacular - both studs and pendant!! Just beautiful!

Tara - do you have your pendant yet?

 

[tara3056]

Cellentani: THANK YOU for posting the pics! Yes, I'd already decided on the 5 point melee, but it's still so nice to have that decision confirmed by seeing a comparison pic. I can see a quite visible difference in size between the 3 and 5 pts, so it looks exactly like I'd hoped.

I will be able to get the whole thing done in platinum, but I'm actually not going to be using IDJ for this project. I'm still very happy with the service I've received from them in the past, and in fact, am looking at one of their diamond circle pendants as a future bday/Xmas gift, so I fully anticipate shopping with them again, but in this case, for this pendant, their pricing was just far too high - about $1000 higher than I'll ultimately be paying elsewhere, and that was only in 14k gold, not the platinum I'll be getting (!). Granted, I did ask them to source the center stone for me, whereas I ultimately found one on my own, and that could easily account for the higher price, but I think they've been very busy lately, because I couldn't get an answer when I asked for a break-down of the total quote to see how much was being asked for each component.

Enerchi: No, I don't have my pendant yet. I purchased the center diamond about a week ago and it should be arriving to Michael E. of Gemshoppe in WA today. He'll be the one assisting me with this project. He's going to order the exact same style of earring jacket/pendant from Adwar that IDJ is famous for using (in plat), set it with nice melee, then build a bezel for my center diamond and solder it in. So far, he has been wonderful to work with! He did say there was about a 3 week timeframe for pieces like this, so I'm thinking it'll be mid-June by the time I get it.

 

[mileysmuse]

hi tara,
could you post a pic? also, would it be ok to state the price you got for the setting & tell us why you felt platinum would be a better choice?

Love the 5pter proportion…u were spot on! could you tell us what size diameter your pendant has when all is said & done with your 70ct center stone? I'm thinking about getting my first pair of studs (which could max at 70pts each if I sacrifice color) and was curious if your pendant width would be too big for my ear….or not. i tried on one earring that was 10.5mm H x 4.5mm wide & it could have been bigger, lol.

Thoughts?

 

[mileysmuse]

hi tara,
could you post a pic? also, would it be ok to state the price you got for the setting & tell us why you felt platinum would be a better choice?

Love the 5pter proportion…u were spot on! could you tell us what size diameter your pendant has when all is said & done with your 70ct center stone? I'm thinking about getting my first pair of studs (which could max at 70pts each if I sacrifice color) and was curious if your pendant width would be too big for my ear….or not. i tried on one earring that was 10.5mm H x 4.5mm wide & it could have been bigger, lol.

Thoughts?