tara3056
Shiny_Rock
- Joined
- Jul 3, 2012
- Messages
- 334
Fair warning: I'm in a verbose mood, LOL. This adventure started with my purchasing some preloved IDJ earring jackets (3 point melee; made for 0.50/5mm center stones). Initially I'd planned to wear the jackets primarily with colored stones and pearls, because I had never owned any real diamond studs (just CZs).
Soon after getting them, however, I decided I wanted some real diamond studs to wear with them. I'm a big fan of bezels - my engagement ring is a Ritani Endless Love style - so I contacted IDJ to see about having some bezel studs made that would fit my earring jackets. They did a beautiful job sourcing the diamonds and setting them into platinum bezel settings. Because my jackets were made for 0.50/5mm stones (each), I was able to go down in size a little to 0.33/4.5mm stones (each) and still have them fit well because the bezel setting took up the remaining space.
At some point I saw Cellentani's beautiful pendant that she'd had made from a modified IDJ earring jacket and decided I'd like to do the same, but again with the bezel modification. This is her's:
I contacted IDJ about the project, but although they were helpful, I felt like they were perhaps too busy to keep up with communication well, and their price came in way higher than I'd imagined it would be, so I started looking at different options. I knew that they sourced the earring jackets from Adwar Casting, so I went digging through Adwar's catalog and found that Adwar makes a pendant with a bail to match the earring jackets, so instead of needing to modify an earring jacket in 2 ways (adding a bezel + attaching a permanent chain), I'd only need to have someone remove the prongs for the center stone and replace it with a bezel for me. Searches on PS revealed that Michael Edgett was known to work with Adwar's products and he seemed to have great reviews, so I approached him with my idea. Original pendant:
To be Continued...
Soon after getting them, however, I decided I wanted some real diamond studs to wear with them. I'm a big fan of bezels - my engagement ring is a Ritani Endless Love style - so I contacted IDJ to see about having some bezel studs made that would fit my earring jackets. They did a beautiful job sourcing the diamonds and setting them into platinum bezel settings. Because my jackets were made for 0.50/5mm stones (each), I was able to go down in size a little to 0.33/4.5mm stones (each) and still have them fit well because the bezel setting took up the remaining space.
At some point I saw Cellentani's beautiful pendant that she'd had made from a modified IDJ earring jacket and decided I'd like to do the same, but again with the bezel modification. This is her's:
I contacted IDJ about the project, but although they were helpful, I felt like they were perhaps too busy to keep up with communication well, and their price came in way higher than I'd imagined it would be, so I started looking at different options. I knew that they sourced the earring jackets from Adwar Casting, so I went digging through Adwar's catalog and found that Adwar makes a pendant with a bail to match the earring jackets, so instead of needing to modify an earring jacket in 2 ways (adding a bezel + attaching a permanent chain), I'd only need to have someone remove the prongs for the center stone and replace it with a bezel for me. Searches on PS revealed that Michael Edgett was known to work with Adwar's products and he seemed to have great reviews, so I approached him with my idea. Original pendant:
To be Continued...
The final pic is Michael's shot of the side view of the pendant. I appreciate how he made the bezeled center diamond sit slightly above the halo, because it mimics the look of my bezel studs in their jackets almost perfectly (they don't sit entirely flush either, and it helps to emphasize the center stone.)
Absolutely love it all! Now I think I 'need' a pendant to match my jackets and studs 
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