- Joined
- Sep 16, 2007
- Messages
- 1,348
Well, @yssie made me do it.
I've been planning a large diamond stud upgrade in 2019 for a year or so now, but I could never pull the trigger on a new pair. I saw Yssie's new dreamy AF opal dangles and my mind start spinning. I've always kinda browsed past opals, to be honest, and never gave them much thought. First I spent days, weeks, countless hours browsing on M's Opal World and Black Opals Direct - mostly just to educate myself. Truly, I think I still know "nothing" about opals, but I learned what my eyes like, which is apparently crystal opals. I ordered a few cheapies off Etsy to check myself, and then began the search for my crystal opals in earnest. At this point, I knew I wanted earrings, but I wasn't 100% sure if I wanted studs, dangles, halos, or what. I only knew they needed to be asymmetric and include diamonds in some way. Shout out to Jordy at M's Opal World who I messaged with several times - he was a delight as always and I highly recommend him and his shop.
I eventually ended up with 2 crystal opals from Black Opal Direct, and Justin and Ruth were equally wonderful to work with. My opals weren't the biggest or most expensive, but when I asked if one stone could slightly be polished down - it was literally done in like 48 hours I think! Shipping from Australia was also super reasonable and very fast.
The opals:
Stone #1
Crystal Opal
7mm x 6mm (pic is pre 2nd polish, stone was originally 7.5mm x 6mm)
Stone #2
Crystal Opal
7mm x 6mm
Stones arrived and I was obsessed. I then decided in the middle of the night, as I do, exactly how they should be set. Studs, with carre cut diamonds and an OEC. Totally different and wonky. I found some suitable stones on Ebay (My Diamond Zone for the carre parcel and rando seller for the OEC). I sent my hand drawn sketch to DK and approved the 2nd CADs, and 3 weeks later, I am the proud owner of the strangest "pair" of earrings that I'm going to wear everyday forever.
Specs:
2 crystal opals .82ct and .76ct with
.26ct L VS2 OEC diamond and .20tcw G/H VS2 carre cut diamonds, set in 18K yellow gold and 14K white gold
More pics to follow...
I've been planning a large diamond stud upgrade in 2019 for a year or so now, but I could never pull the trigger on a new pair. I saw Yssie's new dreamy AF opal dangles and my mind start spinning. I've always kinda browsed past opals, to be honest, and never gave them much thought. First I spent days, weeks, countless hours browsing on M's Opal World and Black Opals Direct - mostly just to educate myself. Truly, I think I still know "nothing" about opals, but I learned what my eyes like, which is apparently crystal opals. I ordered a few cheapies off Etsy to check myself, and then began the search for my crystal opals in earnest. At this point, I knew I wanted earrings, but I wasn't 100% sure if I wanted studs, dangles, halos, or what. I only knew they needed to be asymmetric and include diamonds in some way. Shout out to Jordy at M's Opal World who I messaged with several times - he was a delight as always and I highly recommend him and his shop.
I eventually ended up with 2 crystal opals from Black Opal Direct, and Justin and Ruth were equally wonderful to work with. My opals weren't the biggest or most expensive, but when I asked if one stone could slightly be polished down - it was literally done in like 48 hours I think! Shipping from Australia was also super reasonable and very fast.
The opals:
Stone #1
Crystal Opal
7mm x 6mm (pic is pre 2nd polish, stone was originally 7.5mm x 6mm)
Stone #2
Crystal Opal
7mm x 6mm
Stones arrived and I was obsessed. I then decided in the middle of the night, as I do, exactly how they should be set. Studs, with carre cut diamonds and an OEC. Totally different and wonky. I found some suitable stones on Ebay (My Diamond Zone for the carre parcel and rando seller for the OEC). I sent my hand drawn sketch to DK and approved the 2nd CADs, and 3 weeks later, I am the proud owner of the strangest "pair" of earrings that I'm going to wear everyday forever.
Specs:
2 crystal opals .82ct and .76ct with
.26ct L VS2 OEC diamond and .20tcw G/H VS2 carre cut diamonds, set in 18K yellow gold and 14K white gold
More pics to follow...