Diamond earrings - after market up-bling

[Tanzigrrl]

A year ago, April 19, 2014, my most important piece of jewelry was completed, see:

https://www.pricescope.com/blog/jewel-week-vintage-inspired-custom-tanzanite-necklace

Fast forward to April 19, 2015, and I received the matching pair of earrings! The artist, Courtney Poole Pendergrast, made the necklace and the earrings. The earrings are 14kt WG, and feature .40cts of diamonds. The design and filigree work closely match that of the necklace. I wore them for about a month, and then it dawned on me (like it would on any PSer), "I think they need MORE diamond carat weight." So, I emailed Courtney and asked how she'd feel about doing an "after market up-bling" revision to my earrings.

I acquired a pair of diamond studs, .50ctw for purposes of the diamond augmentation.

Now, some of you know that my husband is a jewelry student of Courtney's, and he has a home jewelry studio in our basement. We invited Courtney and her husband over to do the up-bling session. My husband excitedly cleaned his studio in advance of hosting a visiting artist! It was so much fun and the best part is that I got to watch!

In what follows, I'll show you some of the process photos.

First, here is the before picture. They were truly lovely earrings, I just really wanted more diamonds.

 

[Tanzigrrl]

In what follows, you'll see the studs I chose (sorry for the poor pictures), and how I started playing with ideas for where to place them.


Here are some process photos:

 

[Tanzigrrl]

The craziest thing was seeing my beloved earrings under a neon green flame! Not for the faint of heart, I tell you:

 

[Tanzigrrl]

After adding new bezels to the diamond stud earrings that we were incorporating into the existing earrings, we changed the position of some one of the existing diamonds in the original design. So, the little guy at the bottom of the earring moved to the "squinch" part in the middle of the design and the new, larger diamond, took his place at the bottom.

Then after that, she rhodium plated the white gold so they'd be bright and shiny white, see pics:

 

[Tanzigrrl]

Here is the finished product. At some point, I'll take a picture of the earrings together and with the tanzanite necklace.

 

[Tanzigrrl]

Before


After


Family Photo

 

[tyty333]

The whole set is just gorgeous! Is there a matching bracelet in the future?

 

[Rockinruby]

Wow! Love this! Thank you for sharing the process & story of the up-bling. The earrings turned out great!

Not sure I could' have watched. Definitely not for the faint of heart as you said, lol.

 

[Jambalaya]

Beautiful, and a very interesting post with all the process photos!

Now all you need is a tanzanite ring!

 

[Tanzigrrl]

Jambalaya - there is a matching ring, it was first actually (2010). It's the one from my avatar, but here's the full sized photo.

Rockinruby - thank you - it was pretty awesome to have a jewelry making session in my own home!

Tyty333 - you know, I giggled to myself when you suggested a bracelet, but...then you got me thinking. Maybe a bracelet should be the next thing...

 

[Enerchi]

oh MY!! Tanzigirl, those are STUNNING!!! WOW!!! and a bracelet??? why yes... I believe you NEED one...

For sure, it will make you a better person, you know! (its my rationale for when I really REALLY want something!!)