Help!! Need LA referral to address ugly, fat prongs...

[stonewell]

Help, please... I had to have my prongs redone when one got bent accidentally. They indicated that the 18kt gold was too soft and suggested going with 14kt gold, which I did. Well, about a 2 months afterwards and just before my wedding, my diamond appeared crooked and I went back to the jeweler. One of the prongs were bent again. At this point, I was paranoid that I would lose my diamond and frustrated that I would need to leave my ring again for a few days. So I asked them to make certain it would be secure. On a side note, I did ask about claw prongs as I love how they accentuate cushion cuts. They looked at me with a confused look and said they weren't familiar with them... I suppose that should have been a big red flag!

In any event, I had them redo the prongs for a second time. I picked up my rings the day before we were leaving for our wedding and was overwhelmed by how chunky and fat the prongs looked! My husband says I'm being too critical and they're fine. I am certain they're very secure, but I cannot get over how they distort the look of my diamond. My cushion is on the smaller side and cut deeper, so I really would like to have more delicate claw prongs.

I decided to live with it for a month or so to see if I would get use to it - I can't! So, I've decided to have them done the way I wanted them from the start. I really respect the advice here on Pricescope (wish my husband had known this site when he was shopping for my ring!), so can anyone recommend a quality jeweler, in Los Angeles, with a good bench that can fix my ring with the claw prongs I'm dying for?? Thanks in advance for your help!

Here are some before and after photos for reference:

Before






After - yuck!!

 

[SB621]

Woa they definitely didn't do justice to your prongs. I think they did misunderstand what you were asking for. The diamond sits up much higher now- which would borther me as I'm a klutz so I would probably knock it around more.

In LA you could look at Singlestone, Victora Canera and a few other PS vendors that are there. I'm East Coast so I'm not sure if their is a more affordable bench around who does great work. I don' t think SS or VC would do repair work on a ring that was not theirs- especially since it is only prongs. perhaps 23rd st? Sorry I'm not more help

 

[stonewell]

Woa they definitely didn't do justice to your prongs. I think they did misunderstand what you were asking for. The diamond sits up much higher now- which would borther me as I'm a klutz so I would probably knock it around more.

In LA you could look at Singlestone, Victora Canera and a few other PS vendors that are there. I'm East Coast so I'm not sure if their is a more affordable bench around who does great work. I don' t think SS or VC would do repair work on a ring that was not theirs- especially since it is only prongs. perhaps 23rd st? Sorry I'm not more help

Appreciate the suggestions - and I think you're correct that they won't likely work on my ring. More importantly, thanks for confirming I'm not being crazy... lol. My husband originally got my ring designed by a jeweler in NY, who was a friend of a friend, of a friend. I had to send it back once to have sizing beads put on because it was too big, and it took about 10 days. Those were the most agonizing 10 days! Not to mention, I was a wreck thinking something would happen in transit back and forth. Hence my preference for someone or some place closer to home.

I don't mind it sitting higher - it seems to help my little beauty sparkle a bit more and show it's depth since it is not showing on the face up. However, if getting claw prongs makes it more fragile, I like the lower set as well.

Anyone else have any ideas... anyone?

 

[Rockdiamond]

Hi stonewell,
I hope someone else will prove me wrong....but I don't think anything short of a new ring is going to get you all the way where you want to go.
Finer shops have nothing to gain working on a ring they did not produce- but a lot to loose.
Trying to fix another jewelers mistake is more difficult than starting from scratch in most cases.
There are sellers that promise things they can't deliver- this is of course very unfortunate.
I always suggest consumers see concrete evidence of the quality of work being promised before committing

Claw prong are a great example- if a jeweler is not showing pieces with claw prongs, they won't be able to suddenly start making them in most cases.
Adding them to an existing piece is not likely to produce good results, I wish I had better news for you.....

 

[stonewell]

Hi stonewell,
I hope someone else will prove me wrong....but I don't think anything short of a new ring is going to get you all the way where you want to go.
Finer shops have nothing to gain working on a ring they did not produce- but a lot to loose.
Trying to fix another jewelers mistake is more difficult than starting from scratch in most cases.
There are sellers that promise things they can't deliver- this is of course very unfortunate.
I always suggest consumers see concrete evidence of the quality of work being promised before committing

Claw prong are a great example- if a jeweler is not showing pieces with claw prongs, they won't be able to suddenly start making them in most cases.
Adding them to an existing piece is not likely to produce good results, I wish I had better news for you.....

Thanks Rockdiamond - even if it's the kind of feedback I was hoping I wouldn't hear... In all fairness, the original jeweler wasn't aware of my preference for prong style. He only knew, through my husband, my love for cushions, halos and thicker shanks. So, it wasn't even a part of the design discussion.

I had searched through the forum before posting and saw some threads where folks had their prongs filed down or rebuilt into a claw design - so I was hoping I could do the same and wanted some recommendations rather than rolling the dice again in selecting a jeweler.

I'm fairly certain my husband won't be game for redoing the ring over at this point - as I mentioned, he thinks it's perfectly fine. Then again, he also thinks wearing holey socks are fine. So unless anyone can give me some hope to have just this work done, I'll have to learn to love it as is... *sigh*

 

[Jim Summa]

Stonewall,
Maybe having your jeweler cut a little notch or split your prongs would help give it a finished look.....I know you want claw but this might help tailor your ring a little.

 

[iluvshinythings]

I agree with the above poster. Since PS, I've become a freak about prongs. Every setting I saw locally had big, fat yucky prongs. I talked to my jeweler, who talked to his dad (who is an old school, retired jeweler) and they said that back in the old days they would split prongs so that's what I got. They aren't as sexy as VC or Leon, but my jeweler was able to turn a stock head into something I really, really like and it didn't cost much at all. I didn't have to ship my ring anywhere either. I think it would be easier to sell that idea to your hubby.

My FI doesn't get my obsession with prongs either - they all look the same to him.

 

[stonewell]

Stonewall,
Maybe having your jeweler cut a little notch or split your prongs would help give it a finished look.....I know you want claw but this might help tailor your ring a little.

Thanks Jim! I hadn't thought of going that route... However, I've seen some beautiful double claws and always thought they also helped to show off a cushion's cut. I'll definitely look into it!

I agree with the above poster. Since PS, I've become a freak about prongs. Every setting I saw locally had big, fat yucky prongs. I talked to my jeweler, who talked to his dad (who is an old school, retired jeweler) and they said that back in the old days they would split prongs so that's what I got. They aren't as sexy as VC or Leon, but my jeweler was able to turn a stock head into something I really, really like and it didn't cost much at all. I didn't have to ship my ring anywhere either. I think it would be easier to sell that idea to your hubby.

My FI doesn't get my obsession with prongs either - they all look the same to him.

Love your name - because I also love shiny things! lol. I didn't know that stock prongs could be modified this way, so good to hear you've had it done successfully. Anything, and I mean anything that could help to give it a more dainty look, while keeping my diamond secure would be a huge improvement. It's as though my eyes can only focus on the blobs on the corners of my diamond. I swear sometimes it seems they're growing bigger each time I look!

 

[iluvshinythings]

I think this is the head my jeweler used:

http://www.stuller.com/products/28270/?groupId=109424

It's from the stuller catalog and I think it was a fleur-de-lis setting. Then he split or notched each prong and separated them slightly.

This is what it ended up like:



It's not perfect, but it's probably worth trying. It might distract enough so you can enjoy your ring again.