LGK
Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Nov 27, 2007
- Messages
- 2,975
So ever since I got my big OEC I''ve bitched about the setting. It came with the setting- it was definitely not what I would have chosen- and although it grew on me enough to tolerate for a couple years, I never loved it, and always wanted an antique setting for it. Of course, antique settings for larger stones are few and far between; and the few I found were really pricey. I finally, finally found one! It''s a lovely filigree platinum setting, looks Edwardian to me, with a lot of piercing. The melee is really, really, really teensy, and mostly rose cut- I love the effect, it looks almost like marcasite and really doesn''t compete with the center stone.
Anyway, I was not sure if it was possible for my OEC to fit in it- I mean, Larry Winters who does my bench work is definitely a miracle worker, but a really delicate antique bezel setting could be a PITA. Well, it was a huge PITA for him, but he persevered and it looks AMAZING. Apparently it cracked in three places, a bunch of melee fell out and it wasn''t sizeable at all. I can''t even tell where the cracks were, that''s how perfect the repair is.
The bezel is built up a lot from the original- the amethyst that was in there hung out the bottom quite a bit, and Larry totally understood that I didn''t want the culet of my stone resting on my finger. There''s plenty of clearance actually. He handmade the new platinum bezel, and it is really delicate and lovely. I will probably get it millgrained eventually but it looks great as-is, so no rush.
The major difference I noticed when I picked it up, was the color. The M color looks almost totally... white. Yeah, if you scrutinize you see a bit of off whiteness, but the difference is striking. Before, with the halo of smaller, whiter diamonds, it was always obvious that it had body color. Now, it just faces up white. Everyone who''s seen it reset has said something about how different the color looks, without me saying a word, which surprised me quite a bit. To my eye (and my DH''s as he''s reiterated several times) it looks larger too. I always felt the halo detracted from it somewhat, but I wasn''t aware of quite how much until I saw it nekkid.
The other cool thing about a bezel, besides the fact that I''m thrilled my stone is better protected, is that the pattern of the OEC pops *so* much more. Prongs apparently interrupted the neat snowflake pattern quite a bit, and now you can see it so much clearer.
The old triple halo setting has passed on to a new home already. It was a lovely setting, just not what *I* wanted. I''m completely thrilled with the new one, though! It has all the fun antique stuff I love going on, but it doesn''t detract from the center stone- which is a really tough balance, as I''ve discovered. So often the ornate settings end up being all you see, and that wasn''t the effect I wanted for my OEC. But I''m really thrilled with how the detail on this setting is kind of... subtle and restrained, despite the intricacy. The small size of the melee is definitely a big part of that.
OMG I hate my ancient camera. My good one is packed still somewhere, but this one... this one sucks. The file size for some reason is always HUGE despite the crappy low res images.
Anyway, I was not sure if it was possible for my OEC to fit in it- I mean, Larry Winters who does my bench work is definitely a miracle worker, but a really delicate antique bezel setting could be a PITA. Well, it was a huge PITA for him, but he persevered and it looks AMAZING. Apparently it cracked in three places, a bunch of melee fell out and it wasn''t sizeable at all. I can''t even tell where the cracks were, that''s how perfect the repair is.
The bezel is built up a lot from the original- the amethyst that was in there hung out the bottom quite a bit, and Larry totally understood that I didn''t want the culet of my stone resting on my finger. There''s plenty of clearance actually. He handmade the new platinum bezel, and it is really delicate and lovely. I will probably get it millgrained eventually but it looks great as-is, so no rush.
The major difference I noticed when I picked it up, was the color. The M color looks almost totally... white. Yeah, if you scrutinize you see a bit of off whiteness, but the difference is striking. Before, with the halo of smaller, whiter diamonds, it was always obvious that it had body color. Now, it just faces up white. Everyone who''s seen it reset has said something about how different the color looks, without me saying a word, which surprised me quite a bit. To my eye (and my DH''s as he''s reiterated several times) it looks larger too. I always felt the halo detracted from it somewhat, but I wasn''t aware of quite how much until I saw it nekkid.
The other cool thing about a bezel, besides the fact that I''m thrilled my stone is better protected, is that the pattern of the OEC pops *so* much more. Prongs apparently interrupted the neat snowflake pattern quite a bit, and now you can see it so much clearer.
The old triple halo setting has passed on to a new home already. It was a lovely setting, just not what *I* wanted. I''m completely thrilled with the new one, though! It has all the fun antique stuff I love going on, but it doesn''t detract from the center stone- which is a really tough balance, as I''ve discovered. So often the ornate settings end up being all you see, and that wasn''t the effect I wanted for my OEC. But I''m really thrilled with how the detail on this setting is kind of... subtle and restrained, despite the intricacy. The small size of the melee is definitely a big part of that.
OMG I hate my ancient camera. My good one is packed still somewhere, but this one... this one sucks. The file size for some reason is always HUGE despite the crappy low res images.
Yep, the amethyst was powdered to get it out. Lol, Larry offered to give me the powder- he''d saved a little pile of it; I really had no plan to reuse it so I didn''t care too much. Yeah, I was realllly impressed he did such a nice job retrofitting the setting. (He has done some amazing stuff for me over the years, including resizing a filigree setting from 7 to 2.5; he''s really an amazing bench. He does the work for a lot of the antique jewelry dealers in the Seattle area.)
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