CloudofDisaster
Rough_Rock
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2019
- Messages
- 13
Just want to show off my new pendant that DK made--it arrived yesterday and I can't bring myself to take it off! 
Last year, my in-laws gifted me a beautiful little Australian opal and I was immediately mired in indecision about how to set it. After spending several months hemming and hawing, I talked with David Klass about modifying one of his existing ring designs into a pendant. And a month after shipping my stones off, DK sent me back the most lovely finished pendant!
In addition to the opal, I had a few little tsavorite garnets that showed off the opal's green flashes perfectly, so I sent those to DK, along with a 1mm light brown diamond and one orange sapphire (I was nervous how it would turn out to throw yet another stone color into this design, but the opal has a perfect orange flash in one corner--so how could I NOT use the matching sapphire!? ...I'm happy with how it turned out, and I think it added a little bit of vintage-feeling uniqueness to the pendant).
I also went back and forth about what color/karat gold to use. I wasn't sure whether the opal would go best with yellow gold, white gold, a darker high karat yellow, or some kind of specialty alloy. I finally defaulted to 14k yellow because I wanted this to be an heirloom quality piece with a timeless feel--and I think 14k yg achieved that, but in retrospect, I wonder if platinum or an unplated white might have worked better with the opal's coloring. ...I guess I'll never know for sure, so I'm going to assume the 14k yg was the best choice! But my lesson learned for future projects is that I probably could have minimized a lot of my anxieties and uncertainty by taking the time to go to a jeweler in person to see how different gold colors looked against the stone.
I chose DK because of the wonderful reviews he gets on PS and because I love so many of the pieces he shares on IG. But even knowing all this about his reputation going into the design process, I was blown away by how professional and patient he was with me and how incredibly fast. And talk about reasonably priced! My MIL offered to have the opal set however I'd like within a budget she'd set based on what she paid to put a similar opal in a very plain gold ring setting last year. Despite the fact that I chose a much more complex design with hand engraved details, requested 5 extra stones be set, and added on a 14k chain--not to mention consider that the price of gold has surged since last year--DK's quote STILL came in a full 30% lower than the budget. I really hope I have an opportunity to do more projects with DK in the future.
Last year, my in-laws gifted me a beautiful little Australian opal and I was immediately mired in indecision about how to set it. After spending several months hemming and hawing, I talked with David Klass about modifying one of his existing ring designs into a pendant. And a month after shipping my stones off, DK sent me back the most lovely finished pendant!
In addition to the opal, I had a few little tsavorite garnets that showed off the opal's green flashes perfectly, so I sent those to DK, along with a 1mm light brown diamond and one orange sapphire (I was nervous how it would turn out to throw yet another stone color into this design, but the opal has a perfect orange flash in one corner--so how could I NOT use the matching sapphire!? ...I'm happy with how it turned out, and I think it added a little bit of vintage-feeling uniqueness to the pendant).
I also went back and forth about what color/karat gold to use. I wasn't sure whether the opal would go best with yellow gold, white gold, a darker high karat yellow, or some kind of specialty alloy. I finally defaulted to 14k yellow because I wanted this to be an heirloom quality piece with a timeless feel--and I think 14k yg achieved that, but in retrospect, I wonder if platinum or an unplated white might have worked better with the opal's coloring. ...I guess I'll never know for sure, so I'm going to assume the 14k yg was the best choice!
But my lesson learned for future projects is that I probably could have minimized a lot of my anxieties and uncertainty by taking the time to go to a jeweler in person to see how different gold colors looked against the stone.I chose DK because of the wonderful reviews he gets on PS and because I love so many of the pieces he shares on IG. But even knowing all this about his reputation going into the design process, I was blown away by how professional and patient he was with me and how incredibly fast. And talk about reasonably priced! My MIL offered to have the opal set however I'd like within a budget she'd set based on what she paid to put a similar opal in a very plain gold ring setting last year. Despite the fact that I chose a much more complex design with hand engraved details, requested 5 extra stones be set, and added on a 14k chain--not to mention consider that the price of gold has surged since last year--DK's quote STILL came in a full 30% lower than the budget. I really hope I have an opportunity to do more projects with DK in the future.
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