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Please share your experiences on setting a pearl pendant

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thecat

Brilliant_Rock
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Mar 19, 2014
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Hi ladies, I snagged the following loose pearls. I wear both yg and wg. How would you set them? I have no idea if their coloring go better with wg or yg, what sort of pendant setting (no diamond, but even then there are quite a few choices on PP site with no diamond). How do you normally decide how to set your pendant? Can you please share with this novice? I think it's much easier to buy a really made pendant, no such headache. But at the same time, it's satisfying when my customised pendant is done. I guess I like doing projects, minus the headache :wink2: Thank you in advance for your advice :))
 
thecat:

I think your pearls have enough mix of warm and cool tones (the greens on the bottom, the aubergines on top) that you could make a good argument for either white or yellow gold. If it were me, I'd probably lean towards white gold, just to bring out the cooler tones...but you could do one of two things to help you decide. 1) bring the pearls home, look at them in natural light, and hold both white and yellow gold up to them to see which one brings out the colours best, or 2) call PP and talk to one of the very nice people there what they recommend. Some of this is likely to be personal preference as well. I know I generally prefer white gold as I feel I look better in it.

As for settings, scale is difficult to judge without seeing things together. I talked to Chenai about what finding would look best in terms of scale for the one pearl I decided to set with a pre-made piece, and she let me know whether the findings that I liked would fit the scale of the pearl.

For me, I went with the dew diamond finding in yellow gold for my one pearl. I initially went with WG because that's what I like best, but then started looking at the greens in the pearl and decided that yellow would bring them out more. I'm also planning to set my other pearl in WG, and thought that this would give me something to wear with the yellow gold earrings that I own that often don't see the light of day as they do not match with my WG neckwear.

So here's my pearl:



and here's the finding that I decided on (arg, can't get picture to save, so have to do a URL link):

http://www.pearlparadise.com/p-3791-dew-diamond-pendant.aspx

and I went with a gold box chain.

loose_green_one.jpg
 
Oh, I forgot to mention....what I did was look at the Tahitian, south sea, and akoya pendant pages, picked which pendant findings I liked best, made a list of them and THEN talked to Chenai about which ones would work best in terms of scale.

She also suggested that with this pearl I could turn it upside down and make it into a ring. I was tempted, but I love the little nub and the banding too much to hide them in a ring setting. Plus, I am likely to damage a pearl ring. Might be better with a less special pearl!

Edit: I was also tempted to ask whether John could put a yellow gold band around this pearl like in the encircled collection. In the end, I decided that this would push the price point higher than I wanted to go, especially given that I am hoping to do something fancier for the other pearl.
 
I have only made 3 pendants, 1 is still work-in-progress (due to loss of interest).

The one that is WIP is like a bunch of grapes, with each pearl wire-wraped and connect to the chain using eye pins.

The other two are 3-pearls pendants, with a diamond rondelles in between the pearls, using a long eye pin made by bending the end of a wire, and connect to the bale via wire-wrap, and they can be seen in this group pic of my pendants:

pendants.jpg

DK :))
 
They also do custom work. If you email them a picture of something you like, they may be able to make it.
 
Cmd, thanks for your detailed sharing of your setting process. It didn't occur to me that I can reference their pendant pages to gain inspiration/check metal-pearl color compatibility. I just kept staring at the findings page and imagine how a setting would look on my pearl. :sick: I tried looking through the "what are you wearing today" thread to see how others set their pendants and realized that ladies seem to favor necklaces over pendants. Both my pearls are less than $100 so I'm not thinking of custom for them. No point spending $ on beginners' pearls. I know a good way is to see the pearls for myself before deciding but shipping to and fro will cost more than my pearls. I'd rather get it done all at the same time. I might email PP to send me a photo on setting and pearl combination. I didn't want to do that initially as this is a small purchase and I feel bad about troubling them.

DK168, I like your white pearl with wire wrap but I don't see such a setting on PP site. The closest one is the honey pendant. I think I will email PP for a photo of honey pendant on top of my pearls. I love the nub but I wonder if it's weird if I turn my pearl upside down such that the nub is facing down instead.
 
I usually use yellow gold unless I have a real reason to want white. Just personal preference. Icy white does look great on lighter color pearls like baby blue akoyas or silver Tahitians. If you usually wear one color metal, you may want to buy that. I have two piercings so I usually wear matching diamond studs in those holes, I make sure the metals match.

Designer John has thousands of waxes in his studio plus the ready mades PP has in stock and within easy grasp at their gold vendors.

You may find once you see these pearls in person, they are too small to wear as a pendant alone, but may be part of a component in a pendant. The round one upside down with a bezel set diamond with pinned O rings on either end hooked into the longer larger pearl with a diamond enhancer bale?
 
These are special pearls, even though they were an amazing price, and once they are drilled/set, you will be limited to future settings based on the drill hole, and risk damage to the pearl if you reset, so it's worth giving things some thought so you're happy with the end result. If you email PP they can get back to you when it's convenient for them, so it's no bother, especially if you let them know that there is no rush.

I can't recall the size of your pearls, but 10-11 mm makes a nice casual pendant. But that's the lowest edge of how small you'd want to go in a solitaire style. If you look at the show me your pearls thread I posted my bezel set slider pendant. It's just a hair under 10 mm to give you a sense of scale. Combining your two might be fun if they are smaller than that.
 
NacreLover|1409825416|3744562 said:
I usually use yellow gold unless I have a real reason to want white. Just personal preference. Icy white does look great on lighter color pearls like baby blue akoyas or silver Tahitians. If you usually wear one color metal, you may want to buy that. I have two piercings so I usually wear matching diamond studs in those holes, I make sure the metals match.

Designer John has thousands of waxes in his studio plus the ready mades PP has in stock and within easy grasp at their gold vendors.

You may find once you see these pearls in person, they are too small to wear as a pendant alone, but may be part of a component in a pendant. The round one upside down with a bezel set diamond with pinned O rings on either end hooked into the longer larger pearl with a diamond enhancer bale?
Click to expand...

NL, thanks for your advice on metal/pearl color combination. It didn't occur to me to consider size of pearl. One is 9.3 mm and another 10.8 mm.I was hoping for solitaire pendant. Maybe I should research a bit more. May I know who John is? Is he part of PP team? Else, how do I reach him? Thank you :))
 
cmd2014|1409831948|3744598 said:
These are special pearls, even though they were an amazing price, and once they are drilled/set, you will be limited to future settings based on the drill hole, and risk damage to the pearl if you reset, so it's worth giving things some thought so you're happy with the end result. If you email PP they can get back to you when it's convenient for them, so it's no bother, especially if you let them know that there is no rush.

I can't recall the size of your pearls, but 10-11 mm makes a nice casual pendant. But that's the lowest edge of how small you'd want to go in a solitaire style. If you look at the show me your pearls thread I posted my bezel set slider pendant. It's just a hair under 10 mm to give you a sense of scale. Combining your two might be fun if they are smaller than that.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reminder that these pearls are unique regardless of their price point, Cmd. :)) Ya, I left a note with them not to ship my pearls till the end of the month as I believe I will be getting more items from the sale. I will ship them all together. :D
 
These pearls are NOT beginner pearls. They are in a class all by themselves. Jeremy bought a "lot" (the term used for a group of pearls bought at the Tahitian pearl auction) It was a lot of 5600 pearls. During sorting he chose the best of the best very special pearls for this sale to be sold as individual pearls to the pearl lovers. Your pearls are worthy of special findings.

John is the PP inhouse jewelry designer.
 
I'm not sure what other people's experience has been, but mine has been that you just need to email one of the wonderful people at PP (either through the "contact us" button on the webpage, or the live chat button, or if you have spoken to someone before about anything else, you can email them directly). Then you let them know what you are hoping to do (either one of the pre-set findings on their website, or email them a picture of something that you've seen elsewhere that you love, or just describe what you are hoping to do), and then they will work with John and get back to you with suggestions. I don't think people necessarily work directly with John (but I could be wrong). They are happy to email you pictures of suggestions for settings (holding up the pre-made setting to your pearl, or showing you pictures of molds for settings that are similar to what you described to them), and then once you decide on something, you authorize them to go ahead and make it for you.

Even a simple setting would look gorgeous on the pearls that you picked, and the sizes are not too small to look skimpy in a pendant (either as a solitaire or in combination like Nacrelover suggested...it would look beautiful to have the pearls drop down one on top of the other IMO) - to see what that looks like, take a look at the Tahitian pendant with the two encircled pearls one on top of the other on the sale page (it has been sold, but you can still open the picture up to see it).

Edit: Here's the link: http://www.pearlparadise.com/p-4248...aroque-pearl-pendant-with-textured-bands.aspx
 
4Ranch Girl|1409848349|3744739 said:
These pearls are NOT beginner pearls. They are in a class all by themselves. Jeremy bought a "lot" (the term used for a group of pearls bought at the Tahitian pearl auction) It was a lot of 5600 pearls. During sorting he chose the best of the best very special pearls for this sale to be sold as individual pearls to the pearl lovers. Your pearls are worthy of special findings.

John is the PP inhouse jewelry designer.
Click to expand...

4RG, thanks for the information on John. :)) I'm glad to know that my first pearls are special and unique. :dance:

cmd2014 said:
I'm not sure what other people's experience has been, but mine has been that you just need to email one of the wonderful people at PP (either through the "contact us" button on the webpage, or the live chat button, or if you have spoken to someone before about anything else, you can email them directly). Then you let them know what you are hoping to do (either one of the pre-set findings on their website, or email them a picture of something that you've seen elsewhere that you love, or just describe what you are hoping to do), and then they will work with John and get back to you with suggestions. I don't think people necessarily work directly with John (but I could be wrong). They are happy to email you pictures of suggestions for settings (holding up the pre-made setting to your pearl, or showing you pictures of molds for settings that are similar to what you described to them), and then once you decide on something, you authorize them to go ahead and make it for you.

Even a simple setting would look gorgeous on the pearls that you picked, and the sizes are not too small to look skimpy in a pendant (either as a solitaire or in combination like Nacrelover suggested...it would look beautiful to have the pearls drop down one on top of the other IMO) - to see what that looks like, take a look at the Tahitian pendant with the two encircled pearls one on top of the other on the sale page (it has been sold, but you can still open the picture up to see it).

Edit: Here's the link: http://www.pearlparadise.com/p-4248...aroque-pearl-pendant-with-textured-bands.aspx
Click to expand...

Cmd, thank you for the information. It's very helpful. :))
 
Yes, TheCat, you can talk directly with designer John. He has made many projects with friends here and on other forums. Did you read our post at pearlguide about the 2014 ruckus? I posted John's photo along with a few of the huge selection of waxes he has in his office/studio. I will post it here when I get home.
 
Designer John at the ruckus with my husband.

2014ruckus_267.jpg
 
John has boxes of these rubber casting molds, plus he can create his own also.

johnwax1.jpg
 
NL, you're so blessed to able to meet the designer and see all the designs. :appl: More importantly, your DH is interested in your jewelry enough to accompany you to the ruckus! :clap: Thanks for all the photos. I appreciate your effort to integrate a novice like me into the pearl community. :))
 
The Cat. I have some pendants coming in from PP on Monday. I also have some different styles here at the house. I will take some photos after they arrive and show you mine. Sometimes setting are used to hide flaws or shape, sometimes to just be decorative. If you hide flaws you risk loosing much of the pearl inside a setting. Unless the pearl is very large this is NOT a good thing. Behive caps are used to disguise cone shaped pearls and make them appear drop shaped or round.

THIS IS NOT MINE BUT A GOOD EXAMPLE HOW TO USE A ODD SHAPED PEARL.

cone2.jpg

cone1.jpg
 
NacreLover|1410031888|3746072 said:
The Cat. I have some pendants coming in from PP on Monday. I also have some different styles here at the house. I will take some photos after they arrive and show you mine. Sometimes setting are used to hide flaws or shape, sometimes to just be decorative. If you hide flaws you risk loosing much of the pearl inside a setting. Unless the pearl is very large this is NOT a good thing. Behive caps are used to disguise cone shaped pearls and make them appear drop shaped or round.

THIS IS NOT MINE BUT A GOOD EXAMPLE HOW TO USE A ODD SHAPED PEARL.
Click to expand...

Wow, this is such a clever use of a cone pendant! Now that I better understand the purpose of bee hive pendant, I won't use it with my new pearls. I was thinking of using PP honey/bee hive pendant initially but I love all parts of my new pearls too much to hide them. I especially love the nubs! I'm so grateful that my new pearls are specially picked for CS so I assume that's not much blemishes.

I can't wait to see your new goodies! Waiting in anticipation for your photos :dance:
 
Everyone has provided really good advice so far. When I was setting my souffle pendant, something I wish I considered was the size of the pendant bale. I had planned on using the pendant on a thicker chain, but the dew drop bale is very small, so I had to use a really thin chain. You might also want to consider using an enhancer for greater versatility.

Here's a picture of my souffle pendant. I still love it, but the setting is restrictive. souffle_pendant.jpg
 
mapo|1410111261|3746515 said:
Everyone has provided really good advice so far. When I was setting my souffle pendant, something I wish I considered was the size of the pendant bale. I had planned on using the pendant on a thicker chain, but the dew drop bale is very small, so I had to use a really thin chain. You might also want to consider using an enhancer for greater versatility.

Here's a picture of my souffle pendant. I still love it, but the setting is restrictive. souffle_pendant.jpg
Click to expand...

That was a concern of mine with that setting too...whether it was even wide enough to take the pendant off the chain (i.e. If the end ring is small enough to go through). In the end I had them fit a chain to it, and I'm making an enhancer (hopefully) with my other pearl. Enhancers really are handy. It means you can put your pendant on an omega chain, or a strand of pearls, or onto any chain you want, or on certain clasps to add extra interest to the end of a rope. The one I have sees a LOT of use, and most of the time it's not on a pearl strand.

With the Soufflé, I might be tempted to loop a small hoop through the finding and use that to allow for a larger chain. Most jewellers can fit one on no problem for very little money. Or to avoid twisting, fit two. One small one through the finding, another larger one running back the other direction so that your chain goes through east-west again.

Or, can pearls be reset?
 
Thanks for all the good advice here! I've been following this thread quite closely cos I've a few loose pearls to set too. Doesn't hurt that there are so many nice pearl pendants to ogle at too. :lol:
 
Here is one of my Tahitian pendants that I just converted. I used to work at a custom jewelry store that sold lines of jewelry also. One of the companies made heavy cast gold rings and pendant/slides just for South Sea pearls. They sold them in Southern CA and Hawaii. I bought two pendants and a ring new and this pendant/ slide used on ebay. It was so much cheaper on the secondary market I couldn't pass it up.

Here is the pendant as I purchased it, also the drawings from the manufacturer for jewelers to select from. I liked these styles because I could wear them on my heavy gold chains and on my omega necklace. The opening is very large.

20041009_2249_edited-1_zpsb65b9e60.jpg

20041009_2241_zps1cb76f59.jpg
 
The pearl is pretty, but I wanted to change things up a little and I purchased a Sea of Cortez pearl from Douglas McLarin at the ruckus. Because the setting has a nice cup, the pearl doesn't touch your skin. I asked Jeremy and Hisano to please soak off the pearl and half drill and install my new SoC. It just came back from PP last week. One happy pearl girl. Believe it or not, this doesn't match my Cherry Tahitians at all, but who cares?

soc1.jpg

soc2.jpg
 
NacreLover - Your SoC pearl is gorgeous and that setting frames it beautifully!
 
Thank you Pkinnew. I am thrilled with the makeover.
 
TheCat, This example is what a pearl could look like with multiple findings and then taking in consideration the earrings I was planning on wearing them with to make the final decision.

I already had these Cherry Tahitian earrings with the Eternal yellow gold diamond findings from PP.

_22079.jpg
 
PP got in a tray of these and I selected the big cherry to the left, second row in. 12mm.

_22080.jpg
 
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