Purranha’s Pandemic Panic Projects & Purchases

[Purranha]

Hello everyone - long time lurker and rare poster here, resurfacing for some pandemic project help & hand holding please!

In the past, I’ve mostly been purchasing stones that I never get around to setting. But pandemic boredom/angst and increased budget from not traveling not eating out etc have spurred new projects. I could use some help and inputs!

First off, I have this pink spinel that I purchased a few years ago, but have struggled with setting ideas. Inspiration trucked me over last week and now I’m absolutely dying to have it made lol. I’m looking to combine a few elements here. 1) the pink spinel of course, 2) orchid casted from a real flower, replicated in white gold – no idea if that is even doable/realistic, 3) an old finding of my mom’s that I’d like to incorporate.

I was thinking of having the pink spinel in the center, having the round diamond replace the top stem, and 3 marquis incorporated into the bottom petal, and pavé the two side stems.

 

[Purranha]

I’ve reached out to David Klass with the sketch for inquiry & quote:

Here are the proper type-up of my chicken scratch, and as you can see, I listed options for a few elements since I can't quite visualize.

Center Pink Stone: gold or rose gold prongs

5 Petals: keep it simple, textured white gold as the original flower

2 inside stems: 1) yellow gold, or 2) yellow gold w/ gold diamond melee pavé

Top Stone: yellow or white gold bezel

Bottom Petal: 1) yellow gold bezel incorporated into yellow gold petal (and what I meant here is that there will be some additional metal here filling up the space to form the shape of the original petal if that make sense...), or 2) white gold version, and the top round diamond bezel and the petal should match in color.

 

[Purranha]

A few questions:

1) If adding all the other elements is going to be a sh1t show and not quite doable, perhaps just add the stone onto the replicated white gold orchid ring with simple prongs, with perhaps the inside stems pavé with melees?

2) Would the solid base compromise the look of the stones? Do I need to open up galleries for the pink spinel and the diamonds?

3) Last but not least – I reached out to DK over the weekend, and followed up again last night and still haven’t heard back. I get that he is super busy, but this is a bit of a torture like waiting for the outcome of a job interview lol. Can anyone tell me how long I should wait before I attempt to perhaps reach out with a phone call?

I have a few other projects in planning, will share after I have some clarity with this orchid ring project which is my current top priority! Thank you all in advance!

 

[737liz]

Is this a pendant, brooch, or ring? The orchid idea is fantastic. I like your photo and think if you do brushed gold and the stone with nothing else, no pavé, no marquise, no nothing, it would be immensément wearable and modern. That color doesn't need embellishments.

Edited to add the oh-so-controversial oxford comma.

 

[lovedogs]

I love this idea!! Excited to hear what david says. Orchids are my favorite

 

[Purranha]

Thank you for asking @737lizakg - forgot to mention that it is a ring! I'm a huge ring girl and am used to wearing big rings, bigger the better, even better if it can double as a weapon and take out an eye lol. No kidding but yes I like big rings!

 

[Purranha]

Thank you @lovedogs! Lol if he will just respond to my email inquiry now...

 

[Laurainthesky]

What a fun and beautiful project!

 

[lovedogs]

Thank you @lovedogs! Lol if he will just respond to my email inquiry now...

I'm sure he's busy. It never hurts to call!

 

[JPie]

Edited to add the oh-so-controversial oxford comma.

Oxford comma 4ever!

 

[Bron357]

Love it.
ask about doing it as a “ring dant”. That way you could also wear it as a pendant.

 

[emmy12]

Following!

Love the idea, can't wait to see what it turns out like! The brushed/rough texture of the flower petals is sure to look incredible with the contrast against the stone.

EDIT: I'm not a jeweler but have a bit of experience with casting and I would guess that to get the effect of the petals that you want that the flower will need to be made with individual petals soldered together. Manufacturing-wise, I'd also bet it would be best to have each petal hand formed and hammered into shape instead of cast because they're so delicate and thin it would be tricky to cast. HOWEVER, I'm not a goldsmith and there's always work-arounds, but that would be my concern with this piece is that things may come out much chunkier than you want them if it's cast.

2nd edit:
Have looked up photos of gold flowers (Tiffany has made some beautiful ones) and all look hand-assembeld from individual pieces. Also all of them seem to be brooches, which make me remember that stuff like this is really delicate, so convertible brooch-to-pendant or ring-to-pendant may be a good idea to lean toward. Don't want to damage it if you're clumsy with a ring! It would be a show stopper though

 

[icy_jade]

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I like this type of blingtastic flowers

 

[Purranha]

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I like this type of blingtastic flowers

omg Icy that type of pieces are totally up my alley! I've been ogling at this ring forever but didn't think anything like that would ever be in my budget range sadly.

 

[Purranha]

Love it.
ask about doing it as a “ring dant”. That way you could also wear it as a pendant.

Ringdant is a brilliant idea! My mom has a ringdant from Asia but I had not come across a jeweler here in the US that could make one and didn't realize DK can make those convertible jewelries now, awesome!

 

[icy_jade]

omg Icy that type of pieces are totally up my alley! I've been ogling at this ring forever but didn't think anything like that would ever be in my budget range sadly.

Actually I’ve heard that melee diamonds are cheap. But finding a bench that can execute the design will be difficult.

 

[Purranha]

Actually I’ve heard that melee diamonds are cheap. But finding a bench that can execute the design will be difficult.

Oh yes I have no doubt! Lol does anyone here know any jewelers that can execute this type of pieces without charging a couple arms and a few legs?

 

[Purranha]

Ok so some progress (or lack there of) updates now. After 2 emails and leaving a message with Priya (spelling?) at DK's office over this past week, I finally got an email response from DK.

However, the response is puzzling. This is literally the one liner response I got: "I can scan this one if you want to send it in? Thanks David".

There was no quote/estimate of price range, no response to whether if he thinks my proposals are doable.

I've seen all the wonderful reviews of working with David, and I'm ready to commit a bigger than my usual budget for this ring. But I really don't know how to read into this as I've only had 1 simple ring in the Gemstone Project setting I've done with him in the past.

Anyhow, I'll call their office again today but I'm just confused and feel unsure of how to proceed with this project... Any input/guidance would be appreciated!

 

[Purranha]

Ok apologies lots of confusions going around here - DK sent me two separate emails and his earlier email got buried in the grouping. Will review sort through a few things with him and report back!

 

[Purranha]

Hi Everyone - thank you all again for putting up with all the miscomm & confusion. So after a few more email exchanges with David, I have better clarity now.

He said he has a machine that can scan the orchid and have it replicated exactly, and even scale up or down in size as we wish! That was a mind blown moment. The leaves will be thin and it wouldn't be bulky. And all this time I thought someone might have to make a physical rubber mold lol.

Orchid is the easy part, and we will work on the rest of the design to see if it is feasible to move forward. I'll be sending him the orchid and gemstones next week.

Will have more to report back, have a great weekend everyone!

 

[lovedogs]

So exciting!!! Can I ask what the casting you have is made of?

 

[Purranha]

So exciting!!! Can I ask what the casting you have is made of?

Hi Lovedogs! the casting is just silver, but it hasn't been tumbled/cleaned/polished.

I came across a silversmith jeweler who was selling a casted orchid ring (tumbled and ring shank added) on IG. I bought the ring, tracked down where the silver casting was sourced from and subsequently bought a few castings for fun.

As you can see, I like and am used to wearing big rings lol!

 

[lovedogs]

Hi Lovedogs! the casting is just silver, but it hasn't been tumbled/cleaned/polished.

I came across a silversmith jeweler who was selling a casted orchid ring (tumbled and ring shank added) on IG. I bought the ring, tracked down where the silver casting was sourced from and subsequently bought a few castings for fun.

As you can see, I like and am used to wearing big rings lol!

Oooh I'll need to try and find them on IG. I just love orchids so much.

 

[Purranha]

Oooh I'll need to try and find them on IG. I just love orchids so much.

It's weird they haven't had a drop in a while now - they used to have it a lot more frequently. It's burnout_casting, but there are other vendors who do similar castings! There are also jewelers on IG that buy these castings and make them into ready to wear pieces.

 

[emmy12]

OMG. My questions about if this was possible have been ENTIRELY TOSSED OUT THE WINDOW. This is so beautiful. Cannot wait to see the final product if this is how good silver can look!

Honestly thought the picture in your initial post was a gold-colored fabric flower. What was it actually made of?

 

[Purranha]

OMG. My questions about if this was possible have been ENTIRELY TOSSED OUT THE WINDOW. This is so beautiful. Cannot wait to see the final product if this is how good silver can look!

Honestly thought the picture in your initial post was a gold-colored fabric flower. What was it actually made of?

Hi @emmy12! So everything here I have posted are casted silver orchids, but at different stages. From my limited understanding, the silver looks whiter and rougher when they just came out from casting, and they are called raw casting.

A silversmith/jeweler will have to clean, tumble, polish the raw castings to make them look like the silver we are familiar with. Further more, the finished orchid rings are given some light tarnish/patina to give more texture/depth.

My initial picture looked a bit yellow since I think raw silver's tarnish can look a bit yellow while polished silver's tarnish is on the blacker side. Bad lighting probably didn't help lol.

So my first picture where the pink stone is placed, as well as the pair of small orchids are raw casting silver. The ring I uploaded last was finished product that has been cleaned and polished.

I could be entirely wrong lol but I hope that helps!

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

Thank you for asking @737lizakg - forgot to mention that it is a ring! I'm a huge ring girl and am used to wearing big rings, bigger the better, even better if it can double as a weapon and take out an eye lol. No kidding but yes I like big rings!

OMG i love the orchid concept
I too think just the centre stone and brushed or satin finished gold on the petals-

id have shinny gold on the outside of the petals that will rest aganist your fingers (because i like shinny gold )

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

Hi @emmy12! So everything here I have posted are casted silver orchids, but at different stages. From my limited understanding, the silver looks whiter and rougher when they just came out from casting, and they are called raw casting.

A silversmith/jeweler will have to clean, tumble, polish the raw castings to make them look like the silver we are familiar with. Further more, the finished orchid rings are given some light tarnish/patina to give more texture/depth.

My initial picture looked a bit yellow since I think raw silver's tarnish can look a bit yellow while polished silver's tarnish is on the blacker side. Bad lighting probably didn't help lol.

So my first picture where the pink stone is placed, as well as the pair of small orchids are raw casting silver. The ring I uploaded last was finished product that has been cleaned and polished.

I could be entirely wrong lol but I hope that helps!

Oh it just gets more excitting
i gotta say i love the idea of silver because budget wise its some thing i could more easierly aspire to

Good luck - its going to be fabulous !

 

[Purranha]

The orchid & stones are with DK now, he should be scanning the orchid in the next few days!

@Daisys and Diamonds - great idea to have different finishes on the inside vs outside, thank you for that!

I've been playing around a bit more with silver castings recently as well. Have just acquired a pair of butterfly wings and a pair of cicada wings!

I'm thinking about having them set with stones in the center as the body. Will likely keep these silver and use cheaper stones and work with silversmith instead of jewelers.

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

The orchid & stones are with DK now, he should be scanning the orchid in the next few days!

@Daisys and Diamonds - great idea to have different finishes on the inside vs outside, thank you for that!

I've been playing around a bit more with silver castings recently as well. Have just acquired a pair of butterfly wings and a pair of cicada wings!

I'm thinking about having them set with stones in the center as the body. Will likely keep these silver and use cheaper stones and work with silversmith instead of jewelers.

How excitting