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Everyday bangle vs occasional bangle

Would you make an everyday bangle or an occasional bangle?

  • Everyday bangle

    Votes: 20 76.9%

  • Occasional bangle

    Votes: 4 15.4%

  • Other - please explain

    Votes: 2 7.7%
  • Total voters
    26
I’ve never bought a parcel but that seems like a much more efficient method that buying singles! Especially when you are looking for sub-4mm stones.
 
Dreamer_D said:
I’ve never bought a parcel but that seems like a much more efficient method that buying singles! Especially when you are looking for sub-4mm stones.
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It's a trap haha don't do it.. lol you'll want to keep collecting them. I guess the thing is if you're not fussy with shapes, faceting, clarity etc then parcels are a good idea. I find that 3-4mm is a very sweet spot for melee. Most of mine are omc so they're not round which is a challenge in some settings especially if I wanted to bezel them.

Also I just wanted to add that I didn't tend to buy pieces to pull apart for the stones because sometimes they're a higher cost for a finished piece whereas I can spend as little or as much as I want in a parcel (that's also another trap lol cause it doesn't hit you straightaway).

I bought my very first parcel of 7 stones to make a 7 stone ring but ended up collecting 5 more to make my cluster. I think they're definitely handy to have as replacement stones or side stones for projects. But alas the cost of setting them is painful.
 
mellowyellowgirl said:
I love love love the second design but you know how much I love frufru! I make ridiculous pieces and then just wear them anywhere I feel like!
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Aww thank you. I love it too and it'll match my cluster ring so well hahaha. I'll get quotes for both and see where we go from there. I also love the idea of two bangles stacked. Ah decisions decisions lol.
 
maryjane04 said:
Aww thank you. I love it too and it'll match my cluster ring so well hahaha. I'll get quotes for both and see where we go from there. I also love the idea of two bangles stacked. Ah decisions decisions lol.
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Can't wait to see it! Also yaaaaaay to a fellow bangle lover! Do they use more gold than bracelets? I always think they are super hefty and must cost a fortune to make these days! All that metal! I am a bangle girl and would love a CS one one day!

I definitely wear my frufru one the most! Haha you have just reminded me that I need to dig out my plain one! I will wear it to korean bbq with the child! Poor kid, all the second rate jewellery gets worn with him!
 
mellowyellowgirl said:
Can't wait to see it! Also yaaaaaay to a fellow bangle lover! Do they use more gold than bracelets? I always think they are super hefty and must cost a fortune to make these days! All that metal! I am a bangle girl and would love a CS one one day!

I definitely wear my frufru one the most! Haha you have just reminded me that I need to dig out my plain one! I will wear it to korean bbq with the child! Poor kid, all the second rate jewellery gets worn with him!
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Yeah they can be around 15-25g gold per bangle easily lol which is why it costs so much to make. I have a bracelet but I hate the spinning so I rather the bangle so I can see all my sparkling babies at once lol and it never spins. I'm an antique girl and I've seen some really pretty Ruby/sapphire bangles omg.

Haha yes wear all your bling so he can admire it. My 3yo son knows D is for diamonds and occasionally tries my on my rings. God bless them, I hope my kids inherit my love for bling.

I think my hesitation with the simple everyday bangle is that it's a design that I could easily well not easily but they're out there as genuine antiques. Whereas my 5 cluster is so unique lol I guess if I made it I'll just wear it everyday haha. The only thing that bothers me right now is that with the babies all the prongs are too fussy to wear when handling them sigh.
 
@maryjane04 I am of no help on deciding how to set your diamonds as the world is your oyster here (and all the layout designs look good haha), but do you know what you want your occasion bangle next year to be?

Assuming that will be a larger purchase, you can create something that is different / has a different purpose or vibe to the occasion bangle.
 
Thank you @Pomelo for your input as always and it was you that gave me the inspiration for the 5 cluster setting.

So I realise it's probably hard without pictures but this is the occasion bangle I'm getting next year. They're all different styles but I'll probably get more wear out of the plain everyday bangles.

IMG_20241216_015758.jpg
 
maryjane04 said:
Okay so after looking at that occasion bangle, I think I -need- the everyday bangles. I'll just keep collecting stones and one day make the cluster one :lol:
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Sounds like a plan -- and congrats! It's going to be stunning!
 
The five flower cluster design is amazing and it does look glorious on your wrist. If you felt like you would wear it every day then go for the gusto. The only downside I can see is it will 100% upstage the occasion bracelet you’re planning to get.

There are cluster designs where the outer outline is bezel set and the prongs are kind of in the centre zones a little bit more and I feel like those would be quite smooth to the touch. Anyway there’s ways to set it so that it’s not so prongy. I agree with you completely that prongs are the worst.

Otherwise, the graduated, simpler style bracelet is completely amazing and you could do that one first and then just wait and see what the future holds.
 
Talking about this with you is making me want to set the eight diamonds I currently have into a bracelet ha ha.
 
Hahaha @Dreamer_D just play around with them now since they're loose. A bit of sticky tape and then place them onto your wrist lol. I love seeing them in different layouts and the possibilities are endless :kiss2:

In saying that I think it's probably better to do the everyday bangles for now. I reckon if I just collect things slowly I'll probably have enough diamonds in 3 years for the cluster design hahaha.
 
maryjane04 said:
Hahaha @Dreamer_D just play around with them now since they're loose. A bit of sticky tape and then place them onto your wrist lol. I love seeing them in different layouts and the possibilities are endless :kiss2:

In saying that I think it's probably better to do the everyday bangles for now. I reckon if I just collect things slowly I'll probably have enough diamonds in 3 years for the cluster design hahaha.
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That timeline would probably line up well with when you are ready for another really $$$ project! The worst is being ready to go with all the diamonds but not having the cash for a setting.

Three of my diamonds are still set in a ring. I will probably send it “as is” to DK so he can apply the scrap value to my setting… I might get a whole $50 for it, such a light and flimsy piece. Though it is tempting to pull them! Loose diamonds are so much fun.
 
Dreamer_D said:
That timeline would probably line up well with when you are ready for another really $$$ project! The worst is being ready to go with all the diamonds but not having the cash for a setting.

Three of my diamonds are still set in a ring. I will probably send it “as is” to DK so he can apply the scrap value to my setting… I might get a whole $50 for it, such a light and flimsy piece. Though it is tempting to pull them! Loose diamonds are so much fun.
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Yeah I think it would be enough time to recover from these babies that are draining me haha. Although I also want an art deco line bracelet lol so we will see what comes first. Sometimes it's about the timing too. And then if I have all that would I really need a cluster bangle? Hahaha.

Yeah the cash is the killer lol I've gotten a few quotes for bangles and they've ranged from around 4-5k AUD with me supplying the gold. It's so painful lol so yeah 9ct is the way to go for now. Can you believe that sometimes the gold costs more than the diamonds. Now I know why the Georgians set diamonds in silver.

Haha if you can unset it lol it'll be so fun unless they're in pieces that you're already wearing. Loose diamonds are only fun for a short time (~3 years ish max for me) and now I've got this itch just to set it.
 
HOLD THE DOOR!

Why don’t you make a tennis bracelet in platinum that’s convertible into a necklace?!

Then we can be twinsies :lol:

ETA: You'll have two bracelets soon-now you need a necklace/ convertible piece.
 
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Oof that’s a hefty metal price! Knowing what you paid for the stones, though, it would still come in lower than it would cost to buy an antique piece of that carat weight I suspect. A few times in the past year I’ve done the math on my five stone and wondered if it would have been better to just buy a finished piece. But I need a large ring size and antique rings with such large gems are very har to come by! The few I have seen have been listed at about double what I will have spent for my ring. So even though it hurts, its better than the alternative!

A convertible necklace/bracelet would be pretty epic.
 
And yeah the three diamonds are set in a ring I can wear on my pinkie so that has made things a lot easier that I can wear it when I am feeling especially blingy.
 
lulu_ma said:
HOLD THE DOOR!

Why don’t you make a tennis bracelet in platinum that’s convertible into a necklace?!

Then we can be twinsies :lol:

ETA: You'll have two bracelets soon-now you need a necklace/ convertible piece.
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Hahaha don't worry I already asked the jeweller but I suspect it's going to be way more expensive than what I'm willing to spend. Maybe instead of the art deco bracelet I'll find that convertible necklace that we're lusting after.

Dreamer_D said:
Oof that’s a hefty metal price! Knowing what you paid for the stones, though, it would still come in lower than it would cost to buy an antique piece of that carat weight I suspect. A few times in the past year I’ve done the math on my five stone and wondered if it would have been better to just buy a finished piece. But I need a large ring size and antique rings with such large gems are very har to come by! The few I have seen have been listed at about double what I will have spent for my ring. So even though it hurts, its better than the alternative!

A convertible necklace/bracelet would be pretty epic.
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Yeah supplying the diamonds and the gold and still having to pay so much. This new jeweller is cheaper but I haven't seen much of her custom work so I'm hesitant in trying anything too complicated.

And I know the feeling of having big fingers and wrists and nothing really fits. My wrists are just a tad bigger than standard and my ring size is bigger than average. I'm so jealous of those with smaller fingers cause they get all the deals. Things in our size are more expensive to shop for lol. Tell me about it.. we just have "expensive" tastes hahaha.

Dreamer_D said:
And yeah the three diamonds are set in a ring I can wear on my pinkie so that has made things a lot easier that I can wear it when I am feeling especially blingy.
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Omg I love this! Lol my pinky size is 6.5-7 and I haven't thought of what to get for it yet. Haha we need extra bling for sure!
 
maryjane04 said:
Hahaha don't worry I already asked the jeweller but I suspect it's going to be way more expensive than what I'm willing to spend. Maybe instead of the art deco bracelet I'll find that convertible necklace that we're lusting after.



Yeah supplying the diamonds and the gold and still having to pay so much. This new jeweller is cheaper but I haven't seen much of her custom work so I'm hesitant in trying anything too complicated.

And I know the feeling of having big fingers and wrists and nothing really fits. My wrists are just a tad bigger than standard and my ring size is bigger than average. I'm so jealous of those with smaller fingers cause they get all the deals. Things in our size are more expensive to shop for lol. Tell me about it.. we just have "expensive" tastes hahaha.



Omg I love this! Lol my pinky size is 6.5-7 and I haven't thought of what to get for it yet. Haha we need extra bling for sure!
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That’s my pinky size too and I realized that it means that most/many vintage pieces will fit so some day I will buy some rings purposely for that finger. But that will be a long way down the road. I want to set my five stone, make a gemstone pendant, buy a pearl strand, and reset my three stone with larger sides before then! Gonna be a while!
 
Dreamer_D said:
That’s my pinky size too and I realized that it means that most/many vintage pieces will fit so some day I will buy some rings purposely for that finger. But that will be a long way down the road. I want to set my five stone, make a gemstone pendant, buy a pearl strand, and reset my three stone with larger sides before then! Gonna be a while!
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Oh tell me about it hahaha too many things on the list and it's not a priority. Tell me more about this pearl strand you're considering. I only have a peacock green Tahitian strand so far and seldom wear it. I do want to try my hand at the akoyas next lol.
 
Setting prices are awful. I have at least two pieces set in argentium silver which tarnishes less -or not at all with mine. Silver is the most reflective metal, Tiffany sold gobs of it. It's an option.
 
maryjane04 said:
Oh tell me about it hahaha too many things on the list and it's not a priority. Tell me more about this pearl strand you're considering. I only have a peacock green Tahitian strand so far and seldom wear it. I do want to try my hand at the akoyas next lol.
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My mom gave me a strand of costume pearl, nothing at ALL special, but I loved it and wore it so often that the coating on the plastic beads wore off. I got so many compliments on that silly strand of plastic "pearls"! So I want to buy a strand of real pearls to replace it. I don't want anything super fancy, but just something real and nice. Probably fresh water, 8mm, blush or champagne color. I think I'll wear it all the time. Once I know exactly what I want I'll probably ask for it for a birthday present from my family or something.
 
Ibrakeforpossums said:
Setting prices are awful. I have at least two pieces set in argentium silver which tarnishes less -or not at all with mine. Silver is the most reflective metal, Tiffany sold gobs of it. It's an option.
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Yeah it's not ideal but now that I have two bangles I am making it's seriously an option. Setting prices are crazy sigh.

Dreamer_D said:
My mom gave me a strand of costume pearl, nothing at ALL special, but I loved it and wore it so often that the coating on the plastic beads wore off. I got so many compliments on that silly strand of plastic "pearls"! So I want to buy a strand of real pearls to replace it. I don't want anything super fancy, but just something real and nice. Probably fresh water, 8mm, blush or champagne color. I think I'll wear it all the time. Once I know exactly what I want I'll probably ask for it for a birthday present from my family or something.
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Aww that sounds really special and there's some really nice FW pearls out there. A perfect present from the family, it's so meaningful and reminds you of everyone you love.
 
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