Need Help Quickly w/ Gold Choice for Gift Pendant

[tara3056]

I'm talking to DanielM about making one of their bezelled halo slide pendants with a 7mm Bob Kast hot pink tourmaline I already own. They have pictures of this style in their etsy shop, but herekittykitty has one of the most beautiful ones and took a lovely pic of it, so I hope she doesn't mind if I post her pic here:

The choice of gold color is so difficult, though! I think the pink tourmaline looks better in yellow gold. My Mom really only owns yellow gold jewelry. In the past, she has mentioned wanting to re-set her wedding diamond into white gold because she thinks she'd like it better, but all of her earrings and necklaces are yellow gold, so she hasn't. (She likes to match.)

So, option 1: Make the halo slide pendant in all yellow gold. But diamonds to me look so much better and more invisibly-set when they're in white gold. Plus my Mom really likes white gold, so...

Option 2: Make the pendant in all white gold but for the bezel around the pink tourmaline - which would be yellow. Caren says you won't see the white gold gallery very often, and I'm sure that's true, but do you think the overall look will be too "white" for a woman who mostly wears yellow? And would that look weird on a yellow gold chain? I can't really mix-and-match any further than that (I asked) because it really adds to the expense.

This pendant is a "big deal" for me for several reasons: It'll be the first "real" piece of jewelry I've gotten my Mom, and by far the nicest. More importantly, she's just been told her breast cancer is back after a 10 year absence. Luckily, they've caught it very very early and she should pull through just fine. However, she just lost her sister *last week* to Stage IV breast cancer. A pink stone seemed like a good choice. (Plus, she just likes hot pink) I want to get it right!

 

[JewelFreak]

Tara, first, best best wishes for your mother to make a fantastic recovery. Sending a ton of dust your way. A pendant from you sounds like the best medicine of all!

I like the idea of a yg bezel & wg prongs. Yellow gold, I agree, would really make the red stone pop; I've always liked the warmth of yellow gold w/red gems. It would be fine with a yg chain too -- in fact, she could wear either white or yellow gold with it, best of both worlds. It'll be a beautiful gift!

--- Laurie

 

[Enerchi]

DUST for your mom - hoping this is just a blip and she recovers quickly from this. So sorry for the loss of your aunt. I hope you are doing ok.

As for the pendant, I'd do the two tone - YG bezel for the pink tourmaline and WG for the diamond halo, on a YG chain. Ease her into the WG world!

What a wonderful thing you are doing for your mom - kudo's to you for being so wonderful!

 

[chrono]

I wish your mother strength and a full recovery. I am sure such a gift will lift her spirits.

A 2 tone pendant will be very versatile. The yellow bezel will suit the tourmaline and the white halo will make the diamonds white and pop. With that, she now can wear either a yellow or white chain.

 

[tara3056]

Thank you all for your kind thoughts.

I think I will go with the 2-tone, though my decision is complicated by 2 factors:

1. The chain won't be able to be changed very easily. Caren says they don't leave enough space in the gallery for the end of the chain to fit through (the loop/hook/clasp thingy), just the chain itself. So I am sending her a YG chain; they will take the loop off and thread it through then solder/replace the hook. The pendant will therefore not just fall off, and the chain can't be removed without a jeweler taking care of it for my Mom.

So no easy interchangeability between WG and YG chains. Does this change any of your opinions?

2. The gallery being white will be seen a little when being worn on a YG chain. The only YG will be on the inner bezel. Still wondering if that's going to look kind of strange.

 

[tara3056]

I mailed the tourmaline today so I figure I've got only a few days to finalize my gold decision.

Just to share a little more of the process...

Here's the usual gallery of the halo bezel pendants:


Caren suggested that using a different gallery would help minimize the tendency of the pendant to flip forward. Here's the one she recommended, but shown on a plain diamond bezel (i.e. w/o a halo). I told her I loved it because even though this will sound extremely *cheesy*, the design reminds be a bit of a 4-leaf clover. My Mom's quite sentimental, and with her health situation, I think she'll like that.

 

[chrono]

Tough call; the side view dictates a white gold chain to match the basket but the front view is best with a yellow chain to match the bezel...

 

[tara3056]

Yeah, the more I think about it, since the chain's not easily removable, I think I'll just tell Caren to make it all in yellow gold. The diamonds won't look quite as invisibly-set as they would in WG, but I know from my tsav ring that DanielM uses very white-looking diamonds, so I'm not worried about them looking off-color when set in YG.