Platinum custom settings

[mamchris]

Can anyone comment on the terms wax casting and rolled stock. I was on the Leon Mege site about making a custom piece and I am trying to determine a good platinumsmith vs someone who is just picking a stock mold and castiing. I know Leon does beautiful work, but I only have a 1 ct and I am not sure if he will be too much for what I am looking for. I don''t even know if he would work on such a small stone. I want to have a plat. custom halo setting for my er done, but I am pretty picky and I want to make sure the piece is delicate and highly polished. I don''t want it to just be a hunk of plat. I want it to be lots of diamonds. Any thoughts as to what I should be looking for and what questions I should be asking.
Thanks.

 

[valeria101]

There are a couple of carat-ish rings on Artofplatinum.com and a couple more were made for pricescopers... it can''t hurt to ask.

There are some guidelines about prices on Leon''s site - just a range, but those should give you an idea.

NiceIce lists several "Daniel K" setting designs that looks beautifully made. You might want to take a look and ask about which would work for your stone.

"Platinumsmith" here just started a dangerous trend of all-over-pave modern designs

And to see some clear pricing for once, you might want to check "Pearlmanjewelers" if not done already.

Hope some of this, and the related Pricescope stories help a bit.

 

[TwoJs]

I met with Leon a few weeks ago about designing a pretty simple setting for a 2ct stone. I asked him if he would mind taking on a such relatively small job compared to some of the masterpieces on his website. He laughed and said, "Work''s work. And 2ct is big-- 1ct is big!"

 

[just_looking!]

Hi My stone is a carat and I''m having a 3 stone ring made by Leon Mege using Richard Homer triliion rubies . PM me if you want to ask about pricing. He''s not quite as expensive as you''d think.

 

[Mara]

I have heard that LM is more affordable than one would assume, but I guess that also depends on the type of setting that you are considering..aka more diamonds more money...

We have seen some exceptional LM halo work on 1c stones around here, in fact I think that the halo looks a little better on stones around that size so that it doesn't overpower the finger...

One thing also to keep in mind is that LM is an artist...we have heard a few people say that he has his own ideas on what to create, what looks good and what doesn't and if your ideas don't mesh with his, it may not be the best pairing. aka he won't do something that he doesn't think will look great and probably doesn't mind losing the business if the pairing does not work.

Good luck and let us know what you decide!

 

[mamchris]

I know Leon does BEAUTIFUL work, I love every piece I have seen. What is the process like, does he do a drawing and give you an estimate then do a wax and cast it, or does he use another method? Anybody what the difference is between hand carved and a wax mold?

 

[FireGoddess]

Wax molds themselves can either be hand carved, or machine generated if the designer is using CAD/CAM to generate 3D drawings of what the future ring will look like. A wax mold is created on the basis of some drawing of the ring, and the wax mold is then used as a template to cast the ring in metal. The wax molds are usually (slightly) bigger than the finished product, and lack the details (ie. milgraining, etc) of the finished product, but they can give you an indication of the overall look of the final ring.

 

[mamchris]

Thanks for your help. I was looking at Leon Mege''s website and he states the following:
"Look for telltale signs of casting - double lines, rough surface, pores. Casting is usually less dense then hand rolled stock, so it''s harder to achieve high polish especially on the concave surfaces."
Does anyone know what he means by double lines are telltale signs of casting? doesn''t he use casting too? What does rolled stock mean? Do we have any platinumsmiths that might want to comment?