Please Help Me! Whiteflash 2ctw Custom Crown Stud Settings seem off...

[Heathcat24]

My Christmas Eve Eve gift to myself is a pair of 2ctw studs from Whiteflash in their custom crown settings ala @donnabrsd. Here are the original photos that I was sent last week:



They felt odd and looked off to me. They were sent back to the master jeweler to fix the prongs because some of them didn't look like they pointed towards each other or the center, and the prongs looked as of they were not the same distance apart, if that makes sense.

I received a photo from the production manager yesterday that just didn't look much better to me. Liza measured with her calipers and assured me that they were close to perfect space wise. She did say that at certain angles, a couple of the prongs looked crooked, but straight if turned. ???

They sent them back again, and I got these photos today.




I approved them and apologized for being so much trouble since I think they just want to send them to me at this point. But I am looking at the photo tonight, and some of the prongs just still look off to me. I don't think their gridlines meet in the middle of the diamond and I am so upset, I don't know what to do.

Am I crazy? Please help me by either reassuring me or telling me what I should do next. I don't have a FedEx location near me so I can't send them back easily. And I love Whiteflash. I really do. But I don't want to get them and not be happy.

I don't know what I'm seeing or if I'm seeing anything! Thank you for your help!

@MissGotRocks @Dreamer_D @newtojewels Can you look at these and tag others? You were the first three that came to mind!

 

[Dreamer_D]

I think they look as close to prefect as we can expect from mere mortals! I like the refinement they did to the prongs, and the arrows align nicely with the prongs now. The grid lines show they are very well aligned. I think in person with normal human vision they will look perfect to you.

I have noticed that lighting in these types of photos can create all kinds of wacky reflections too, so that's worth keeping in mind too.

(As an aside this is why I don't usually recommend evaluating things to closely with macro photos or even a loupe if you can help it. Just the naked eyes! It is a much more realistic tool for assessing such things. Yes this is advice to myself as much as to anyone else).

Relax and enjoy! They are gorgeous.

 

[Heathcat24]

I think they look as close to prefect as we can expect from mere mortals! I like the refinement they did to the prongs, and the arrows align nicely with the prongs now. The grid lines show they are very well aligned. I think in person with normal human vision they will look perfect to you.

I have noticed that lighting in these types of photos can create all kinds of wacky reflections too, so that's worth keeping in mind too.

(As an aside this is why I don't usually recommend evaluating things to closely with macro photos or even a loupe if you can help it. Just the naked eyes! It is a much more realistic tool for assessing such things. Yes this is advice to myself as much as to anyone else).

Relax and enjoy! They are gorgeous.

Oh my goodness! Thank you so much for responding! You have no idea how much I needed to hear this because I have just been a panicked mess. I don't do custom very often and this has made me so nervous!

Whiteflash has, of course, been AMAZING. I am going to relax now. Lol

 

[newtojewels]

I see what you're seeing but I honestly don't know what's reasonable to expect or not. It seems like they'll be pretty perfect in person tbh.

I just drew lines through the center of each prong in the photo. These look close and given angles and funky reflections I think you'll be good to go.



For comparison, here's a pair of similar 2.2ctw studs from Victor Canera which have prongs that are more visually aligned but I'm sure they cost a lot more plus it could just be the angle. Obviously drawing lines through the one on the left would look ridiculous so I didn't even bother:

Victor Canera

www.victorcanera.com

And my 1.28 ctw DK transitional cut earrings that look visually perfect to me but are clearly not when doing this exercise:



I didn't want to post anyone else's jewelry without permission but if you were to try this on some of the threads in SMTB you would see the same kind of thing where they don't look perfectly visually aligned in macro but look fantastic at a normal distance.

 

[Dreamer_D]

Giiirrrrlll what the heck are these lines even doing?? They look totally random I can't even figure out what you are trying to connect lol

This exercise assumed the diamonds are not tilted at all either. Which is AGAIN why I say we shouldn't do this. It is cray making.

I love your dangles BTW and want some of my own.

 

[newtojewels]

Giiirrrrlll what the heck are these lines even doing?? They look totally random I can't even figure out what you are trying to connect lol

This exercise assumed the diamonds are not tilted at all either. Which is AGAIN why I say we shouldn't do this. It is cray making.

I love your dangles BTW and want some of my own.

LOL it makes sense to me! I'm connecting each prong through its center and then going to the other side. In a perfect world there would be one line per pair. I find this easier to understand but we're all different!

And I totally agree, it's completely cray. And even if they were sitting 100% straight you wouldn't probably ever see the difference. I agree with you that @Heathcat24 will be totally good to go.

I looooove my dangles. Such a good purchase for me! But don't you have a 5 stone band to make first????

 

[Dreamer_D]

Here connect the dots on my antique ring if you want to really lose your mind.

I am also curious what Canera charges for settings so perfect. I'm guessing at least 4-5 times more than WF.

 

[Dreamer_D]

I looooove my dangles. Such a good purchase for me! But don't you have a 5 stone band to make first????

Yes and at the rate things are going I will be able to make the earrings in 2030

 

[newtojewels]

Here connect the dots on my antique ring if you want to really lose your mind.

I am also curious what Canera charges for settings so perfect. I'm guessing at least 4-5 times more than WF.

Diminishing returns for sure! Maybe in a ring it would be worth it but in earrings the WF ones would be good enough for me

And for whatever it's worth, my secondhand Canera earrings are actually a little less perfect than my antique brooch from Lang when you look under a loupe. It can always get better!

 

[Heathcat24]

I see what you're seeing but I honestly don't know what's reasonable to expect or not. It seems like they'll be pretty perfect in person tbh.

I just drew lines through the center of each prong in the photo. These look close and given angles and funky reflections I think you'll be good to go.



For comparison, here's a pair of similar 2.2ctw studs from Victor Canera which have prongs that are more visually aligned but I'm sure they cost a lot more plus it could just be the angle. Obviously drawing lines through the one on the left would look ridiculous so I didn't even bother:

Victor Canera

www.victorcanera.com

And my 1.28 ctw DK transitional cut earrings that look visually perfect to me but are clearly not when doing this exercise:



I didn't want to post anyone else's jewelry without permission but if you were to try this on some of the threads in SMTB you would see the same kind of thing where they don't look perfectly visually aligned in macro but look fantastic at a normal distance.

Thank you so much for doing that! It really helps illustrate what I've seen but haven't know quite how to verbalize.

And, also, thank you for saying you saw what I saw. I really needed to hear that. I have honestly felt like a crazy person. In my head, I know that the prongs are teeny tiny little things, but they looked so big in the pictures!

Your earrings are gorgeous, by the way, and look pretty perfect to me!

 

[newtojewels]

Thank you so much for doing that! It really helps illustrate what I've seen but haven't know quite how to verbalize.

And, also, thank you for saying you saw what I saw. I really needed to hear that. I have honestly felt like a crazy person. In my head, I know that the prongs are teeny tiny little things, but they looked so big in the pictures!

Your earrings are gorgeous, by the way, and look pretty perfect to me!

I think it's one thing to see something on photos, another to see it in real life, and yet another to have it bother you. Those three things might not be that related.

I did the same thing with a Tiffany solitaire. If a Tiffany ring isn't perfect when looked at like this, there's basically no hope for anything else!

 

[Heathcat24]

I was hesitant to post this thread, and now I am so glad I did! It has made me feel so much better. Now I just have to count the days until Christmas Eve Eve! (Eleven!)

 

[Dreamer_D]

I’m Very jealous of your earrings if that helps

 

[Lookinagain]

(As an aside this is why I don't usually recommend evaluating things to closely with macro photos or even a loupe if you can help it. Just the naked eyes! It is a much more realistic tool for assessing such things. Yes this is advice to myself as much as to anyone else).

Relax and enjoy! They are gorgeous.

This!

 

[Heathcat24]

I’m Very jealous of your earrings if that helps

Haha! Thank you! These are my dream diamond studs, so I think that's why I'm a little extra nervous!

 

[Dreamer_D]

The good news is you will NEVER see this level of detail wearing them! You won’t ever see the prongs. You will see beautifully cut, huge diamonds reflecting in the mirror. And that is the most importent thing.

 

[chere]

I like it when the prongs line up with the table square. North/South corners on a 6 prong and on all 4 corners for a 4 prong.

Third picture, the prongs at 5 o'clock on both stones looks slightly off. It could be the picture angle. I'm sure they are fine in person.

Enjoy!

 

[MissGotRocks]

Oh, I think they are gonna look gorgeous! The setting is a beautiful one and I think those enlarged pictures are just not helping you. I agree with @Dreamer_D that the prongs and alignment are just about perfect. In this enlarged version, everything can look distorted, and could be a tiny distorted. In real life, all you will see is the sparkle from those diamonds and the prongs will not be an issue. What a fabulous gift to receive and good for you for being good to yourself! We will need a ton of pictures - so excited for you!!!

 

[Heathcat24]

I like it when the prongs line up with the table square. North/South corners on a 6 prong and on all 4 corners for a 4 prong.

Third picture, the prongs at 5 o'clock on both stones looks slightly off. It could be the picture angle. I'm sure they are fine in person.

Enjoy!

THAT IS IT! Thank you so much for pointing this out! Yes! I think, in retrospect, this might be what really threw me from the beginning: that they didn't look "centered" in the settings when I first looked at the pictures!

I have not been able to wrap my head around what bothered me until just now. I always ask that the arrows not be covered, but these prongs just seem a little more haphazardly placed than I'm used to seeing. (I'm sure they are NOT, but that's how they "felt" in these particular photos.)

I'm sure in person it won't matter a bit. But I have serious "symmetry issues" and these macro photos just set off all of my alarms.

I truly appreciate everyone's input and for not thinking I am completely crazy because I have felt that way!

 

[Heathcat24]

Oh, I think they are gonna look gorgeous! The setting is a beautiful one and I think those enlarged pictures are just not helping you. I agree with @Dreamer_D that the prongs and alignment are just about perfect. In this enlarged version, everything can look distorted, and could be a tiny distorted. In real life, all you will see is the sparkle from those diamonds and the prongs will not be an issue. What a fabulous gift to receive and good for you for being good to yourself! We will need a ton of pictures - so excited for you!!!

Thank you so much! I promise to post lots of photos! This has been a really interesting project for me, matching up that BGD stone from The Real Real with a non-eye clean ACA that is not QUITE the same size-wise.

I am so excited that they look like a well-matched pair because I was worried about that, too! Lol

 

[oldminer]

Perfect alignment is a highly difficult thing with round diamonds having an 8 way symmetry when using six prong settings. The 8 arrows have no way to align evenly with 6 prongs. 4 prongs are easy enough for alignment, but 8 often look a bit irregular. I have never given much thought to this situation, but maybe an 8 prong setting with slender prongs might look a bit better to a person who is looking for a high degree of visual perfection. Maybe Whiteflash should be making something along those lines for yet a bit more choice to compliment their ACA diamonds.

 

[lovedogs]

I honestly think it's as close to perfect as anyone could expect

 

[RunningwithScissors]

I think they look perfect. And those are the settings on my WF stud earrings, so I see them every day!

 

[Lookinagain]

maybe an 8 prong setting with slender prongs might look a bit better to a person who is looking for a high degree of visual perfection. Maybe Whiteflash should be making something along those lines for yet a bit more choice to compliment their ACA diamonds.

they have their 8 prong martini setting and I've seen this custom 8 prong on their website.

Custom 8 Prong Diamond Earrings | 12807

These Custom Diamond Earrings are set in platinum and feature 8 graceful prongs that are holding two Old European Cut Diamonds. A thin hand engraved design wraps around the bottom of the earring to finish off this gorgeous look. | 12807

www.whiteflash.com