Question about studs and jackets

[pregcurious]

I am interested in buying pairs of colored stones and prong setting them studs, and having a diamond halo jacket made for them. Ideally, I would like my stones to be all ~5 mm, so I can use the same jacket.

However, I have found a pair of stones that is 4.2 mm, and I love the color. If I have them bezel set to make them diameter of 5 mm prong set studs, I think they will work with jackets made for 5 mm stones. Am I correct? Am I missing something?

 

[chrono]

I have no clue. In theory it seems sound though. I hope a person with bench experience will chime in.

 

[pregcurious]

I talked to the vendor, and they suggested that I try for 4.7 mm stones, which will be close enough to use with jackets made for 5 mm stones. There will be slight airline, but I can live with that.

 

[carmen1]

Tara3056 has 4.5mm bezel studs with 5mm diamond jackets: https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/id-jewelry-bezel-studs-jackets.186357/

 

[endless_summer]

What a smart idea! I hope someone chimes in with a helpful answer for you too!!!

 

[koolchicken]

I'm out and about so I can't post pics right now. But I have several pairs of studs that are 5mm or a little under. Pretty much all are martini set. I did try a pair that were bezeled, they were 3mm though (I think). I'll find the link to them later. I have to go but I'll post again with my jacket and stud info.

 

[koolchicken]

Sorry, my husband was pulling into a car dealership earlier so I didn't have time to find the info and write all this.

I own ID Jewelry jackets. They're made to fit 5mm stones and they're the .5 point stones. I love them.

I decided I wanted colored studs for my birthday after finding this pair at Ben Bridge, http://www.benbridge.com/shop/product.php?productid=9499&cat=245&page=2 I was wrong, they were 4mm, not the 3mm I stated earlier.

They had to move the [offset] posts and did a bad job of it. One was fine, but the other was still offset and now, sideways. I was also worried they could break and I'd loose the stud and jacket. So I returned them. With the one that had the post moved properly I observed a perfect fit. There was no airline whatsoever, and the look was really quite lovely. I would happily consider bezeling stones that were otherwise too small to fit into my jackets. It looked so pretty. I highly recommend going into one of their stores and checking them out in person so you can see the size. They were flush with the top of my jackets and looked just like Tara3056's.

I had sapphires, tsavorites, and two pairs of tourmalines set by DanielM. They advised me to go with a Stuller setting instead of going custom for such a project. I like the way they fit well enough, there is sometimes a bit of metal that shows around the stones but that's because some of them are a smidge small for the settings. It's really only noticeable if I'm playing with them and they're just inches from my face. And even though some are slightly smaller I don't notice much of, if any, airline. But part of that is down to the setting and the way it eats up some of the extra space.

My tourmalines are 5mm each, the sapphires are 4.6mm & 4.7mm, and the tsavorites are 4.9mm. There isn't a great deal of difference between the different sizes and I don't think you'd be able to bezel a stone that size or only slightly smaller and have them still fit into 5mm jackets.

I tried taking some new photos with my phone (I left my camera at my other house) but they were too blurry to share. Here are some of the one's I already posted. They're not great as I took them in a rush, but it gives an idea of how a 5mm stone in a 5mm Stuller martini setting will sit in an ID Jewelry jacket.





Sorry this was so long but I really hope it helps!

 

[chrono]

So it sounds like for a bezeled stone to fit the jacket, it needs to start off approximately 1 mm smaller than what is originally required? That's useful information. Thanks!

 

[carmen1]

So it sounds like for a bezeled stone to fit the jacket, it needs to start off approximately 1 mm smaller than what is originally required? That's useful information. Thanks!

In the link I posted above, Tara's diamonds are 4.5mm before the bezel. But I guess it depends on the width of the bezel.

 

[chrono]

I missed that link. Thanks, Carmen. Yes, Tara notes that the bezel on her diamond studs are thin, hence her 4.5 mm diamond fit.

 

[koolchicken]

I think a lot of it is going to come down to the skill level of the jeweler who's making the bezels. The Ben Bridge ones were in no way chunky or had a weird metal to stone ratio. But to go any bigger you'd need someone who's capable of doing very refined work. Because yes, the stones fit into the jackets loose, but even with the sapphires (one being 4.6mm) there was virtually no wiggle room. So the OP's 4.2mm stones could work, but I would bring both the stones and the jackets to the jeweler and be sure they could do it. I think IDJ's advantage is that they had the jackets there to play with and they're used to making things that fit them. Perhaps they could be the ones to set the OP's stones? It might cost more but you'd be 100% sure they'd fit.

 

[pregcurious]

Wow, thanks koolchicken for all the input and the wonderful photos. I'll stick to martini set (prong) stones, and stay away from the bezels. I LOVE your earrings sets; it's what I am trying to achieve. As I get older I realize I like classic jewelry, and variety.

Carmen1, thanks for the link. Chrono, as always, thanks for your comments.

 

[tara3056]

Thanks for pointing out my thread showing my diamond bezel studs in the IDJ jackets I was lucky to work directly with IDJ on sourcing the stud earrings. I told them I wanted them to fit very well in my jackets, and they were able to play around with different sized diamonds and findings to see what the best fit would be. Because they're located in the diamond district, it was a very quick process for them to find diamonds that worked and get them set quickly. That being said, my bezels look nice from above (pretty thin, though not to the level of perfection that you see with BGD, etc.) but they are just standard bezel findings. From the side, they look chunky and rather inelegant because they have a fair amount of metal and don't have the open/martini style backs that you see on BGD's handmade studs.

I would definitely not go much above 4.5mm unless you had a very skilled jeweler working on extra-thin bezels for you, though. Under 4.5mm, you'd probably be fine but you'd want to bring the jackets to the jeweler to double-check the fit of their findings. It is a bit more work to get a perfect fit with bezel studs, but I just LOVE the look. It looks more integrated to me, like they aren't jackets at all, but just one blingtastic earring

 

[koolchicken]

pregcurious, its no problem, I'm glad I could be of help at all.

I love classic looks, and versatile jewelry myself. I'm glad you enjoyed the photos, and were able to use them as inspiration. I can't wait to see what you come up with!

I love my martini settings. I typically wear them as is for ballet, but with the jackets for everyday or dressy occasions. I wouldn't rule out bezels completely though, I know I'm not. One day I'll have them done, and it'll probably be IDJ who does them. Otherwise I'd feel compelled to ship out my jackets (or find a local jeweler) to make them and be sure they'll fit, and I really don't want to be without them.

I'm glad Tara3056 was able to chime in here. I had long admired her jackets and studs. She is definitely someone to take inspiration from, I know I did. She's one of the big reasons behind my tsavorite and pearl studs. And if it weren't for her I wouldn't have my tourmalines at all.

Just wanted to edit this to add I felt DanielM did a great job with the setting of my stones. They also could have told me that they would happily do a custom setting but steered me towards a stock one because there wasn't a need to spend the extra when a stock one would work perfectly. I saved them all up and sent them out all at once because they offer a discount if you're placing multiple orders. Also, I sent them out the week before Christmas and they were set and sent back to me on the 27th (not because of them but because the postman played hooky with my package in the back of his truck). Just thought it was worth mentioning because I was very, very happy with the cost and customer service. I plan to have them set pretty much all of my studs.