The diamond sandwich

This pendant represents the growth of myself as a jewelry artist.  It is the culmination of 14 years of study, practice and style development.  It is the first work of jewelry I have ever spent over 100 hours on; 110.  Sterling silver comprises most of this piece along with accents of 14k, 18k, and 24k gold.  Gemcutter David Brackna is one who has created this beautiful center stone. Brackna calls this his turkish star cut and he is currently the only one executing it in the world. Light green in color this gem is given the name "merlani" mint green garnet. Through a Japanese process called keum-boo 24k gold has been fused to the sterling silver setting that houses the garnet. Accenting this center stone are 21faceted Maine tourmalines of 3 mm in size.  There are 12 on the front face, 6 on the back face, and 3 on the bale. All three on the bale have been tube set in 18k gold.   Dark lines seen around the edge as well as within are the result of hand engraving and chemical coloring.

 

Pictured above is the reverse side of the pendant. My intention was for the backside to be just as wearable as the front.  6 green Maine tourmaline 3mm in size surround the opening in the center.  A complete ring of file carving has been executed on the rim.  Triangle tubing has been cut to create the petals for the flower like patterns on the bale. Each portion of the bale has 9 triangles on it sticking with multiples of 3.

With this view the 11 diamonds totaling over one carat can be seen. Each one has been tube set and soldered the third layer of the pendant.  The bale assembly has also been attached to this layer via soldering. More file carving has been employed on the edges of the bale and on all edges of the "flowers"  

About a third of the work in this piece lies in the bale assembly.  Here the top flower is shown in detail.  This flower has 14 components to it including the stone. Altogether in the bale there are 41 pieces. In total this pendant is made up of 135 pieces including 33 stones. Both multiples of three!

One more shot of the bale shows where the chain goes.  This pendant was custom made for a client.  (So it is not available.)  Complete artistic freedom was granted after the stones had been selected.  I am very grateful to have been able to spend such an amount of time on a piece and work with such great materials. Thank you Dave and David!