I admit, this design is for me. I can’t design and make jewelry without making something for myself too!My husband bought me this natural 6×4 oval alexandrite for Christmas 2006. Because both of our birthdays are in June I wanted an alexandrite. I have yet to do anything with it and he keeps asking me about it because he spent money on something he thought I really wanted and I haven’t used it yet.

Side View of Custom Alexandrite Pendant

The color change in this stone is amazing and I am totally in love with it. This design is my idea for how to use my prized stone in a pendant I can wear every day. I usually wear a simple 1.33ct diamond in a simple bezel setting everyday. I don’t want to give up wearing that necklace because it is beautiful and simple and it works for almost every outfit in my closet so I had to find a way to make the Alexandrite and my diamond work together.

I chose a circle for the basis of my design because I think circle is about the most perfect shape there is. I think circles are feminine yet strong and are very pleasing as a design element.

I wanted the circle to rest on top of my diamond and use the same chain so the Alexandrite naturally fell below the diamond on the opposite edge of the circle from the diamond. I looked at setting the alexandrite sideways but felt that with it sitting up and down, the stone set each other off better because of the obvious different in widths.

I decided to add a few smaller diamonds around the circle to add another design element. I did not want the diamonds going all the way around the circle because that wasn’t interesting enough for my taste. I also didn’t want them to sit right next to one another so I plan to set them with space between each stone. I find negative space in unexpected places to be really fun in a design.

The area on the circle that did not have diamonds on it looked very thick so I decided to cut out the same width I was cutting out for the diamonds on the part of the circle that didn’t have diamonds. I think this empty slit will help emphasize the small diamonds set in the other slit.

After I played with all of the design elements and found a way I liked them working together, I had to get practical. Metal gets heavy very fast and a heavy piece of jewelry is both expensive to make and uncomfortable to wear. I cut rectangles from the side of the pendant to reduce the weight of the piece. I thought of adding some sort of design in metal around the edge but I felt that would take away from the simplicity of the overall design and take away from the most important elements in the pendant, my gemstones.

I also had to make sure that my chain would easily slide through the openings on this pendant so it was easy to put on for days I want to wear the whole piece and off for days I want to wear only my diamond.
Overall I am very happy with this design and I can’t wait to make it so my husband will stop bothering me about not wearing his gift!