Things You'll Need:
- A good understanding of the concepts explained in this article.
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Step 1
Understanding Diamond Pricing:
Diamonds are generally priced higher than many other gemstones. If you are looking for a diamond heart pendant remember that, fancy shaped diamonds like hearts and pears carry premium price tags. Though diamonds are priced per carat (weight unit), a larger piece will be priced higher (per carat) compared, to few smaller pieces that make up the same weight as the larger piece. It is therefore clear that an affordable diamond heart shaped pendant would need to have features that take these pricing factors into consideration. It is a good idea to choose a heart diamond pendant that includes a few medium sized diamonds, you will end up better quality at the same price (per carat). -
Step 2
What Are Good Diamonds:
Talk to your jeweler about diamonds and he will fling a few prices at you, these prices will be related to a few complicated numbers and alphabets. There might even be reference to the 5C's and other technical details that confuse and complicate the issue. These technical details are perfect fine if you are investing in a diamond jewel that costs a small fortune, but what we are discussing here is a diamond heart pendant that looks good and is modestly priced. In such situations follow your thoughts and do not be impressed by claims of higher quality diamonds, the spiralling prices are never ending. Firstly, find a jeweler who will give you genuine diamonds, not moissanite, not cz or not any other maching pumped junk that looks like one. Then, look at the diamonds or the diamond pendant with your eyes, do the diamonds appear white, do they glitter in normal room light, if the answer is yes to both these questions you have made a good choice. Most jewelry stores fix harsh and bright spotlights to flash over their display cases, these lights can bring glitter to almost any gemstone or diamond. But remember that you and most other people would be seeing your diamond heart pendant in normal daylight or in lights fixed at home or the office. A small note here, stay away from those opaque, powdery looking diamonds these are junk that need to be put to industrial applications and not meant for jewelry use. -
Step 3
First Design Concept
This design concept is simple and surely affordable for a gold diamond heart pendant. The concept is shown in the PG2501 image, a gold outline for the heart and 3 diamonds set closely together. In this case ensure that sufficient thickness is provided for the heart pendant, the sides of the pendant should be raised to around 2mm to 2.5mm. Making your heart diamond pendant very thin and flat would decrease it's strength, it could deform easily and this could cause the diamonds to drop off. If you are not very particular about including only diamonds in your heart pendant, consider combining diamonds with other gems. You could for example, have a sapphire and ruby combined with one single diamond. This would be a useful design variation for a mother's family birth stone pendant. The fact that the diamonds in this heart pendant design need not be very large means that, the quality of diamonds can be fairly good without inflating the price tag. -
Step 4
Second Design Concept:
This heart diamond pendant would be similar to the PG2501 design but, in this case the entire rim of the outer heart would have small diamonds set in it. Once again, it is enough to choose diamonds that look good and add glitter to the pendant. Remember to check the thickness of the heart pendant. A thin heart pendant would be flimsy and also not allow a firm mounting for the diamonds. If you get a good custom jeweler to work with you, the dimensions of the heart could be varied according to your budget. This diamond heart pendant needs diamonds all around the rim, a larger heart pendant would have a bigger rim and require more diamonds. You could use fairly small diamonds for such a diamond pendant but, ensure that the thickness is sufficient. The rim itself could be narrow, the thickness will be needed to provide good support for your heart pendant. Here again, consider a design variation where a diamond could be alternated with another gemstone, you could have one diamond, one tanzanite (or other gem) and a diamond again. This adds to the beauty of the heart pendant and also allows a trimming of the price tag. -
Step 5
Good Gold Weight Is Not Optional:
High gold prices have decreased the business of most jewelers. The response from jewelers has been to design light weight gold jewels, the idea is to reduce prices and make the jewels seem more affordable. This works from the point of view of business and economy but, plays havoc with buyer interest. Every jewel needs to have a gold weight that is proportional to the dimensions of the jewel. Insufficient gold weight will reduce the life span of your diamond heart pendant. Gemstones and diamonds cannot be firmly mounted with low gold weight, they could loosen and drop out. This costs money to repair and adds to the final price of owning a light weight 'low priced' heart diamond pendant. If your jeweler tells you that good gold weight would make your diamond heart pendant look bulky and clumsy, he is either kidding you or knows little about jewelry. A good design would ensure that the gold content is tucked away in portions that, provide support without altering the overall appearance of the heart shape diamond pendant. -
Step 6
Choosing White Gold Or Yellow Gold:
Since diamonds look gorgeous in white or yellow gold, choosing a yellow or white gold heart shape diamond pendant could be based on your personal preference. There is no truth in the belief that a white gold diamond heart pendant would be weaker than a yellow gold heart diamond pendant. White gold and yellow gold have the same degree of hardness when comparing equal karatages. However, it is true that a 14k heart pendant would be harder than an 18k heart shaped pendant. The difference in hardness of 14k gold and 18k gold is not relevant to pendants where limited wear and tear is experienced by the jewel. -
Step 7
Silver As An Option For The Metal:
There is no reason why you cannot have a sterling silver diamond heart pendant. But you will need to understand the properties of silver before making a decision. All silver jewelry will tarnish, this is the discoloration of silver due to various factors including climatic conditions, environment, chemicals in the water etc. This would occur on your silver heart diamond pendant too, however there is some good news. If you clean your silver heat pendant just as the tarnish sets in, the pendant will continue to look good and bright. The cleaning process if initially done is not complicated, readymade silver polish lotions and silver polish fabric are available in stores. Diamonds are strong gems and will not be affected by these polishing methods. You can wipe the tarnish off and then wash the silver diamond pendant in cool and clean water. Jewelers boast about rhodium, gold, platinum and other platings for silver jewelry. These are touted as 'anti tarnish' treatments but unfortunately, these treatments are only temporary. The plating wears off in patches, the silver heart pendant will then look quite shabby. The worst part is that worn out silver plated jewelry cannot be polished easily, this is because the wear off is in ugly patches. Plated silver jewelry will look awesome on the day you buy it, but wait for a few months and you will realize that it was a lot of wasted money. Our suggestion is to go for an unplated silver diamond heart shape pendant, occassionally polish the pendant to keep away stubborn tarnish.
Comments
merih said
on 6/16/2008 for silver heart pendants.
check out the http://toosilver.com
their prices are reasonable.