Sorry, grandma!

May 9, 2012 8:21 AM

Please help me find replacement earrings or a reasonable facsimile of a beloved pair. Oh, and for a reasonable price!

I had a pair of gold tone, bezel set, two stone cubic zirconia earrings. Of course, I lost one and OF COURSE they appear to be impossible to replace.

They are
-- gold/gold filled/gold plated/gold colored metal
-- bezel set
-- two stone, one slightly larger than the other
-- cubic zirconia or crystal
-- studs, not drop or dangle

These are the closest to what I am looking for, but my setting has the larger stone on top. Also, $150 is a little pricey.

If these earrings prove to be impossible to replace, is it possible to buy these and just have the bottom part removed?

Or is it possible to just buy two single bezel set earrings and have them melded together? How high in quality would the metal have to be in order to make that work?

posted by hmo to Shopping (6 answers total)

IANAmetalworker, but my impression is that bezel setting (even with multiple connected bezels) is pretty trivially easy for people with basic jewelry-making skills. Have you considered just talking to your local jeweler, or messaging someone whose work you like on Etsy, to see about getting a pair custom-made to your specifications? I suspect creating a what you want from scratch would be both easier and safer, in terms of the final outcome, than trying to cobble together some sort of frankenearring assemblage from commercial parts.
posted by Bardolph at 8:57 AM on May 9, 2012

Yeah, take the one you still have to your local jeweler and they can probably do it for you for $50ish depending on the metal.
Or, you can get your remaining stud made into a necklace charm.
posted by rmless at 9:55 AM on May 9, 2012

I could go down and solder up an ear ring frame kind of like what you are looking for out of brass, so metal quality isn't an issue in terms of fabrication. Not turning peoples ears green is another matter.

If you go diving in Rio Grande or Metaliferous' catalogs you might be able to order bezels and stones of exactly the kind you're looking for.

If you still have one, it wouldn't be that hard to remove the stones and make up a rubber mold of that one, and use that to make waxes and cast you up as many exact duplicates of the setting as you need. After that, rocks is rocks.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 10:00 AM on May 9, 2012

Is this your card?
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 10:12 AM on May 9, 2012

Speaking of not turning ears green, Simply Whispers are pretty great, and sell some replacement pieces too. (I was hoping they would be the source that Grandma got them from, but I don't see anything quite like it in their catalog.
posted by lily_bart at 12:05 PM on May 9, 2012

@Kid Charlemagne, I actually think they might BE brass. The stud that was Left Behind is turning a little green at the post. (I am okay with this, and would prefer that the duplicate be made of the same material.)

Please PM me if you are interested in a little metalwork.
posted by hmo at 1:55 PM on May 9, 2012