Re: Titanic's "Heart of the Ocean" Necklace...*Hand Fabrication of Fine Jewelry*
I wanted to explain how much details play a role in smaller props. The concept of the design is fairly easy but its sometimes hard to decipher the shape, along with all the tiny details to a piece. When analyzing a movie like Titanic there are only a select number of scenes where the necklace is shown.
This made constructing the necklace difficult.
The shape of the blue stone alone was difficult. A generic heart shape does not match what this piece requires. An exaggeration of the shape
was required to get the preferred look.
When I had my final few made by a manufacturer he had created the setting and ordered generic closed heart shaped stones. all 11 had been cut.
when he sent me photos my first response was......"Those will never fit in the setting!"
I was then asked to make a radius rendering of the shape. Every stone had to be hand cut to get that shape.
Now for all of you who think you did your research on this necklace and think its a heart or a pear or a Trillion.....let me break your heart!
The shape is called a Pillowed Pear. This shape is difficult for many lapidary artists. Getting it level and not lopsided is difficult to achieve.
This specific cut is reserved for diamonds because of its range of difficulty. I spoke to one of the original designers of the necklace who worked on the set of Titanic. He asked me why I thought James would pick this shape? My reply was simple "Difficult to mass produce properly!"
The shape is distinct to the entire design of the necklace. Without the correct shaped blue stone the entire thing would look generic.
Generic was not good enough for me.
The chain was fairly simple. Tight knit with a specific pattern of links.
The main setting on the other hand proved to be a process.
I found by hand building the necklace that there was an art to hand fabrication. Duplicating that process on a larger scale would become an even longer, drawn out process.
Study your piece. build a detailed rendering and go back and study it. If you get stuck take a nap and recharge 9x out of 10 the moment you wake up you will find the answer you are seeking.
Creating a light weight frame for the blue stone, with enough detail to curve my craving for excellence was the biggest hurdle.
I honestly feel that I achieved something incredible. I have surprised 10 year jewelers and movie fans alike with my design on this necklace.
The real question I present.....How far are you willing to go to get the results you want?
(all the different shades of blue used for comparison)
Blue Diamonds have no violet hues. They are either slightly green or grey.
Hence why I went with the stone on the far left.
