Thank you @lvchanellvrLovely pic and that gorgeous Serpenti too!
I have been wearing the serpenti non-stop these days 
Van Cleef in action!
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I have been wearing the serpenti non-stop these days 
Trying a couple of new things — a monochrome outfit which is rare for me, and also a brooch (which I call my sheriff’s badge 
) with hammered YG worn on an extender.
) with hammered YG worn on an extender.Love everything! The jewellery goes without saying, and the nails & oran sandals…. WowThe butterfly ring seems to be on constant repeat these daysView attachment 5405104
Another crazy thought I had last night is that I would rather not overpay 30% for just two necklaces connected to each other. It may be possible to persuade VCA to merge two existing necklaces: it is actually quite a trivial task for a jeweller of an average skill. Remove the clasp, snap one link to another and that's all. Even if they refuse (which is most likely scenario as they would rather prefer the 30% path LOL), I have a jeweller who used to alter high jewellery for Cartier. If even if future one wants to sell these pieces, it is again a simple task to attach the clasp back and separate both pieces from each other.
They look gorgeous on you!
I will do so soon
Even better if VCA would actually just make the guilloche in the 20 motif long necklace format without charging us the premium like they do with the other YG or RG pieces
. All roads lead to VCA wanting to juice the 30% premium for those of us that cave when in reality it doesn't cost them 30% more in materials or labor to produce a easy change in metal or stone 
. It would be very interesting to find out what percentage of buyers opt to pay the 30% premium vs. just releasing more of the different combos for increasing sales.Even better if VCA would actually just make the guilloche in the 20 motif long necklace format without charging us the premium like they do with the other YG or RG pieces
Yes I am feeling really grrrrr for it.
- pave guilloche 20 - yes! normal 20 guilloche - no-no
- BA necklaces and bracelet - yes! BA earrings (and ring) - no-no
- chalcedony necklace and bracelet - yes! Chalcedony earrings - no-no!
- GMOP pendants yes! earrings, normal 5 motif non-pave bracelet - no-no!
For goodness sake, I am not even talking about different types of gold, it is purely about the ability to complete the set without paying a premium! And even let's say you SO a BA earrings pair, it is a low chance it will match your existing pieces!
Trying a couple of new things — a monochrome outfit which is rare for me, and also a brooch (which I call my sheriff’s badge
View attachment 5405302
Thank you so much @chiaoapple … I absolutely love your post btw. Always on point and you really make me want to try a 10 motif.
If you really want to make a BA set with earrings, I heard VCA is not doing earrings anymore, so check first before you dive into blue agate. The reason is because VCA used to do SO on blue agate earrings, but clients complained they could see through it. They did SOs on earrings up until late last year, around Oct 2021 as I recall when I had this conversation. Things may have changed now for 2022.
For me, I'm super matchy matchy and will not get a 20 without VA earrings. I love the flow of a long 20 with matching earrings. It's so elongating. For a 20, I can live without the 5 motif bracelets, but I cannot live without the earrings. You might not be as rigid with this requirement.
Just FYI in case the earrings are a must have for you; check first if they will agree to a SO before you dive into a set.
love the clash earrings on you!Tried on some beauties at VCA today and managed to get a nice shot of the earrings with a beautiful background. Sadly I had to pass as I am focusing on TE20 at the moment
But I was thinking how differently BA looks under the direct bright top light and on the neck in the same room!
View attachment 5402441View attachment 5402442View attachment 5402443
I am also matchy matchy set lover but I also can live with mix and match. For example BA necklace with the BA bracelet paired with guilloche earrings and add a guilloche bracelet for balance. I love guilloche but after our discussions in my BA thread I realised I do dislike the ring so I wear a frivole ring with my set anyway
I will live without BA earrings (I would not SO anyway because one can't control the shade at all) and I also saw some complaints about the transparency which I don't find fair to be completely honest. BA is a translucent stone and one can see through it if the bracelet is taken off one's hand for example. Same for carnelian: I can see the golden setting through the stone when I take them off and it feels like uneven colour sometimes but I am cool with that since I am looking at the earrings in my hands with the light coming through the open bezel type setting and it is totally ok.
When worn though, I don't have an issue with the transparency for carnelian as the motif hang against the ear which blocks the light from the back side. One would think the same would apply to BA. Another thing that VCA could do is make a solid filled backside for BA earrings to address this issue. Stripping a whole line off the earrings just because you can't set the stones in such a way that they don't look too transparent is not very clever IMHO. And this does not excuse them for not having GMOP VA ones!
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I was thinking this exact thing, and you explained it very well. The stones are transparent when held up to the light, but not noticeably so when worn against the skin because the light does not come through. Carnelian, like blue agate, does also look extremely different in shade and tone when held up to the light as compared to on a surface or on the skin.I am also matchy matchy set lover but I also can live with mix and match. For example BA necklace with the BA bracelet paired with guilloche earrings and add a guilloche bracelet for balance. I love guilloche but after our discussions in my BA thread I realised do dislike the ring so I wear a frivole ring with my set anyway
I will live without BA earrings (I would not SO anyway because one can't control the shade at all) and I also saw some complaints about the transparency which I don't find fair to be completely honest. BA is a translucent stone and one can see through it if the bracelet is taken off one's hand for example. Same for carnelian: I can see the golden setting through the stone when I take them off and it feels like uneven colour sometimes but I am cool with that.
When worn though, I don't have an issue with the transparency for carnelian as the motif hang against the ear which blocks the light from the back side. One would think the same would apply to BA. Another thing that VCA could do is make a solid filled backside for BA earrings to address this issue. Stripping a whole line off the earrings just because you can't set the stones in such a way that they don't look too transparent is not very clever IMHO. And this does not excuse them for not having GMOP VA ones!
I am very nerdy so I went to check out the setting of the VA earrings. It is actually designed in such a way that the light has to be blocked no matter how the earring is sitting on the ear.
I did a quick sketch to illustrate this:
What I am trying to show is that even if motif is sitting a bit below your earlobe (which can happen depending on where the hole and pin are), the bottom part is covered by the backing to which the lever is attached and there's even a bit extra metal. This basically makes sure that when you wear the earrings with translucent stones, the colour would be even (except for maybe super bright direct light). And this is what I see IRL with that carnelian pair I own.
Coming back to the complaints about BA earrings: most of the pics I've seen myself were taken in harsh boutique lighting which does not illustrate how the stone behaves in normal life. Even in my own experience I saw how different my unfortunate bracelet looked at the store and in my bedroom: like two totally different pieces. One neon bright blue, another one deep royal blue. No wonder people were upset when they saw their 30+% SOs but I would love to see how these look when actually worn IRL and I bet they would look different.
Yes, I may have coordinated my dessert to match my ring… Haha!
