Thank you for creating and sustaining such a fantastic
forum/school/community. I have learned so much from you over the
years.
I have a kind of engineering question here. My friend has a necklace
which was given to her, but she rarely wears it because the pendant
part keeps rolling over and twisting. She finds this annoying because
she constantly has to readjust it. She asked me if there was anything
that could be done to it to fix the problem (she tried taking it to
the store where it was purchased, but they said they couldn’t do
anything).
I have got pix here. The first scan is of the back of the necklace,
then the front, and then how it always flips. Can anyone advise me on
possible solutions?? BTW I hate the chain they used.
The problem is the shape of the pendant and pieces. They will always
flip unless the method of attachment is changed. If you look at my
Etsy, and find the “River Twins” necklace, that’s an example of the
type of attachment that might fix it. As it sits, it is in essence a
cylinder. The shape is narrow, and not flat enough to resist flipping
on it’s own, and the way it’s attached doesn’t put any pull on it
from the sides to prevent this.
From the pictures, it looks like you need to add either 1 or 2 jump
rings. It’s blurred in the place I need to see to be sure. The
jewelers said they can’t fix it because it’s covered in marcasites,
(ah! nightmare!) and the links are probably soldered.
I’m not sure if it can be soldered or not (with the right method it
should be possible) since I cannot physically examine the piece, but
I’m sure a skilled jeweler could fix it. You can cut very carefully
one of the 2 rings and add a ring to correct the hanging action. It
should only need 1 ring. It’s a dainty necklace and will still flip
around, but it should fall more reliably after the correction is
made.
Pendent is too light for the chain. The mass of links next to
pendent is more then the pendent itself. When person wears it, the
head motion sets chain in motion and the chain launches the pendent
in the air. Because pendent have no under-bezel and chain attachment
link is soldered to the edge, all the mass of the pendent is above
the attachment point. When set in motion by the chain, it naturally
flips over due to the gravity.
One remedy could be to solder under-bezel to shift the center of
gravity to the level of the attachment link. Also, make sure that all
links are perfectly smooth inside and can slide against each other
without any roughness.
Yes, the pendant itself is too light in comparison to the rest of
the necklace.
Because its a fine chain it has no roll resistance, that is there’s
nothing to prevent twist in the first place.
The JR at the junction of the chain to pendant is too small, so that
once twist happens, the JRs bind and lock in misalignment.
IMHO the value of the piece doesn’t warrant trying to fix it. Sorry.
Its simple cost/benefit. About the only thing that would be
inexpensive is to ‘glue’(yuk) some heavyish metal to the back of the
pendant. And that addresses just one issue, so it may not be enough.
Don’t heat this piece, short road to heartache.
I have an idea! Add a short piece of chain to link the necklace
together above where it is now a “Y”. This will create a triangle
which will help keep the units from rolling over.
