For those who have seen the feel good ‘Christmas’ film, The Holiday, you may have noticed the pendulum style pendant that Cameron Diaz wears in the first scenes we see her in Los Angeles.
Pendant from ‘The Holiday’ movie with Cameron Diaz
Having seen the film on a number of occasions my wife had often admired the pendant and having watched the film again, at the beginning of last year, my ear was regularly ‘bitten’ throughout the year with a request of making something similar.
The Surprise
Having studied closely the pendant as it swung from side to side it became obvious the circular panel at the bottom was see-through, with a black or dark-coloured liquid flowing between two glass or Perspex ‘windows’. The company that produced this would have the machinery to create a waterproof seal. This was something I could not achieve and to this end I was putting my wife off the notion of having a similar pendant but unknown to her I was investigating ways and means as to create something which might look and react in a similar way with movement as a surprise Christmas present.
I came up with the concept of using two round watch glasses which I could rub-over set leaving a gap between and partly filling the void with numerous small black diamonds that would move around and give the illusion of a dark liquid.
Having thought this through thoroughly, I was confident this would work well.
The Technical Part
Fortunately, the round mineral watch glasses were available in the correct diameter and thickness and with a beveled edge which would aid in the rub-over setting. The thickness of these glasses at 0.75mm was important as I didn’t want the main part of the pendant any thicker than 3.5mm – any thicker and it would start to look too chunky. This allowed for a void of 2mm, plenty room for the small 1.1 – 1.3mm black diamonds to freely move and it also gave me scope to include some slightly larger white diamonds with a total depth of around 1.8mm which would have freedom to move, would not tilt but stay face up.
Having received the watch glasses the first stage was to create the outer 18ct. yellow gold ring into which the glasses would be set. Once made to the appropriate width and thickness I then created a thin, 2mm wide, platinum ring and soldered it inside the yellow gold ring leaving enough gold either side to be able to successfully rub-over both watch glasses. A small jump ring was soldered to the top, this would connect the rub-over diamond that would sit above the main ‘double glazed’ circle.
Once the front glass was rub-over set I poured in the small black diamonds. I was then able to assess how many white diamonds looked correct in amongst the black. The diamonds were sealed in by rub-over setting the back glass.
The two larger diamonds were initially rub-over set in platinum before applying an addition outer 18ct. yellow gold ring. Jump rings were soldered on, three to the diamond that would be at the top of the pendulum to attach the chain and two to the diamond that would sit directly above the main ‘double glazed’ circle.
The final stage was to cut the chain to the appropriate lengths and assemble
The finished pendant
The Result
On Christmas morning I couldn’t believe my eyes when my wife put on a new top I hadn’t seen which had a similar neckline to the one Cameron Diaz wore in the film. As my wife had no idea I had made the pendant for her what a surprise she got and coincidently was wearing the correct neckline to show it off. It was out the box and around her neck in a flash!
My wife wearing the pendant