Setting many stones in tiny prongs quote

[FreshFund]

11152

I want to replace these CZ with genuine stones, so I knocked one out and it measured at 1.4mm
My plan is to do it myself, but it doesn't seem like it would be easy enough for me to do - so I'll probably end up paying for professional help.

I guess my question is, what should I expect to pay from a decent or reputable jeweler for doing something like this?
I bet this is a very vague question including a bunch of variables so hopefully I can narrow it down.

Each petal requires 22 stones to fill.
There 12 petals total.
So 264 total just for the petals
The mouth has 29 stones.
The face has 133 yellow stones plus 2 bigger black ones for the eyes

428 total

The face has a graduation of sizes for yellow stones starting from 1.4mm down to an unmeasured size.
The black eyes are the biggest stones, I do not have a measurement for them yet either.

I will be purchasing the 428 stones needed to refill this piece.
The base material is 10k Yellow gold.

Scenario 1: If there was no gold to solder or add - what would your quote be?
Scenario 2: Some prongs (1 - 29) needed gold material soldered/added - what would your quote be?
Scenario 3: Many prongs (30 - 300+) needed gold material soldered/added - what would your quote be?
Scenario 4: All the prongs needed gold material soldered/added - what would your quote be?

Sorry if this all seems confusing, I'm getting exhausted just typing it lol.

[ps_bond]

If you can get a setter who'll touch that, at a bare minimum you're looking at £4-5/stone *maybe* (it's a lower time cost to do a lot of setting on one piece than it is to do a small amount on one to many pieces). You might get it for less, but there comes a point where you can't get the time cost down any further.
As soon as you start needing to add prongs then the cost goes up. 9ct is appalling stuff to laser as the zinc fumes out quickly (and 10 is not significantly different).

BTW - either way, I'd factor in more stones too; some will get lost, some will probably break.

[eekoh]

I'm curious... why do you want to replace all these stones?

[FreshFund]

Peter thank you! Okay so going by a £5 per stone guide, multiplying by 428 and converting to CAD it would be around $3,800 - does that sound right?
I was thinking that as well, would an extra 8 stones per color be sufficient? Maybe 20 extra for the yellow.

Hazel basically just because I hate the thought of CZ, I'm not sure why.. But every piece I own I want to love wholeheartedly, enough to pass on to ones I care about as a momento with sentimental value. Genuine stones are much more timeless I think. Even though I'm beginning to like lab created diamonds a lot more because it's one way I know they are "conflict free", plus they retain all the properties I love about the stone. I still find CZ to diamonds as brass is to gold though, it scratches and becomes lifeless overtime - but that's just me!

[ps_bond]

The maths sounds about right; extras - depends on the stones. Softer stones (i.e. not diamond or corundum) are usually more vulnerable in setting. Oh, and you'll probably need calibrated ones too.
I still think it would be more cost effective to have the thing made up in 18ct - then a setter can have undamaged seats to work with, rather than needing to rework and/or retip existing ones.

[FreshFund]

Hm, I should definitely be listening to the pro's.

A while back I got a few quotes to cast this piece from local jewelers. The lowest was just over $4000 and the highest was well over $15000.
Does that sound proper? I told them I would supply the CAD design, gems and gold - even the extra weight for button and sprues. Shoot, I'd give them the wax and investment powder if it took the price down a bit. I'm not sure if they included gem setting in these quotes, if it does then i guess the lower quote would be a good deal? I dont know, it just seems high.

One person I was talking to said they could get the casting done for $60 if I supplied everything, but he ended up flaking out. Is that an attainable price from another jeweler or was he just blowing smoke.

There are also a few local businesses around that advertise the services I need, but upon emailing them like at expertcasting.ca they said they wont cast with my supplied material.

Should I just spend the money on a vacuum caster & 3d printer or keep searching for the ever-evasive artisan I've been looking for?

[ps_bond]

Just to have 1 item cast in e.g. 18ct gold I'd pay £37.50 at Jewellery Casting Scotland. Metal cost & shipping on top of that (and it'd need to be from a master provided to them).
Then there's finishing, setting (and stone supply) and, over here, hallmarking.
I think I'd be asking for a breakdown on the costs.

BTW - as far as ethical diamonds go, lab-grown work but you also have an in-country supply of ethically mined diamonds. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/12/fashion/northern-canada-the-conflict-free-diamond-frontier.html