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  #1  
Old December 22nd 08, 12:28 PM posted to rec.crafts.jewelry
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Posts: 9
Default Help?

Hi,
I, a rank amateur, need help. Not having a workshop yet, I've been
mostly buying settings and gemstones and just putting them together. I
bought some rings for my kids for Christmas. My daughter's pronged
ring I had no problem with. The three oldest boys I just can't seem to
get. The gemstones (a green topaz, a lab padparascha sapphire and a
glacier blue topaz) just won't go in completely and level. They are
supposedly the right size. Are they cut too big? Is there something
I'm supposed to do first? I know, I sound like a moron, but please be
gentle with me.
Here are links to the three settings:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=130239023240
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=130216260781
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=130215855366

Any help accepted with deepest gratitude.
Judith

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  #2  
Old December 22nd 08, 12:39 PM posted to rec.crafts.jewelry
Peter W. Rowe[_2_]
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Posts: 115
Default Help?

On Mon, 22 Dec 2008 03:28:13 -0800, in rec.crafts.jewelry
" wrote:

Hi,
I, a rank amateur, need help. Not having a workshop yet, I've been
mostly buying settings and gemstones and just putting them together. I
bought some rings for my kids for Christmas. My daughter's pronged
ring I had no problem with. The three oldest boys I just can't seem to
get. The gemstones (a green topaz, a lab padparascha sapphire and a
glacier blue topaz) just won't go in completely and level. They are
supposedly the right size. Are they cut too big? Is there something
I'm supposed to do first? I know, I sound like a moron, but please be
gentle with me.
Here are links to the three settings:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=130239023240
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=130216260781
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=130215855366

Any help accepted with deepest gratitude.
Judith


Judith, Almost all settings are made a trace too small (including most prong
settings.) The reason is simply that stones vary in size a little, as well as
in things like the thickness of the girdle, and the pavilion angle, and the
like. Proper stone setting technique does not usually expect a stone to just
drop in perfectly. if it does, most likely, it doesn't well fit the setting,
and may be actually a little too small for the setting. Prior to actually
moving the bezel over the stone, one has to cut a seat. Properly cutting the
seat for a stone is perhaps one of the most important parts of stone setting,
and in some cases, actually the hardest part. European classically trained
jewelers would use gravers to carve the seats to fit the stone exactly. Most
jewelers in this country (and most around the world these days) use flex shaft
machines with various shape cutters, setting burs, ball burs, etc., to open up
the setting just so it fits the stone exactly. Not just the size, but the
pavilion angle so the stone rests on the actual girdle, not inwards of it,
which is the case if the seat is a shallower angle than the stone. One also
carves the vertical inside wall of the seat to adjust in part, the way the metal
will compress over the stone, so that after setting it snugly meets the stone
all around, yet does not put undue pressure on any spot, which would risk
breakage of the stone.

All this takes some practice, and is one of the reasons why stone setting is
often a whole seperate specialty, one which people make entire careers with. So
don't feel badly if it takes you a bit of trial and error and mistakes to learn.
It's not as easy as some sellers of mountings might like to say. You might
wish, if this is now a rush (and Christmas is this week, after all), to take the
rings to a local jeweler and see if they'd do the setting for you. Normally,
this time of year would be hopeless in trying to find a jeweler with enough free
time to do this so close to Christmas. But business this year seems to
generally be exceedingly poor for many jewelers. You might just fine one who
not only has enough free time still, but would be happy for the additional work,
even if modest in scope.

Cheers

Peter
  #3  
Old December 23rd 08, 04:38 PM posted to rec.crafts.jewelry
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Posts: 9
Default Help?

Thanks so much for your reply, Peter. I did ask for the settings to be
prenotched, but they must have missed that. Hopefully I can find a
jeweler who'll prepare the settings for cheap. :-)

Regards,
Judith

On Dec 22, 6:39=EF=BF=BDam, Peter W. Rowe =

wrote:
On Mon, 22 Dec 2008 03:28:13 -0800, in rec.crafts.jewelry

Judith, =EF=BF=BDAlmost all settings are made a trace too small (includi=

ng most prong
settings.) =EF=BF=BDThe reason is simply that stones vary in size a littl=

e, as well as
in things like the thickness of the girdle, and the pavilion angle, and t=

he

  #4  
Old December 23rd 08, 04:46 PM posted to rec.crafts.jewelry
Peter W. Rowe[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 115
Default Help?

On Tue, 23 Dec 2008 07:38:58 -0800, in rec.crafts.jewelry
" wrote:

Thanks so much for your reply, Peter. I did ask for the settings to be
prenotched, but they must have missed that. Hopefully I can find a
jeweler who'll prepare the settings for cheap. :-)


"pre notched" settings are a concept mostly marketed to either amateurs and
hobbyists, or in the case of a few types made for pros, for those product lines
intended to keep costs low by reducing the labor of stone setting.
Unfortunately, pre notched settings can never be quite a well fitted to a stone
as a properly cut seat, so they run the risk of prongs not being quite as secure
and long lasting. The concept of pre notched settings only applies to prong
settings, as the flexibility of the prongs makes up, some, for the lack of
proper fitting to the stone. That, of course, doesn't work with a bezel, such
as the mountings you posted links to. So pre notching of a setting simply isn't
done with bezels. Plus, those settings you sent links to are commercially made,
probably with minimal hand work in order to keep prices low. It's quite likely
that the ebay dealer is just that, a dealer and seller, rather than anyone able
or skilled in actual stone setting, as would be needed if they were to be trying
to cut a seat for you before shipping the mountings.

And don't just let the jeweler "prepare" the settings. Let him or her set the
stone too. It's a total package, not a seperate job. Among other things, the
way the jeweler cuts the seat will be in part dictated by the method they will
use to close the bezel (hammered, versus burnished, or some combination
thereof.)

Cheers

Peter
  #5  
Old January 2nd 09, 11:01 AM posted to rec.crafts.jewelry
[email protected]
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Posts: 9
Default Help?


On Dec 23 2008, 10:46?am, Peter W. Rowe
wrote:

?Plus, those settings you sent links to are commercially made,
probably with minimal hand work in order to keep prices low. ? It's quite likely
that the ebay dealer is just that, a dealer and seller, rather than anyone able
or skilled in actual stone setting, as would be needed if they were to be trying
to cut a seat for you before shipping the mountings.

I have actually gotten prenotched from them before (it's free - they
also do free sizing two sizes up or down) I know it's commercial -
that's all I can afford right now. :-) Soon I hope to get into PMC -
it will have a different set of problems setting-wise, but at least
I'll have more control and the opportunity to be creative.

And don't just let the jeweler "prepare" the settings. ?Let him or her set the
stone too. ?It's a total package, not a seperate job. ?Among other things, the
way the jeweler cuts the seat will be in part dictated by the method they will
use to close the bezel (hammered, versus burnished, or some combination
thereof.)

Thanks for all the advice and info!
Wishing everyone a happy and prosperous new year,
Judith
 




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