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#1
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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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