Pave Setting - Hand Set versus Pre Cut

I thought I'd devote this blog entry to my why my setter Pierre has lost his hair.  Or so he says: by hand setting my tiny little and very soft glittery colored stones into hard metal castings that aren't ready made for the fast setting type that is the standard nowadays.

Let's first talk about how stones are set for commercial jewelry production.  With most rings and other pieces nowadays being made in CAD, it is possible to cut holes into the model where the stones go, add the milgrain, as well as the beads that will be pushed over the gem.  Even the "engraving" can be done in the CAD.  Have a look at this CAD model.  

This is a perfect example of the engraving and milgrain having been added before casting the model.

Here's an image of a CAD with beads (right side):

And here is a casting of a piece like this, one that I have previously used in my shop, before setting.

The resulting jewelry has a very even look with each bead being perfectly rounded.  The setting labor for these rings is faster as well.  The finished product will look something like this:

Good setters and jewelers will recognize immediately that this ring was prepared for easier setting in CAD.  The CAD work itself is more expensive for a piece like this, but since most of these pieces are then mass produced it pays to save on labor, which can be less than half per stone, and can be performed by less qualified setters.

Finer jewelry is often hand set.  For my pieces, Pierre had to build tools that would hold the tiny pieces without marring or bending the metal.  If he sets a pear shape into a piece that has a round hole, he has to drill the hole differently.  If the stone is a bit small, he doubles the milgrain.  If it is a bit too large, he will add less milgrain.  If there's an empty space created, he will fill it with a little engraving.  

This is how my pieces look after casting and pre-polish.  You can see these are totally blank slates.  That means I have "give" when I select gems for these, and Pierre can accommodate different shapes.

The result is that each of my pieces looks a little different.  Pierre tries to get inventive so that the result always looks good, though not usually identical to the previous piece.  This 9 stone ring is a perfect example.  The center can be round or square, between 2.8 and 3mm.  The inner rounds should be 3mm (ish) and the outer closer to 2.5mm. Look at how smaller center and sidestones get more milgrain and beads.

I'm lucky to be working with Pierre, who's been in the business for over 40 years, having learned to set gems in his teens.  He still loves what he does, and it shows.  He finds my designs very challenging because no two items are ever the same.  But he also says it gives him a break from the same "day in day out" setting that other people give him.  Very few setters work with colored stones on a regular basis, and just about none do pave work with them.  When I started showing up with my crazy ideas, I often got him very frustrated - stones too deep, too uneven, too "wonky", not at all like diamonds which are like eggs.  But over time, both he and I learned how to tame the little beauties.

Here are a few more images of some of my favorite pieces:

Grace Ring, Sapphire, Mahenge Spinel, Paraiba Tourmaline

Stone Setting by Pierre

I am slowly learning how to add little video clips to my blog so here is my first one.  It was my practice piece but then I thought it came out nice enough to share.  In this video, Pierre explains how he is prong setting 3mm diamonds into a diamond eternity band.  First he opens the ring up underneath, then he drills the seat, pops in the diamond and gently pushes the prongs over the stone.  They pop into place perfectly.  And the end, Pierre shapes the prongs into perfectly round little “balls” for an even appearance.

As most of you already know, there are many different kinds of setting techniques, and each takes a separate set of tools and a separate skill set.  Simple prong setting is the easiest, and it is least harmful to the stone.  In his office, Pierre is equipped with a huge microscope, flex shafts, beading and millgrain tools, clamps of all types, ultrasonic, and who knows what else.  To be fully equipped, especially for setting micro pave under a scope, you need to invest several thousand dollars.

Pierre has been in the jewelry trade since he was 14, and has decades of experience just setting stones.  Still, some of my gems present unique challenges to him.  Most setters set diamonds, or rather, most of what is set in industry are diamonds, and those are hard to break.  Many colored gems can get scratched or chipped by the tools that are needed to push the metal over the gem and file down the prongs, so a very steady hand is needed, and gems do break on occasion.  That’s why setters do not guarantee the stones they set.  Too much risk is involved and insurance is crappy and expensive.  It is therefore best to go over your project with the setter carefully, making sure the gem can withstand the tools that are needed for the particular setting job.  Gems are inspected for inclusions or cracks which can present additional risks.

Another challenge is getting a tiny piece of jewelry to stay in place and not bend or move while the setter works on it.  Rings are the easiest because you can put them into the clamp, but pendants sometimes have to be set in shellac, or setting cement, a wax like substance that melts when warmed up.  To remove the shellac, the jewelry piece has to be warmed up in water and then cleaned in the ultrasonic.  Sometimes stones break during that process – I once had an aqua pendant that cracked because it got overheated while the shellac was being removed.

An image of Pierre and I my assistant took while i was shooting the above video :) 

Customers often wonder why setting costs so much.  One reason is the equipment, plus there is the rent on 47^th street that has to be paid (figure on maybe $2000 a month for a small office).  And then it takes time.  Setting a pair of earrings may take only 10 minutes, but pave setting an entire ring can take an afternoon.  So if a setter charges $300 for that job he is within his rights.   I generally pay gladly for good work, but for my markup it presents a problem of course.  Technically, the setters I use make jewelry that goes for thousands of dollars, not hundreds, and so the setting cost can be more easily absorbed.  On the other hand, I find nice setting work addictive, and I like my gems to be hugged by prongs that got filed down into tiny claws, or perfectly rounded so they look like beads (you can see how that works in the video).  

Breaking an Apatite. Or: How Observation can Interfere with Experiment

So I had the brilliant idea of taking snapshots while my setter, Pierre, set an apatite into my new silver halo ring.  Dark blue sapphire outside, turquoise center, it was going to look fabulous.  Pierre has some very fancy setting equipment.  At his bench there is a huge microscope with very strong lighting that costs several thousand dollars, surrounded by lots of other smaller gadgets.  I guess you need that when you routinely set expensive gems.  Luckily, my apatite had only cost me about $20. 

Ring Inside Ring Holder

First, Pierre carefully clamped my ring into a ring holder, cushioning the outside of the shank with tissue so wouldn’t get marred.  The ring has to sit tight in order for the pressure from setting not to dislodge it.  Then Pierre separated the double prongs.  During casting, prongs that sit close together often have metal in between them, and it is cut apart with a separator disc.  Then the prongs are shaped into claws and the seat is drilled: that’s a little groove on the inside of each prong where the girdle of the gem will rest.  I like my gems set low, and the apatite fit perfectly into the opening.

Separating the Prongs

Unfortunately, the lighting of his microscope was so strong that my iPhone couldn’t cope, so I asked Pierre to lower it.  Which he promptly did, but not without mentioning that he could no longer really see what he was doing.  I should have taken that as a cue.

Having placed the apatite into the ring, Pierre proceeded to push the prongs over the gem with his metal bezel pusher.  

Pushing the Prongs over the Stone

As a final step, he rubber wheeled the prongs.  This means sanding them down with a soft rubber disc so that the places where he marred the metal with the bezel pusher – something which is unavoidable – are filed back out.  Normally this is the tricky step because you don’t want the rubber wheel to scratch the stone. 

Rubber Wheeling the Prongs

As it turned out, in this case, the moment during which the little apatite incurred major damage was minutes earlier.  It happened shortly after the light was turned off in order to accommodate my iPhone.  Ahem.  The third photo shows you approximately when Pierre chipped it. 

Long story short, my apatite didn’t live.  And now there’s a pretty tourmaline in the center of that same ring.  So that’s how it goes.  Apatite is risky business.  With a sapphire, this would probably not have happened.  But from now on, I’m not going to ask Pierre to work in the dark! J

Chip in Girdle on Right Next to Where the Prong Would have Been (Plus Scratches You Can't See)