Gem & Jewelry Industry

Gem Setting Revisited

I have written about setting gems before, but in lieu of the fact that so much of my business is now custom, here are a few of the most important considerations worth having at your fingertips.

1. What metal should I use?
The softest metal is Sterling Silver, but setting costs are high in the US, so my personal view is that doing custom setting in the US in silver is a waste of your money. Gold is...
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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...
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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...
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