[Jewelry making - Article 00513] - Re: [Orchid] Bezel Vs Prong setting

[Karen Goeller]

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Roberta,

    For me, there are two components to this choice when I approach a
    piece. 

    The first, obviously, is aesthetics. Some stones and designs simply
    seem to cry out for a "boundary" of metal helping to define them, set
    off the color, or integrate the flow of the design. In other cases,
    the stone may have flaws on its edges or be a doublet or triplet that
    isn't all that aesthetically pleasing except from the top. 

    The other criteria for me is the stability and type of material
    being set. Some stones or cuts are too soft, brittle, or otherwise
    fragile to feel comfortable setting in anything other than a
    closed-back, heavy walled bezel. Others need a bit of extra
    protection on their fragile edges, but can be easily set in an
    open-backed, light-walled bezel. Still others are just fine in a
    prong setting. 

    My favorite thing, however, is to create a "blended" setting where
    the stone is integrated completely into the piece, so that part of
    the piece might act as a prong and other areas of the piece act more
    like a bezel. Right now, I'm working on a setting for a gorgeous
    doublet opal where part of the opal is "buried" in the setting and
    the other part "embraced" by the setting. Very organic. 

    And then there are the many other types of settings.... gypsy,
    channel, pave, etc. 

    There are no hard-and-fast rules here. The important things are that
    your design is integrated and your stone is safe. 

Karen Goeller
www.nolimitations.com
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