Adding Stones And Gems To Jewelry

Adding gems, crystals or other stones to my designs has been a long-term goal. I finally have gotten around to trying it. Please feel free to use this thread to share your experiences with this. I will share a few because I have a number of different things going right now.

I designed this Amulet for another customer recently with a cabochon in the center. The prongs aren't doing much, as they were a bit too short (I also used glue to hold it in place). The prongs lost some height during polishing. How much height should I add to prongs to account for polishing?

This is a plastic version of a Claddagh ring with a black Onyx gem. I should have the silver version soon:



Mother and Child Knot with crystals/birthstones



Motherhood Knot with cystals/birthstones:



A customer found my Mother and Child Knot pendant and wants to re-mount a round-cut diamond from an old ring into the center of it. He wants the pendant to be platinum! I am working with a jeweler on that one.

I have been adding gemstones to my model since a few months. I designed my own prongs so that the setting can be done in less then 1 minute. Here is the result:

I really like the ring and that last pendant @Daphne. Do you have to account for the prongs losing some height from polishing? What is the smallest gem you have worked with?

No, it doesn't matter with my design. The smallest I have tried is 3 mm, was not really happy with that. I prefer 4 and 5 mm stones. I also played around with cabuchon cuts:



Aluminium prongs were not a succes, stone got out a few days later.

Following this thread with much interest. I have a customer who wants me to design an engagement ring for his girlfriend. I'm optimizing my sizing game at the moment.

I'm also working on that for a friend! But since I want to make sure the ring will be fine for years, I'm going to let the settings be done by a professional gold smith.

I think that's a great idea, Daphne. I will probably run my design past a professional goldsmith as well before I even print it. My customer said he has someone in mind to do the setting. That will make this whole process a lot less worrisome!

@nataliak did some great work with stone setting in the past and wrote a blog about it, but I can't seem to find that one.. Natalia do you still have that post where you used digital stones to create the perfect fit?

Here is how that Onyx Claddagh Ring turned out:

That looks really pretty! How does the stone stays in its place?

I just designed the space for it, made a little groove so it would bend easier where I wanted, and pushed the prongs over once cast in silver.

Special Design,- very nice!
What material is the black one on the sides?

I am loving this thread, setting my stones into a design is my ultimate goal too. All the designs showed case so far are beautiful! I have a lab created emerald bought a really long time ago with the goal to make my own design and set it but I am still not there yet. Just seeing all your designs are encouraging me on!

I'm told you want prongs to be "0.70mm past the girdle" for like a classically cut diamond.

Sometimes I give it a little more just in case. A setter can always shave it down if need be.

Btw if anyone is in NYC- you can generally get a ring set + polished for like $10 - 20.

Yeah this is a great design. Stone setting has always been a challenge for me. It's just hard to manage, like when my colleague tries scheduling our workforce at our jewellery workshop. Oh well, it's so nice to see that it's something that can be accomplished by us lonely mortals - ha. Thx!

the side panels are just chemically blackened.

Another stone setting I did. The prongs were a bit too long.

I 3d printed a steel piece of my logo that I design in 3d first. I design it pave set with 3mm stones to be set. and when I got it 3d printed it came out beautiful. my thing is when I put the diamonds ine the precut holes. I cant keep them in place from falling out. the beads will not move to hold the diamonds. I was wondering maybe because I got it printed in steel, and still is so tough. I try every stone setting tool to push the beads and they is not bulging. is brass and silver hard to push the beads over the stone like steel before I order it? or any advice how can I bead set my piece that's already printed pre-set?