Intricate (24 photos) Pave' setting photos.

  I have used many of these photographs in previous essays, these are so interesting that I  chose to use them again in this essay.

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 This remarkable ring left me with a few questions to ponder. Why didn't the diamond setter get his graver closer to the girdles of the diamonds?

 All along the two rows of "6 stones" I see extra metal beside each of the diamonds. In fact, after much scrutiny many other stones also had the same inherent problems (or errors).

 The basic problem is that the Onglette graver didn't have a 'sharp point' to cut close to the girdle for the many diamonds.

  This Diamond setting process is named "Cut-Down", why this strange name? The technique is to literally 'cut down' towards the edge of the ring, thus leaving a little band of metal, as decoration. 

 

 This was a very strange but useful pendant, it was in the shape of a cup, or a hollowed-out bowl. The Pave' process was a little problem in setting of the many diamonds. 

With diamond setting, there were sometimes many 'challenges' that were coming into my office door. 

 I always had a cameral on my desk to record such interesting projects, such as this one in particular.

  As you can see that I always chose to use my #6 Polishing Paper to give my graver-steel a bright and smoother finish for all of the Pave' setting.

This useful ring had three section built into it. With this in mind, I wanted to show the process of initial graver cutting until the final stage of Bright-Cutting, even prior to the stone setting process.

 My client wanted diamonds all over this 'name plate'. The only CAD that was used was in the lettering. The drilling of the holes and the final gemstone setting was left to me. I wanted a a decorative feature put into the cutting, I allowed much space for this cutting to be used.

  From a plain looking bar of silver I transformed it into a delicate item for my teaching. The gemstone setting being so clean, was a testament to the 'Pre-Cutting' technique.

Now compare the final cleanliness of the cutting, to the first photo of  this essay.

Spacing on items like this can be quite a challenge. There must be much planning as to where each stone should be drilled and spaced prior to drilling just one hole.

 Each hole had to be placed to work with the design and pattern of the item. I placed stones where there was 'point in the curve' the pattern.

I needed space for the 'beads to be raised'. The rule is '1/2 the width of a diamond in the separation'.

  When I received this bracelet all of the holes were not drilled and the "JOE" was already soldered into the nameplate. I chose to place a stone where there was an indention of the lettering. This was my rule as a guide.

 To get the stones into the recesses of the "E" &"J" and the "O" was not an easy task. All of these setting projects were from 25 years ago and this was before CAD was a main feature in 'off-site' diamond setting. We, as professional setters, had to 'think & plan' long before we picked up any of our tools.  

  I placed this name-plate unto my "Shellac Stick". This was not for holding this very wide plate, but to help me to guide my hands and fingers all through the setting processes.

 Warm shellac has feature of creeping into the holes and giving me some extra labour in the cleaning.

 As this is seen here, the shellac had to be constantly cleared away, as this bonding agent was always my problem. My drills got continually filled with the shellac..(this was a ongoing nuisance).

 Metal clamping was never on my mind, as I didn't want any indentations of ruining the surface of the expensive gold plate.

Metal clamps that was to hold a figurine like the Birds face was easy.  The indentations on the side were no problem for securing the face to the adjustable clamp. The massive name-plate was different story. agree?

Shellac had an inherent problem of interfering with my drilling. Any rise of temperature caused the shellac to again creep up and plug the holes. You can see this in the bottom of the letter "O", in "JOE". 

As I always chose to use shellac, I had no reason to use any 'metal pins' to secure my setting projects.  It was not uncommon for me to receive setting projects with unusual patterns such as this seen here.

 At the corners of the marquise-shaped designs, I used my Onglette graver and cleared out the metal. I use the utmost care in enhancing the original design, that is why 'we' have gravers to do this kind of cleaning.                    

 After I finished to the setting of the stones I again chose to "Bright-Cut" the walls of the pendant. To leave these walls direct for the casting is a complete "no-no". The (miniscule) bead-pins seen here were created directly from the casting and I had to enhance the overall appearance.

 What you are seeing here was originally a 'flat plate' as there was not one hole drilled. All I will do now is to set the stones. In between the holes, I used a mini-bud (#002) shaped bur to clear the metal beads. 

 This setting project and the metal cutting is about "13, on a Scale of 10", (many years of training went into this display).

 Again you can see my trusty 'shellac-stick' coming into use.

 

  Here is a better close-up of the above  photo, instead of a "4-bead" setting I used a "2-bead" setting. I chose to have you see, that never stick to one setting pattern, there are more styles available.

 I found this totally expensive Diamond Watch a few months ago, it is a total WOW in the complexity. YES, each of the stones are Diamonds of all colours. I like this as also as there are many styles of setting included.

 What you can observe are: 3-Claw Pear-Shaped setting, 4-Claw Emerald-cut setting, Pave' Bead setting, 6-Claw Fancy-Cut stones. Inside the circular watch case are "Shared-Claws" this topic will be another tutorial essay in the very near future.

 This photo adorns my office wall, as it shows different styles of diamond setting. It has Straight & Tapered Baguettes, Pave' and Princess-Cut Channel setting.

 Here is the same necklace, now in a close-up showing more details.

 This is a CAD created design

 Here is another style of a 'CAD' created setting. All of the bead-pins are of one width and height.

This ring has a basic pattern of 'Rough-Cutting'. The name of 'Rough-Cutting' truthfully means that all of the delicate metal cutting is done before the desired graver "Bright-Cutting" is initialized. 

 The individual placing of multiple beads is the rule in these projects. I always plan each 'bead placing' before my graver starts to form a bead.

 If you don't "plan & think" ahead of time, change careers! Sorry for my strong attitude,  I was taught this profession and this phrase has stuck with me ever since.  

  Can you imagine if I was attempting to 'rough-cut' this pattern after stones were in the metal? My answer would be a total waste of time and it would look like a "disaster in the making". There has been no contact (of any sort) with "Computer Aided Designing".  

 Even if there are few 'extra lines of metal' remaining around the holes, they can be easily removed prior to any sort of stone setting.

 I can very easily use a #001 'bud-shaped' bur to clean around each hole. In between each hole (stone) I created a 'little pattern of a square', this is solely for decoration purposes. 

 For more information on any topic: "gerrylewy18@gmail.com"