(REVIEW) "Computer Designed ARTWORK" & Diamond Bracelet. => 11 photos

 I've decided to number my photo-instructions, instead of rattling off lines of hard-to-understand text.

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 This unusual pin was created with the assistance of a "Computer-Aided Design program. Aka (CAD). It was a culmination of a "South American pearl" and previously owned (Princess-Cut) square diamonds. My client wanted a new pin to wear with this 'one of a kind' pearl; she was ecstatic with the results.

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1) In this photo, there are an estimated 4 sizes of diamonds.

2) The number of diamonds in this remarkable bracelet totalled an (estimated) 965 stones, which was an amazing number of gemstones. (I had to first decide which stones went where.)

3) How were these stones set? I used only '2 mini-claws' per stone. Every pair of '2 mini-claws' held only one diamond.

4) The gemstone configuration was that these 2 stones were held in place 'corner to corner'. None of these mini-claws were 'shared' with any other stone. I wanted 'stone security' at all times, especially during the setting process. Each link contained 22 diamonds; you can do the calculations for yourself.

5) I had to clear the 'Culet facets' of all the diamonds, but not to drill through the metal.

6) As for the actual stone setting, I had to maintain a 'high degree of strength' for every stone. This was important in the eventual stone setting process.

7) Not one claw was allowed to be damaged during the 'Culet Facet' preparation & cleaning.

8) How were these bracelet and necklace items to be polished? The items were placed in a 'Magnetic Tumbler' before any stone setting.

9) Every section of this collection of jewellery had to be pre-polished. Only a 'light ROUGE polishing' was to be administered after the stone setting.

10) The main problem in pre-polishing was that NO MINI-CLAWS WERE TO BE ALLOWED TO GET DAMAGED. This was the main reason for 'Magnetic Tumbling'.

11) If I used any 'cloth, polishing wheels', this would have easily ruined hundreds of these precious mini-claws.

12) How did I hold these links for the delicate gemstone setting? The answer was quite obvious, my survey of jewellers suggested that I avoid any metal clamps, as there would have been problems in the 'gripping' of the extremely delicate links.

13) My jewellery friends & I decided upon using shallac as the main source of 'holding a few of the links at any one time'.

14) Where did I start the stone setting layout? I began working on one row at a time.

15) If there were any larger diamonds to be set, I allocated these stones to the corners of the bracelet 'plates'. 'Stone placement' was also a design aspect in Diamond Setting. Thankfully, there were not too many oversized diamonds.

16) I chose to keep all of the 'bracelet diamonds' separate, as these were the smallest stones in this immense collection. 

17) It was my job as a 'Designing, Diamond Setter' to keep all of the stones in a uniform layout. If some were larger than the others, I had to decide which 'grouping of stones' went where.

  18) If you gave me a selection of diamonds, surely the group of stones would look like this. There would be at least 6 diamond sizes to sort through.

 This 'simple as it looks' setting project seen in this essay was neither simple nor easy. The planning of every diamond that was to be set took a considerable amount of time & labour.

 If you are unfamiliar with this stone setting program, DON'T TRY IT. SPEED IS NOT THE WAY TO WORK ON THESE IMMENSE PROJECTS. You are looking here at well over two weeks of work!!

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(Repeated topic) Wax stone setting => 20 photos

 In this very interesting essay, I will explore setting stones into wax.

 1) It is imperative that all of the claws are free of any residual wax remaining around the stones.

 2) When there are mini-wax claws to be dealt with this is the first thing to do. DON'T PUSH OVER ANY OF THE WAX CLAWS.

 3) How are these stones going to be set? The answer is quite simple, I would use a wax heating pen and just let the warm (not hot) stone settle into it's new 'home'. TO REPEAT, DON'T MOVE ANY OF THE WAX MINI-CLAWS.

 

4) When the need to set stones in a wax pattern (as shown here) just warm the stone. The weight of the stone will allow it to settle into the opening with little or no effort.

 5) Before any stone needs to be set, maintain a clean environment at your bench and your project. DIRT IS YOUR ARCH ENEMY.

 6) When you are contemplating to set stones in a 'Flush Setting'as seen here, keep the stones free from any 'residual wax'.

 7) Examine all of the empty holes prior to any stone setting, why? It is very important to make sure that no little bits of unnecessary wax could be remaining prior to your metal casting.

8) This the epitome of a setting that needs to be repaired NOW. The holes are not round, but OVAL. there is too much residual wax remaining.

9) This wax setting is ready for casting.

10) This 'Half Bezel' is clean and the stone is laying flat. This too is a good project for casting.

 11) All that remains in this wax setting, is to keep the stone free from dirt.

12) Examine that the bezel is round and it conforms to the shape of the stone.

13) Have you inspected the lower bezel that the Pavilion is clean.

14) Even with soft Green CZ stones, care must be given at all times. Are the claws clean from any defects, as well there must not be any claws missing.

15) The only method in setting of these stones is to use the wax warming pen.

 16) I can see that there are two claws missing. If there are more defects...STOP! My solution is to cast another wax project and discard this disk. This disk needs absolute uniformity in the claws.

17)  It's best to have the stones to be slightly larger, then all you need to do is leverage them into the claw opening.

 18) Once that all of the stones are placed in their own claw setting, just do a 'quality check' on everything that you've done.

Easy steps in setting a "Square Ruby" stone => 12 photos

 I could display many more steps in setting this Ruby. But for now, this is the easiest & quickest process.

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1) Firstly, make sure that all 4 claws are all of the same height. If there is any discrepancy, the stone will be set crooked.

 2) With a round bur, that is equal to the diameter of the corner of the square stone. Let that round bur start the drilling process horizontally, why is this? The stone needs to be laying flat!

3) In using a large-sized, Bud-shaped bur, cut the upper edge of the 'basket'. This will prevent any part of the Pavilion from touching the metal.

4) The next similar step is to again cut the corner of the 'basket' further into the opening.

5) With a small shaped Bud bur, cut from where the round bur went in. Why is this done here? This will be just where the corner of the Pavilion will be resting.

 6) In this close-up, you can now see where these little bur cuttings have been touching the upper section of the 'basket'.

7) With a pair of pliers, 'gingerly' move the 4 claws outward to allow the stone to sit into the ring. Keeping these 4claws in a vertical position at all times.

8)  When you are ready to move the 4 claws together. Please do so in an orderly fashion so as not to squeeze the corners together. This alone could very well damage the delicate corners of the stone.

9) DO NOT MOVE THE CORNERS IN AN 'OPPOSING' POSITION. I make a suggestion to move the claws sideways. The whole idea is to prevent any sort of stress from being placed on the stone.

10) On a 'clock format', the idea is not to apply any pressure on the 12:00 and 6:00 layout. 

 For safety reasons, move the claws to the 3:00 and 6:00 layout. Understand what is going on here? NO STRESS ON THE STONE will enter this picture.

11) DO NOT USE ANY LARGE or COARSE HAND FILE. As these large files could very easily move a claw, and the stone could get loose.

For safety reasons, I prefer that you would use a "MEDIUM" grade Emery wheel (as shown here).

 12) To avoid any time-consuming labour in the finishing process, I would suggest using '77B' cup bur. In a very short time, all of the 4 claw tips are nicely 'rounded'.

13) Please hold the tip of the cupbur at a 45-degree angle. As this will prevent any of the bur teeth from touching and damaging the soft stone.

14) If you wish, or need to use a triangular #4 grit file to gently smooth the claw tips, you can do so now!

 

Techniques on setting gemstones. => 19 photos

 On this #681st tutorial essay, I felt that it was imperative to review some of these stone setting techniques, again.

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 The main problem with these stones is that there are many gaps between the Girdle Facets and the metal. In all actuality, the amount of metal holding the stone is too severe. The amount of metal should only be minuscule.

 In the "correct" diagram, the metal is covering all areas of the Pavilion, the Girdle and Crown Facets so very tightly! 

You will notice that there are no gaps or spaces anywhere, as seen in the diagram labelled as "incorrect". The stones are buried too far into the channel setting and hide much of the stone.

1) Using a bur of this design does not help in creating a seat for a gemstone. The result is that there is too much 'pushing' of the metal to hold the stone. DON'T USE THIS SHAPE OF BUR!!!

2) The best-shaped bur is the one being shown below in this 'double diagram'. As this bur is cutting into the metal, it is also creating a seat for the stone. The bur needed is the #156C-shaped bur. This shape creates and greatly assists in gemstone setting.

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  In this series of mini diagrams from an 'outside source'. Here are 5 steps in creating a "Gypsy=>Flush" stone setting project. It's my honour to educate you, as the reader, to understand the many techniques being seen here.

In my library of photographs, I've inserted many pertinent photos where needed.

1) The 'twist drill' should not be too wide, but enough to create a hole just for the Culet Facet.

2) The 'vertical' cutting bur should be as wide as the diameter of the stone. The underneath section of the hole must be carefully 'countersunk'.

3) When the stone is secured into the metal, the depth of the "Table Facet" should never remain higher than the surface of the metal.

4) With your "Reciprocating Hammer", tap gently vertically' the edge of the metal rim. The result is to lower the rim of metal onto the Crown Facets of the stone.

5) With the same hammer tip, tap at an angle of 45degrees. Once the hammering has been completed. The next and final step is to "Bright Cut" the inner edge as shown.

  

 This is the close-up of the Bright Cutting process in using an Onglette graver.

When I was using my Onglette graver, I carved all around the bezel. This process isn't used too often with some setters, pity!

  In the finishing process, I used a Pumice wheel of #240 grit. This wheel cleaned the surface of any deep hammering marks.

  At an angle of 45degrees, I finished the cleaning, after setting, but with a Higher Polish Pumice wheel of #1,000 grit. This wheel prevents any cloth polishing wheel from ruining the finished surface. I truly think that these pumice wheels are just superb!!!

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The HSS bur, also known as "High Speed Steel" bur, cuts a seat for any gemstone. This 'seat' envelopes the Crown and Pavilion Facets at the correct angles at all times.

  

 All Cabochon stones MUST LAY FLAT, regardless of whether the stone has a curved surface.

 In diagram #8 

The top of the claws MUST NEVER BE HIGHER THAN THE STONE. DON'T FILE THE CLAW TIPS FLAT. The reason why is explained in diagrams # 9 & #10.

 There must not be any spaces between the claws and the stone. The claw and the stone should not have any spaces. The maximum weight of the hammer must be very delicate and not exceed 85.0 grams. The hammer should be a 'light' tapping, but never hitting hard. If this occurs, there could be breakage to the stone.

 These 'bent' nosed pliers are just what the stone setter needed. When the jaws of the pliers are closed & brought together, they both work as a team. It's best to serrate the jaws, as this manoeuvre will grip the bezel without slipping.

  When the bezel metal joins the stone, then you can use your "Reciprocating Hammer" and tighten the bezel jaws close together.

 When you are trimming the 'centre stone claws', important finishing starts next. The outside of each claw could be filed at a 45-degree angle.

 What I do is to file a clean 'square cut' on the front of each of the 4 claws. The next step is to use the tapered (Pink) Pumice Wheel of #1,000 grit. This pumice wheel will intensify the cleaning process.

1) This diagram was made by an off-site company, but I found it so very worthwhile for this essay.

2) The bur that is being used here is a "156C" (undercutting bur). 3) Why would I use this kind of unorthodox bur? This bur creates a seat just for the girdle of the stone.

4) What size of bur depends on the size of the stone? This is an easy answer.

5) Select a bur that is 75% of the size of the stone; then the stone will sit in tightly and not be loose, causing much concern to the setter who is trying to tighten the stone.

 

  My observations on this photo have a few problems. 

1) There is a break on the base of the claw. (on the far left). 

2) Many claws need to be repaired. These claws were stretched out too far to have the bur fit inside the tight-fitting claws.

 A solution is required before stone setting, but where? Use a #2/0 saw-blade and separate these claws again before stone setting.

 I'm hoping that you, as a reader, appreciate all of my 65 years of experience as a diamond setter in helping you.