Lion Pendant = 'Diamonds in the Body & Wings'. => 31 photos

 These "Lion Wings & Body Pendant" were a multiple-section project for my diamond setting. I planned ahead of time where every diamond and hole was to be eventually drilled before stone setting.                  

 I placed an assortment of diamonds on my workbench just to see which stones to use and where.

                                    

 As there were many areas that had porosity in the gold. This was due to the poor mixture of the gold with the metal alloy. We both decided to cover up the holes by using an 'emery rotating wheel' to apply a textured surface to the rear of the pendant. No more porosity!

 These 'areas' were literally throughout the pendant, and using solder was not an option worth considering.   

 I 'inked' where diamonds would be eventually placed. If a group of diamonds were not placed according to my client's wishes, I'd redo that area.

 As the wings were not soldered to the body, I placed them on a shellac stick for stone setting.

                                                        

 I casually placed the diamonds according to size at specific areas on the wings.

 Once we decided just where diamonds would look best on the wing, I laid out the stones and proceeded to drill the metal. This was not an overnight procedure.

  I graduated from the placement of the diamonds on the gold pendant. I positioned each stone and 'marked' where each stone should be set. THIS TOOK MUCH TIME AND CONCENTRATION.

 My routine was. 1) Lay out the stones on the metal. 2) Mark (ink) the gold. 3) Scribe the metal. 4) Drill the spots that were scribed.

5) Drill through the metal. START THE SETTING, ONE STONE AT A TIME.

You can see the 'spots' for each stone on the tail and neck areas.

 I had to create a definite pattern even while the beads were holding the stones.

 Some diamond holes were not where they should be because of size. I had to reposition them immediately prior to drilling and opening up the holes.

 My client gave me coloured gemstones, I used them in the mouth, ears and face. I had a few extra-large diamonds, and they were put into the feet. I had to find 20 stones all of the same size for the tail.

 Would you believe that there are 3 sizes of stones in this one wing?

 Thankfully, there are only 2 sizes of stones for this one wing. WHEW!

 You can now see the Ruby set into the mouth, and a Blue Sapphire in the ear.

There is porosity everywhere, but we overcame that problem!

Just on this one wing, I set the largest diamonds that I could find.

  I secured the array of diamonds and created a pattern with the beads.

The spacing of the beads was well thought out during this whole setting process.

 Where one bead was created, another bead was joined at its base. The pattern that I created was planned many days before.

 While there were tips of feathers for the wings, they too had to be further enhanced by beads & diamonds. Four sizes of diamonds were used in this wingtip.

 I couldn't have even one bead created out of alignment. There was a definite plan of beading throughout the whole pendant.

              METAL CARVING TO IMITATE FEATHERS!

 This imitation of feather tips is named "Fishtail Setting".

I inked these two holes before I set extremely large diamonds. Even the beads had to be well planned ahead of time. The placement of each bead and its size had a definite purpose.

This shows the 'before photo' of the stones going into the wing.

 This is the metal cutting and Fishtail Pattern. You can see a shiny spot; this is the reflection on some of the facets of the gold.

                             DRILLING PROBLEMS

  There were some partially drilled holes. I wasn't pleased with the 'tail holes', and I had to find more suitable diamond sizes, as the 'tail and foot' had a marginally acceptable width to work with.

 'Uniformity in all of the diamond sizes' was an ongoing stone setting problem.

  After three weeks of planning, the stone placement, drilling holes, and finally setting of this pendant, it was completed. WHEW, eh!