Gemstone Jewelry Settings
by Ashutosh Roy
Prong Setting, Bezel Setting, Pave Setting, Channel Setting, Invisible Setting are the most common setting techniques for gemstone in your ornaments.
How to Evaluate Jewelry Setting before buying
Do you murmur the famous song of Nicole Kidman “Diamonds are a girl’s best friend” and want to apply it to your girlfriend in her next birthday? Even if your pocket does not permit a huge budget for a larger diamond, don’t worry. You can just walk into the famous gemstone mart and ask for the special illusion setting to elude your small diamond magnified to impress your girlfriend.
Before delving into the setting techniques you need to know the various popular settings and pros and cons for each of them. Prong Setting, Bezel Setting, Pave Setting, Channel Setting, Invisible Setting are the most common setting techniques for gemstone in your ornaments.
Prong Setting
Lets start with Prong Setting, the most common types of setting. The metal claws hold the gemstone and thus it is also known as Claw setting. Claws are bent over the edge to give the stone the extra security. The main advantage is as the claws occupy very small places; the most of the gemstone remain exposed glittering its own beauty. It’s a faster methodology and can accommodate any size and shape. The claws normally vary between four and six. The prong setting is cheaper and its also convenient for maintaining or cleaning purpose. The major disadvantage of Prong setting is the claws are often prone to catch clothing mainly woolen types. Thin, flat claws can eventually break risking your precious gemstone. Again very large claws will reduce the glitter of the gemstone. V-shaped claws are desirable sometimes. You must check whether the stone is tightly fit under the claws at an even height and the edges of the claws are not broken or there should not be any empty space left between the claws and the gemstone. The claws should reach adequately inside the stone, not merely the edges. You must ensure that the claws are small enough to allow the gemstone to touch your skin directly. Solitaire engagement rings are the classic example of Prong settings.
Bezel Setting
The most ancient setting technique is Bezel Setting, which holds the gemstone just like a picture frame. Its like a collar of Gold or silver, which is almost wrapped around the gemstone. As you can apprehend how much careful, the tailor needs to be, while he is designing the collar of your shirt, the similar effort and attention is required for the Bezel Setting to fit the stone properly. Enough caution is to be taken so that the glittering effect of the stone is never reduced to due to the setting. Bezel Setting gives the designer more variety of options for its ultramodern look. A version of the Bezel Setting is called the Flush setting, where the gemstone is sunk into the mounting and the surface has got a window cut. You must check the evenness of the lip of the Bezel or Flush setting and any distortion or hitches need to be avoided. The final checking should be whether the gemstone has been fitted tightly from all sides. The wide open face of the gemstone allows the cleaning and maintaining work easily and the tiny edge of the collar protects the gemstone perfectly.
Here are some tricks. If a rim of white gold or platinum encircles a white diamond, the diamond appears larger. A golden yellow bezel setting throws yellow tints on a white diamond making a brilliant look of the ring.
Pave setting
The best way to compromise the quality with your lower budget is the Pave setting. Small pieces are paved inside the setting. Small pieces are carefully set with beads or grains of metals, usually gold or platinum to define a carpet of brilliance. This is mainly used for diamond rings, where the setting appears to be a continuous surface of diamonds. In this case, you must ensure the evenness of both the gemstone as well as the beads. If the beads or grains are not evenly spaced it is sure to reduce the glimmer. Diamonds engagement rings and earrings are often use Pave settings. Generally the small pieces like princess cut diamonds cost reasonably lesser than the larger stone, but the illusive appearance will enhance its value.
Channel setting
Now if you divert to the paradigm of the bracelet world, the first setting, which comes up in mind, is the Channel setting. The gemstones are held between the two tracks of the U-shaped formed by the ornamental metal. This is most useful for the square shaped gemstones, which can sit side by side. Sometimes additional claws are set to hold the gemstone tightly. It started with the eternity brands and tennis bracelets, now-a days a variety of engagement rings also use channel setting. Some famous shopping sites like eBay and MSN are offering various engagement rings using the channel settings.
Invisible setting
Do you want a complete visibility of the gemstone? Then you need the most costly and posh setting, the Invisible setting. The gemstone appears to float and no gold or metal is visible in the surface. Which mechanism shows this floating appearance? Gemstones are properly cut and shaped and a net of wires hold the stones tightly. Either the stones are grooved on the back or pins, bars are fitted externally to the gemstone to facilitate the wires. In a proper setting the gemstone will never wobble and you must ensure that the levels of the gemstones are perfect. The legendary art deco period of 1908 in Paris witnessed the usage of invisible settings by Van Cleef and Arpel. If you want a look and feel visit the Fancy Diamond Inc website to check the yellow gold Invisible setting Diamond ring.
There are some gemstone specific settings. Like illusion setting for diamond, where a mirror-like plate is used to enlarge the appearance of the small diamond. Simple colour mix and match also become useful for enhancing the glory of the jewel. Like light yellow diamond in gold will design the yellowish tint of the diamond where as the same diamond in any white-metal setting will appear whitish.
We suggest you to visit a good gemstone shop like Gem Hut, where you can choose your gemstone, the ornament metal and the setting on your own to decide which one is the best combination to hypnotize.
