advice needed - jeweler

[Arkteia]

Hi this ETSY guy I have been emailing to about a possible project is dragging his feet on it and I have concerns if people are slow with emails. Has anyone worked with a jeweler who can halo a soft stone? 5.5 hardness. The stones in the halo are about 7 in hardness. Do you think it is technically difficult? Thinking of a pendant. Thank you. Sorry for typos I often miss what autocorrect does

 

[Pandora II]

I can't see why there would be an issue. I've had 3 sphene set with no issues - I used very simple 18kt gold prongs. I would suggest having the halo made and then prong setting the centre stone into it - that way there should be no more danger than if you were setting a solitaire.

I would avoid trying to bezel... what stone is it? An apatite?

 

[Arkteia]

It is a Mexican fire opal and I want to halo it in forest-green tsavorites. I just bought the melee and to my surprise, the tsavorites were of decent color! I always wanted to pair intense orange opal with green tsavorites. The opal is in our "show me" thread.

The stone is better in real life, I was taking photo in very low indoor light, we had no sunshine last week. At daytime, it really glows. I specifically wanted intense orange, not cherry-red color. Once I saw a photo of a ring with an opal and tsavorites and I loved it. I think it was Kent Raible but I may be wrong, it was a while ago.

 

[Michael_E]

Setting any stone in a halo or prongs is only dangerous if the setter puts pressure directly against the edge of the stone, (this is how how the original "native cut" stones were made...think arrowheads and spear points where the edge is flaked off in order to form a sharp cutting tool). If the setter is very careful and designs the setting so that the pressure used to bend the bezel down onto the stone only touches the stone up on the flat facet faces, then there is little chance for damage.

Making the setting can involve making the bezel metal thin and easy to bend as well as setting the stone a bit deeper than normal, so that the bezel bends above the edge of the stone, keeping all of the pressure high enough to avoid problems. The downside to a bezel is that it has no "give" to it and will not absorb any impacts that occur to the stone, (while prongs may bend a bit. If you're careful and using a halo, then any impacts to the stone will most likely be to the table, which is more likely to survive it than an impact to the girdle. Experience and a good setting strategy will allow setting anything in any way that you'd like, (though it may sometimes be a bad idea to wear it).

 

[Cind11]

Wow that stone is going to look gorgeous surrounded by tsavorites!

 

[Arkteia]

Actually, it did not look as good in a halo since the size of the melee was too small. I have a much smaller tsavorite which could be attached to the pointy end of the pear, but I do not know what to do with the top of the pendant...I remember MTG used something nice for her pendant but have no clue where to get the material...

I also tried to "place" tsavorite melee on the side, and it is too tiny. the size of the pear is 13.5 x 9.2 x 6.1, the melee is tiny. The tsavorite is also disproportionately small, 4.9 x 4.9. Something has to balance the structure, and I do not know what to use.

Or should I still halo it? The advantage of the halo is that the stone is not closed from the back, while most other designs call for bezels.

 

[chrono]

Crasru,
I don't feel the melees are too small at all. Once it has an outside "layer" of metal around it, the proportions should look appropriate. You are planning to prong set these, correct? If so, then it shouldn't be an issue setting the fire opal in a halo style setting.

 

[pregcurious]

I agree with Chrono. The tsav melee look good.

 

[natsplat]

I have no technical knowledge in setting, but logically I see no reason why the stones of their hardness stats cannot be set together. plus, the colour combo and the size of the melee will be spectacular! Have you maybe considered an oxidised basket to just really go for it in colour terms...? I think I saw a Leon Mege parabaia tourmaline halo setting that I'm thinking of...