I want to make a diamond ring ?
Q.I've been collecting diamonds, and other gems. The goal is to build myself a diamond ring. It will contain over a hundred diamonds, convering the ring - with no metal showing, only the gems - mostly 1, 2, 3 pts in size, with a centrepiece of various gems. The largest will only be a 1/2 carat. I believe I'll have to carve a mold, and then find out how to cast it, followed by placing the gems on it without any clasps - as they would disrupt the wavelike flow of the vision I have for this. The form will be a flower, concave and convex dips. This is the context, and I'm hoping that someone will be able to lend me some guidance of where to start. I also have several unfaceted stones that could be used, and would welcome suggestions of where I might have them faceted.
A.You'll need to start by refining just what you mean by 'no metal showing". You've got to hold the stones into the ring with something, and normally that means at least a little bit of metal over the girdle (edges) of each stone, preferably in at least three spots, though some setting styles do it with only two such spots. Now, this need not be a lot of metal. One popular and very pretty method of setting is called pave' setting, which when well done, looks like the surface is indeed paved with stones. Close examination, however, shows that the small spaces between stones (if you group lots of round stones as close together as you can, there will still be small , usually triangular, spaces between then at various intervals around the stone. are formed into small beads, or hemispherical masses of metal that extend slightly over the girdles. These beads serve to clamp the stones down into their seats. They are actually sitting in very closely fitted holes, with their girdles basically flush with the surface of the metal, except for those beads holding them down in the surface. The stones usually don't extend absolutely to the outside edge of a shape, and the last little edge is left as metal, usually trimmed to a bright cut line, accenting the shape of the metal form, rather than each stone. Stones can also be set just flush into a surface, rather than with beads, but then there needs to be a continuous rim of metal, even if very small, around the whole stone, so in effect, a web of metal seperates all the stones from each other. that 'web is metal that's slightly wider at it's outer surface, due to having been burnished down after the stones were placed in their holes, and this then forms the structure that holds the stones into the metal. You may have seen so-called invisible setting, and may be trying for this look. the name imples no metal holding the stones, but this is not actually the case. it's done by cutting horizontal grooves into the pavilions of the stones just below the girdle, and then the metal that holds the stones into the ring is burnished into those grooves, instead of over the girdle. The trouble with this type of setting are several.. First of all, it's quite difficult to do, and many jewelers won't attempt it at all. Second, invisibly set rings are notorious for being fragile in terms of things like sizing or otherwise altering the ring, or repairing it later. Once invisibly set stones are set, that's it. It becomes very difficult, if not impossible, to tighten a stone that's worked loose, or to size a ring, or otherwise repair any damage. the stones themselves prevent access to the metal that's holding them, so if it becomes damaged, there's little way to get to it to fix it. And finally, you cannot just do this to any stones you happen to have. Generally, well made invisible set jewelry is precisely made first, and then all the stones are very carefully selected to be exact fits for the mounting, and then need to be specifically grooved to match the mounting. Manufacturers doing this generally just have very large parcels of pre-grooved stones from which to carefully select the precise sizes they need for a given piece. You will find that there probably will not be any jewelers or setters willing to try and get your own stones grooved. That's already a highly specialized diamond cutting task, not normally done to a customers existing diamonds, and even if it were, it's unlikely that they would be similar enough in size and shape to work well in such a setting style. Keep in mind that most invisible set jewelry needs the stones to match. Varied sizes or graduated sizes are almost impossible to work with in a secure manner. So with all that said and done, i'd suggest in strongest terms, that you think in terms of a minimum of metal showing, rather than no metal showing. You gotta have something there to hold them. Although the precision of the wording of the vision for the diamond ring may not have been exact, your explanation and generosity have given me fuel for thought. The impression will be 'paved' as you kindly suggested, and wonder now if the various sizes of the tiny gems will cause concern. The setting I will likely now leave in the hands of the jeweller. Given time, I can carve a nice shape, and ask if you have suggestions of what I might use to shape the mold from which the jeweller can cast the base for the ring. Not quite as daunting as one with no flight training wanting to go to the moon, it has nonetheless been done, because someone wanted it to; I won't suggest that the advice I ask is simple. ;|
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