Sapphire Settings

Have you seen a surface of a jewelry item that looks like it has been “paved” with sapphires or gemstones?

Pave setting is a modified version of a prong setting where sapphires or other gemstones are placed close to each other with many tiny prongs.

Another way to get the “paved” effect is to set small sapphires or gemstones into tiny holes carved in the shank of the jewelry item. Small metal bits are pushed from the top into the spaces between sapphires to secure the gemstones in place.

Pave technique is a sophisticated technique that can be successfully accomplished by a highly patient and skilled jeweler.

Prong setting at Elizabeth Jewellers is mostly used to highlight nothing but the sapphire thereby the wearer!

Metal prongs lift the sapphire bending over its crown.

Wires or prongs made of precious metal are attached to the base from one end, and a bearing corresponding to the angles of the sapphire is cut into each prong at the same height. Sapphire is then set within the bearings and the prongs are gently bent over the sapphire crown. A “cup burr” is used to give a round tip to the end of the bent prong.

Bezel setting is when a rim of precious metal is made to secure a sapphire or gemstone within it.

The metal rim or bezel is soldered to the top of the ring and the sapphire within it secured by the girdle.

At times bezel is split into two halves and set round the sapphire to give it more ‘spunk’. This variation is called ‘half bezel setting’.

In a common prong setting a prong is shared by two or more sapphires placed as close as possible to each other. Common prong setting is ideally used for eternity rings or rings with a line of brilliant sapphires.

Channel setting is where two precious metal bars or strips suspend sapphires or gemstones.

Small notches are cut inside the bars to suspend the sapphires. Once the stones are put in place using the notches, the metal bars are bent over the sapphire crowns to hold them in place.

Elizabeth Jewellers’ craftsmen use many variations of channel settings in order to bring out the brilliance of out sapphires and gemstones.