Free Project: Stone Setting with an Unusually Shaped Gem

One of the best jewelry-making skills to learn is stone setting. And it can also be one of the most difficult to master. It’s especially hard to set stones that are unusually and/or irregularly shaped. Setting odd stones can be extremely frustrating for even the most experienced jewelry artists. But the results are always worth the trouble!

Master Stone Setting

In Ann Cahoon’s video, Metalsmith Essentials: Introduction to Gemstone Setting: Prong, Flush, and Bezel Setting, she talks you through the basic steps of setting stones — whether you have a classically shaped stone or one that’s more freeform. The video also helps you decide which type of setting is best for the shape, cut, and type of stone you’re using. It’s a great way to get started.

Another way to practice setting oddly shaped stones is to try your hand at Lexi Erickson’s Snow Queen pendant from the March/April 2020 issue of Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist. In this delightful project, Lexi uses a freeform blue lace drusy, which brings to mind the fierce winter winds. Learn more below, then download complete project instructions. You can try it for yourself or use this design as inspiration for your own stone-setting creation.

–Karla Rosenbusch, Managing Editor, Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist

The Snow Queen

By Lexi Erickson

My favorite story is Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Snow Queen.” I’d been wanting to create work to honor her for some time, but Disney beat me to it. I didn’t want to do something that looked like Frozen, no matter how delightful you think the movie is.

Then, this past October, we had an early snowstorm and I happened to be outside when it arrived. Suddenly vicious 60 mile an hour winds roared in from nowhere, dropping the temperature 40 degrees in under an hour. The Snow Queen had blown in with a vengeance, whipping the glorious autumn leaves from the trees and leaving nothing but white snow and bare branches outside — and the idea for this design in my head.

Materials

20-22 gauge sterling sheet, the size of your stones
1x4mm flat wire, enough for the partial bezel and full bezel
6″ 16-gauge sterling round wire
Real leaf (not dried), or Decorative Accents leaf, available at craft stores
Hard, medium, easy solder rolled through the mill on a tight setting
Glue stick or rubber cement
1 blue lace drusy stone
1 round coconut agate
3.5mm sterling tube set
3.5mm Swiss Blue topaz
Mechanical pencil lead

TOOLS

General: Weighted raw hide mallet; flex shaft or Dremel; #55 drill bit; rolling mill; jeweler’s saw and #3/0 sawblades; Wubbers medium and large oval mandrel pliers; metal punch; metal bench block; heavy metal mallet; thin black Sharpie; Fretz HMR 12, sharp texturing hammer; #2, #4 Glardon needle files; flat nose pliers; round nose pliers; snowflake stamp; Lasco SG250 diamond tool, 200 grit

Soldering: Torch, flux, pickle, charcoal block, Firebrick, pickle pot, solder pick

Finishing: 4 3M radial bristle discs on a small mandrel (light green) or rouge on a muslin buff; Dawn detergent and toothbrush; burnisher; safety glasses or Craft Optics

Optional: Anvil