Ring blanks – design stylish jewellery for hands – part 1
March 16, 2022
Gemstone beads for jewellery making
March 29, 2022
Natural stones have already been highly valued by ancient people, who believed in their precious influence on mental and physical health, as well as attributed healing and spiritual properties to them. People have been looking for magical powers in them for centuries, protecting against bad energy, bringing happiness and supporting mental and emotional balance, which is why they began to be used to decorate the body. Initially, the jewelry was very primitive – mainly made of bones or wood, but over time, precious metals were discovered that began to be combined with stones. Most often, they took the form of amulets, which were supposed to protect the owner and bring good luck in love and finances. Over the years, art has created new cuts of stones, which led to the invention of various concepts of stone settings. Some of these solutions are still used today. Setting stones, despite significant technological progress, is still a very demanding craft. It requires extensive knowledge of gemology, stone cutting and polishing, as well as general knowledge about jewelry. Moreover, theory alone is not enough, because experience is also very important when setting precious stones. It is even indispensable to properly select the setting for a specific metal, to maximize its natural beauty and hide any imperfections.
Based on ancient techniques, today stone jewelry can be created in many ways. Experienced jewelers still use the manual setting of stones, most often using the openwork (a jour) or cassette (en cassette), as well as prong setting, channel, pavé, bar, flush, bead, bezel or relatively young tension setting. However, nowadays, not all jewelry designers have a gemmological backing, so we, as a wholesaler of silver jewelry blanks, come to help novices and long-term customers to make jewelry with stones.
Silver settings for pear shaped pendants
Jewelry stones can be set in various ways, but the traditional jewelry techniques mainly involve embellishing the surface of metals with precious stones or other materials of organic origin. One of the most classic methods uses prong settings, sometimes referred to as claw settings, which initially were used for making rings with stones. These kinds of components come in various forms, from openwork, through cassette, some of them hold the ornament with their prongs, some surround it with metal, and others make the stone completely embedded in them. The choice of setting depends on the type of stone, its size, shape, cut, transparency, brittleness, as well as the intended use and frequency of wearing. As a manufacturer of silver jewelry, we take into account the preferences and needs of our customers and design elements on an ongoing basis that not only facilitate work, but also expand the possibilities of following trends and introducing the newest and most trendy styles to their collections. Therefore, we have created openwork jewelry findings, dedicated to one of the most popular pear shaped stone pendants.
Openwork pendants findings are most often used for faceted stones. Their great advantage is open forms that allow light to pass through from all sides, increasing the brilliance of the stone, enhancing its external glow and emphasizing the internal fire. Such exposure of the stone affects its illumination, creating the impression of optical magnification. Placing the stone in the setting is extremely simple and does not require any tools. It requires gently spreading the prongs overlapping the stone on the front side, then inserting the stone into the frame and pressing it so that the ornament is secured, and the prongs do not catch on clothing. The silver blanks are designed in such a way that even if they loosen, they can be easily fixed with fingers or jewelry pliers. When using tools, however, it is worth being careful not to scratch the stone.
In our offer, this type of jewelry making supplies can be found in simple forms, in which the stone is held by delicate prongs, also called claws, which keep the stone aligned into place. These semi-finished products showcase the stone beautifully and the pendant created in this way makes the stone a hero, which comes to the center of our attention.
These models are inspired by the chaton settings and are available in the most popular variants: with four, five and six claws, the upper ones are oblong and cover the possible hole in the stone, the lower ones – slightly flattened, and the side ones – with their shape resembling tiny points.
These components in the upper part are equipped with soldered rings, thanks to which you can connect them with other elements such as jewelry bails, jump rings, necklace bases or earring findings – creating chains with pendants or earrings with pendants.
When designing custom pendants for stones, we are guided not only by their functional but also visual features. What’s more, we try to model them in such a way that they bring out their natural beauty from the stones. In addition to minimalist models with claws, we also offer more sophisticated shapes resembling baskets decorated with intricate patterns. The lower degree of exposure of the stone is rewarded by an impressive spiral, which wraps the decoration in a phenomenal way.
In order to place the stone in the setting, it requires bending its lower element located at the back of the finding, then inserting the ornament and pressing the bent element to secure the stone inside. For fans of patterns inspired by nature, we recommend a butterfly pendant with flowers that will subtly blend in with both the semiprecious stones and the pear-shaped crystals.
To mount the ornament in the blank, you just need to gently bend the butterfly upwards, place the stone and bend the butterfly back to lock the stone in place. Rings are also soldered to the findings in order to connect them with other components.
Both the settings for the stones and other jewelry findings are made of hypoallergenic silver of the highest quality 925, free of nickel, thanks to which they do not irritate people sensitive to this element. For people opting for shades of gold or pink instead of silver, we recommend diversifying the component with one of the galvanic coatings we offer: 18-carat light gold, 24-carat dark gold, 18-carat rose gold, as well as rhodium and platinum plating.
The size of the findings is about 10 × 20 mm, so they can be used both as pendants for necklaces and pendants for earrings. They are dedicated to 9 × 16 mm pear-shaped stones and crystals with or without a hole – this is the most popular size of these types of pendants.
Semi-finished products for stones, as well as the rest of our products, are available both wholesale and retail, therefore our offer is directed not only to jewelry stores operating on a large scale, but also to handmakers and individual jewelry makers who create jewelry just for themselves and relatives.
Pendant settings for earrings and necklaces with natural stones
If you are planning to create a silver chain necklace with a stone, versatile jump rings will help you to connect the pendant directly with the chain very easily and quickly. For this purpose, you just need to gently open the ring with jewelry pliers, attach it to the pendant and the chain, and then close the ring, so its ends are aligned with each other. If you are looking for a more tasteful concept, we offer various types of jewelry bails.
Our offer includes both simple and decorated models. Most often they are mounted by tightening the pins on the ornament and threading the chain through the bail, however, depending on the designer’s concept, we also offer other solutions. If your designs include a thin necklace design, such as a snake chain – jewelry spacers are an interesting proposition. When using spacers, as opposed to open jump rings and bails, make sure that at least one end of the necklace passes through the spacer hole.
If you create a necklace with charms which are supposed to be replaced depending on the season, occasion or outfit – it is worth trying to create a decoration using a lobster claw clasp, which offers the possibility of easy and quick fastening and unfastening of the ornaments on the chain.
However, if you are planning to design stone earrings, we also offer several concepts for creating ear accessories. The simplest option will be minimalist studs, on which you can directly hang pear pendants. However, when deciding on stud earrings, remember to add separately earrings clasps. An alternative will be classic ear wires or marquise earring wires finished with a loop, which should be opened with pliers, connected with the pendant and then closed.
When making jewelry for the fall-winter season, we recommend models with a mechanical clasp that minimizes the risk of getting caught on a scarf or hat, often resulting in loss. In this category, leverbacks and harp earwires are popular. The assembly is also done by gently bending the loop in the lower part of the earwire, inserting the ornament, and then closing it precisely.
Stone settings with pear stones will also present charming in the form of threaded earrings base, which you just need to connect directly to the ornament with the attached jump ring. An interesting solution is also making long chain earrings, using silver short chains ended with loops, which by connecting on one side with the earring supplies and on the other side with a pendant, you will create sensual chain earrings.
Pendant settings for earrings and necklaces with crystals
This kind of crystal pendant can be used in many ways. One of the proposals is to hang it on a double chain with a jump ring or a bail, creating a layered necklace that fits perfectly with the current jewelry trends. An unconventional and universal solution is our silver pendant necklace base with a ring, through which we thread the pendant mounted at the other end, adjusting its length to individual preferences. Instead of a ring for threading, we also offer other shapes, such as: heart, star, moon or an infinity sign.
If you are creating more exclusive designs, creative possibilities will be provided by the slider necklace base with crystal, on which you can hang two pendants. A silicone slider built into the silver element decorated with a crystal allows to conveniently adjust the size of the necklace according to anyone’s taste. The crystal necklace can be complemented with earrings in a similar style. The hoop earring findings, we offer, will serve perfectly as a base for pendants with crystals corresponding to pendants from the necklace. What’s more, these leverback findings, thanks to the holes along the rim, allow you to decorate with additional 1.2 mm crystals. You can also try ready-made huggie hoop earrings design. This solution will add even more sparkle to the jewelry, while increasing its value.
Above, we have suggested a few inspirations on how to use our new settings for pear-shaped stones and crystals, which have been designed to uniquely display the beauty of these desirable decorations. They can play a role of pendants, which can be successfully used to decorate necklaces and earrings, but these semi-finished products will also look phenomenal in jewelry sets – preferably in the configuration of a necklace with earrings. In addition to findings for stones, in our store you will also find a wide range of other decorative, connecting and finishing components, as well as settings for earrings, necklaces, bracelets, rings or cufflinks. We hope that the variety and richness of jewelry findings will allow all jewelry makers to implement all individual projects.
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Great article.
Thanks for sharing your opinion 🙂 Regards!