Faceted gemstone settings: 2 square settings one with extreme tapered walls and one with slightly tapered walls. 2 round settings one wjth tapered walls and one with straight walls. One pear shaped setting with added fins so it looks like a fish. Settings are in blue wax and stones are different coloured cubic zirkonias

Faceted gemstones come in all different shapes and sizes and all of them need a setting to keep them safe. In this class you learn to create bezel settings for a variety of different shaped stones and different ways of finishing them.

This class is perfect if you want to give the outside of your settings some shape. You start by learning how to make a straight walled setting and then move on to tapered and curved outsides. It’s quick in wax to give the outside a little shape and it brings some personality to your settings.

This class doesn’t cover how to set stones, only how to make the settings. A basic knowledge on stone setting is helpful to make the most out of this class.

close up of hands piercing the inside shape of a round setting in wax

Techniques covered

  • Deciding on wax thickness based on your stone
  • Draw the outline of the stone on the wax
  • Cut a seat for the stone with ball burrs
  • Cut a seat for the stone with a saw
  • Cut a seat for curves
  • Cut a seat for corners
  • Cleaning up the inside walls of the setting
  • Check setting wall height
  • Finish setting straight walled
  • Finish setting with a rounded back
  • Finish setting with a taper
  • Cut a daylight at the back of the setting
  • Remove wax weight
  • Incorporate stone in a 3D shape: fish and bunny
  • Multiple stone layout

Tools and materials

Essential

  • Wax slices or wax block
  • Faceted gemstones
  • Benchpeg
  • Jewellers saw and saw blades (regular saw blades work, but skip a tooth or waxblades make piercing easier)
  • Hand files 0 and 2 cut (0 cut to do the major work and 2 cut to give it a clean finish). If you have different cuts in your hand files, they’ll do the job just as well. It just takes a bit longer or shorter depending on the cut you have.
  • Callipers/vernier gauge (dixieme gauge works as well)
  • Dividers
  • Ruler
  • Scribe
  • Needle files
  • Dentist scalpel
  • Micro motor/foredom and ball burrs (different sizes, use what you have on hand)
  • Superglue/beeswax
  • Permanent marker

Optional

  • Wax file (you still need your cut 2 hand file to give your wax a clean finish)
  • Wax carving tools
  • Small unit scales

2 square settings, one has walls that are slightly tapered and the other one has extremely tapered walls. Both made from blue wax, stones inside are a pink and red cubic zirkonia

What’s included

  • 65 page PDF with photos and written instructions. You can download the PDF for easier access
  • 8 instructional videos, around 2.5 hours total
  • Opportunity to ask questions
  • Client brief. 1 Page outline for a setting project
  • Lifetime access to all the material

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And

Tutor

Tutor - Sandy Pfaff

Hi I’m Sandy. I learned jewellery making, including wax carving, at the school of jewellery in Dublin. After finishing my course, I taught at the school for a year and I also taught a wax carving workshop at Lucy Walker Jewellery in Kuala Lumpur.

After learning all the basics of wax carving, I practiced and experimented A LOT. Something didn’t work out the first time I tried it? No problem, just try again (and again and again…) until it does work! Practice really is the only way to get better at something :)

I made this class to help you in your wax carving journey. It’s made with love (and some exasperated sighs and curses when things don’t go like I want them to). I love wax carving and I’m excited to teach you!

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