How to Pave-Set a Diamond
A pave setting gives diamond jewelry a distictive glittering intricacy, as well as durability and cost friendliness. Pave style originates from the French word for pavement, which the setting ultimately resembles. Pave settings basically involve embedding stones into the metal base, favorably white gold or platinum, in a tight single line pattern. Because pave set diamonds are imbedded and fashioned tightly together, they are more durable than a larger solitaire stone. Jewelry with pave settings usually contain smaller diamonds, which makes them markedly less expensive than pieces more prominently set with larger stones. For this same reason, however, pave settings require more skill, talent and patience to craft properly.
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Instructions
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Drill tiny holes into the metal base of the jewelry to accommodate the size of the diamonds. Use white gold or platinum to minimize the appearance of the metal and maximize the brilliance of the diamonds. Round cut diamonds best suit the pave setting.
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Craft and insert a pronged setting for each stone into each drilled hole. Place the appropriately sized diamonds into each setting. Tweak the settings to secure the diamonds in a tight pattern.
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Clean and polish the finished pave-set diamond piece for display, sale or gift purposes. A completed pave diamond piece should appear sparkly and radiant, showing very minimal metal.
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Tips & Warnings
Ring styles typically involve a half pave, which showcases diamonds halfway around the band, or a full pave, which displays diamonds all the way around the band. (See references 1)
If a diamond in a pave setting comes loose, reset it immediately. The tightly patterned nature of the pave setting may cause other stones to come loose if one stone is missing.
A pave-set piece of jewelry should always come with a warranty that will cover resetting and replacement of loose stones.
References
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