I bead set a lot of stones with little or no trouble but I am careful to avoid problematic materials or at least be well informed beforehand. Recently I had a prospective client inquire about a custom mount which would involve bead setting Paraiba melee. Have any of you worked with setting small paraiba tourmaline? I am curious if they tend to be prone to fracture or any other quirks they may have.
I realize this is late, but I’ll comment anyway just in case. I’ve only bead set one project with smal paraibas and that was just this past winter. The melee I had were quite small (around 1.5mm or so), but I managed to set them without much trouble and I’m definitely not a pro at beadsetting. They were certainly fragile compared to something like sapphire, but as long as you were careful and didn’t apply any excessive pressure, it all seemed to work fine for me.
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Thanks Erich.
I really appreciate the feedback. That pearl bail looks great!!! The color of the small paraiba is a total knockout on there. Nice work!
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Wow. That pearl and setting are beautiful. Good job.
N. Katsu
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Thank you!