Does anyone on the list work with Montana?
http://www.carolinaartisans.com/shop/montana.htm
This is the URL to a piece in my "Past Works" collection from my Web
site. I formed a piece of square sterling wire to the outside
dimensions of the stone, and soldered it closed with hard solder.
Then I formed, and soldered closed, some fine silver bezel wire to
fit the outside of the square wire ring, and soldered the two
together with medium solder. I then soldered that bezel assembly to
the subsequently fabricated bracelet shank, and set the stone. Voila.
As you can see, the supporting bezel ring doesn't show, and the
relatively transparent stone seems to float in the bezel. Of course,
a similar process can be used to create a ring or pendant with the
same bezel assembly.
Several jewelry artists (or artist jewelers) at my show this weekend
had significant amounts of Montana agate, beautifully and
artistically cut, many set in gold. A couple years ago I stocked up
on some exquisitely cut Montana agates from Tim Roark Imports, from
Atlanta. I'm not sure who the cutter was, but they're wonderful
stones!
Thank God for SiO2! 
Dave
Dave Sebaste
Sebaste Studio and
Carolina Artisans' Gallery
Charlotte, NC (USA)
dave@sebaste.com
http://www.CarolinaArtisans.com
