Micro Pave Considerations

The following pages are a detour from the project so I can share with you the general procedure I use for micro pave. The first realization is the diamonds coming from your diamond dealer will vary in diameter size from .09mm to 1.1mm. So what I do is create the stone diameter at 1.1mm then offset larger by .10mm. I then use the larger diameter circle (1.3mm) as a guide to line up my gemstones. I construct it this way so that any stone of approximate size will fit into the mounting and stay tight.

The prong diameter size is .5mm and now drop a guide line touching the top of the 1.3mm circles. This is the location for the prongs as shown below. After laying out the top row you can mirror to place the bottom prongs in position. 

Raising the Beads
 
I then give the micro pave beads a dome angle between 50 and 80 degrees and a height of .6mm. (In some instances a higher dome angle can be used to shrink the amount of metal showing). The tapered shaped of the bead allows for the small variance between stones. I set these diamonds with a hart bur by the way, by back cutting into the first bead pair and then beading down and over with the second diagonal bead. The common prong is really just an illusion. I then continue in the same direction with the same technique. If I want a shadow box around the beads I create the box first and then subtract that area down .5mm. Now, lets continue with the project at hand...