Prongs or Bezels?

What do you like better, prongs or bezels? Yesterday I worked on some projects in the studio and gave this some thought. I made a bezel setting for a large turquoise and two prong settings for fordite earrings. Which did I like better and why? In my mind, they are so different as processes and have their own beauty and pitfalls. Bezels require a precise fit for a stone, I fit the bezel wire (a strip of silver or gold) around the stone, then solder it together. Next I solder this form to a backplate, then shape, sand, polish the bezel setting. The final step is setting the stone. When I make prongs I work with silver or gold wire and create a frame by soldering wires together. Again the final step is placing the stone in its home held by prongs. I have to think about how long I want the prongs to be, arrange them around the stone and make sure they hold on tight. From a design standpoint bezels hide a bit of the stone, so to me there is an aspect of mystery about what is underneath. My psychologist mind thinks bezels hold a bit of the unseen part of ourselves while the top is shown and displayed with pride. Prongs make me think of little hands holding precious cargo. Usually a prong setting gives you a look at the entire object, but it does seem a bit more vulnerable than a stone in its sturdy bezel home. In answer to the question what do I like better, I choose the setting that fits my feeling and the materials I am using. My recent collection, Visible Attachments, highlighted the use of prongs not just to hold stones, but to hold parts of the metals to each other too. The collection was shaped by the isolation and vulnerability of the Pandemic and prongs expressed that beautifully by showing how important our connections are.

Prong and Bezel settings hot off the bench yesterday.