This is my first trap set pendant. I looked at a number of pieces from different manufacturers. There were various technics of setting, all with there pros and cons. I took what I thought was good from each and got to work. Since the outer ring of stones are holding the center diamond in it’s seat. I picked out stones with the same diameter AND depth. I measured to the hundredths of a millimeter. I needed to hit 1.00ct total weight. The six outer stones weighed 0.76ct so that left about a 1/4ct stone for the center. I laid them out and it seemed that this combination was going to be perfect.

I did most of the work in wax. I did recut the seats once it was in gold. I was surprised how low the center diamond was set in the mounting. I kept on burring deeper and deeper until the underbelly (pavilion) of the outer ring of diamonds rested on the crown facets of the center. (Trapping it in place). Luckily, I built up the prongs extra tall in the wax. It gave me the leverage to push the shared prongs over the diamonds with pliers rather then having to use a hammer hand piece which would have vibrated the stones like crazy when securing the stones. Then I simply trimmed and dressed the prongs to a triangle shape.