About the Course
Seat Prep & Bright-Cut
Drill, cut, carve, and prepare a seat ready for gemstone or pavé setting.
This course teaches the preparation work that comes before setting a stone — drilling, channel-cutting, and graver sharpening for bright-cut technique.
You will not set gemstones in this class; on the final day, your instructor demonstrates how a properly prepared seat is set, so you can see where your prep work leads.
Class Details
Duration: 3 days
Time: 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM (one-hour lunch)
Class size: 4 students max
Prerequisite: Bench & Blade
What's included: All tools and materials
Skills You'll Gain
Set up and safely operate a micromotor handpiece, including drill bit selection for different seat types
Drill and ball-bur a gemstone seat at the correct speed and angle to avoid shattering the stone later
Cut clean, accurate channels using metal-cutting burs
Sharpen a graver and cut basic bright-cut lines, circles, and corners
Day-by-Day
Day 1 — Micromotor handpiece: components, safety protocols, and hands-on practice with different drill bits.
Day 2 — Drilling and channel-cutting: seat drilling at the correct speed and angle, then channel work with metal-cutting burs.
Day 3 — Graver sharpening and bright-cut basics (line, circle, and corner cuts); instructor demonstrates the setting your prepared seat is built for.
What This Class Doesn't Cover Gemstone setting itself. This is the prep step — pair it with Prong & Bezel, Straight-Line Pavé, or Fancy Shape Setting to actually set the seats you learn to prepare here.
What You'll Leave With A set of properly drilled and channel-cut practice seats, and the bright-cut graver skills to finish them decoratively — ready to move directly into any of the setting-style courses.