Hi Lynda,
I regularly set stones in both prong settings and bezels. Prong settings would be the easiest to start with for you. If you get a fine silver setting you simply press it into the wet clay and fire it in place.
Then it is easy to set the stone in. Drop it in, ensure it is straight and close the prongs carefully. You can actually use a pair of flatnose or parallel pliers to gently close a pair of prongs at a time (don't tell a professional stone setter I told you that!). Don't squeeze too hard! Then you burnish the edge of each prong tighly over the stone, using the side of the burnisher.
Bezels are harder to work with. This is one of the things you learn when you take your Level 1 Art Clay certification, maybe you have a Level 1 teacher near you who can show you?
You make it yourself using flat fine silver wire. Wrap it around the stone to measure it, ensure it isn't too tight as the clay will shrink around it, gripping it and causing it to tighten up a little. You don't want it too large either, as that will cause a ruffled and messy edge around the stone. Cut the wire of straight so the ends but up against each other with no gaps. You can solder the wire closed.
Then press the wire into the clay, not too deep into thin clay as it will leave a mark on the back after firing. Also remember how high your stone is, you don't want to drop it in after firing only to discover that the edge of the bezel is too low to grip the stone, or, too high so will cover the surface of the stone (Of the two, too high is better as you can lift the stone by placing material under it).
The bezel is the closed using a bezel roller or a large burnisher, pressing it against the edge of the stone, keeping it centered. If you imagine your stone being the face of a clock, you start pushing at 12 o'clock, then at 6, then press at 3 followed by 9. Then you go and press in between these, so you sort of start again at about 1.30 and so on around the clock. This helps to keep the stone centered. Then finish by burnishing the edge closed and smooth around the stone.
Here is a very good article about stone setting:
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Remember that people study stone setting for years - most jewellery makers send their pieces off to have the stones mounted by a professional stone setter. So, don't expect it to work perfectly the first time. (Apart from the prong settings which I think are pretty straight forward even for a beginner!)
