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Stone Setting Intensive: Precision, Process, & Practice
This Metals on the Mountain 2026 intensive is designed for jewelers ready to deepen their technical mastery of stone setting through focused repetition, thoughtful construction, and disciplined bench practice.
Over the course of the week, students will systematically build skill and confidence in a range of essential and advanced setting techniques, including traditional bezels for cabochons, step bezels for faceted stones, tube setting, flush setting, and additional creative stone captures. Emphasis will be placed on accuracy, fit, clean solder seams, structural integrity, and refined finishing—skills that elevate good work into professional-level craftsmanship.
This workshop is valuable not only for those new to stone setting, but also for jewelers with foundational experience. The instructor’s methods differ from many commonly taught approaches, offering alternative construction strategies and sequencing that her students frequently describe as “game-changers” in their studio practice. Even experienced setters can expect to refine their efficiency, improve precision, and rethink long-held habits at the bench.
With precious metal prices on the rise, the workshop will also address the technical considerations of working with gold-filled materials. Students will perform multiple soldering operations while learning strategies to preserve the integrity of the bonded gold surface—developing the control required to integrate gold-filled components into high-quality designs.
Demonstrations will be paired with extensive bench time, allowing students to apply techniques immediately and refine them through repetition. Individual feedback will focus on tool control, problem-solving, and building repeatable, professional habits.
Participants will leave with finished work, strengthened technical fluency across multiple setting methods, and a deeper understanding of how precision construction supports creative expression. This intensive is ideal for students seeking concentrated time at the bench and a rigorous, skill-driven approach to advancing their stone-setting practice.
For more information about our refund policy for Metals on the Mountain, visit our Registration and Refund Policies page.
- Materials & Tools
Download student material list
Download student tool list
- About Kristin Mitsu Shiga
Kristin Mitsu Shiga is a hapa metalsmith, enamelist and educator who has been making in metal using sustainable materials and processes since 1991, and teaching around the world since 1995. Her work centers around one-of-a-kind wearable art and hollowware that marry her Japanese heritage with influences from architecture and the Modernist design movement.
Kristin’s experience in the field goes beyond her degree in Metalsmithing. Her technical expertise has been shaped by years of hands-on experience and a wide range of roles within the industry, including jewelry tool designer, armaturist for stop-motion animation studios, bench jeweler and proprietor of her own bespoke jewelry gallery and studio on the Big Island of Hawai’i.
From a long line of educators, Kristin is passionate about teaching and has had the opportunity to share with students at venues all over the US including Penland, Arrowmont and Haystack Mountain schools of craft.
Her proudest achievements have been establishing nonprofit metalsmiting studios and programs that continue to thrive today in New York (OCM BOCES), Hawai'i (Donkey Mill Arts Center) and in Oregon (Multnomah Arts Center).
Kristin believes that service is a crucial component of any career and has served in a variety of volunteer roles and on numerous nonprofit boards since 2001. She was a longtime board member and Spring Show Committee officer of CMAG and is currently in her second term as Secretary of the Board of Directors of the American Craft Council (ACC).
Kristin has shown her work internationally, and is included in several notable collections, including the Kamm Artful Teapot Collection and the Permanent Collection of the White House. You will find her work published in numerous books and magazines, including Art Jewelry Today, The Art of Enameling, Metalsmith’s 2017 Exhibition in Print, and several of Lark’s 500 Series books. Learn more about Kristin’s unique background on Oregon Artbeat (segment originally aired in 2010).
Learn more about Kristin