Hi David,

> The array along curve with normals to surface is a wonderful
> idea. I feel that at this juncture, perhaps, it is prudent to look
> ahead a little. The next step, of course, is to add prongs into
> the mix.

Are the stone placement and prong placement intertwined with one another?

I mean for example, would you want to move a stone to a different position in order to accomodate a prong? Or are the prongs something that are meant to always fit around the stone placement and not require altering the stone placement?

If it's more that the stones are the "primary" thing and prongs only accomodate them, then I'd like at the beginning anyway to focus only on placing the stones for a bit and see if I can actually make something for that as a starting point or not.

I don't really know very much about jewelry so it's a fairly tough area for me to work in, there is a lot of stuff to absorb and I'm not very confident about trying to accomplish too much all at once. So if I can focus on things one step at a time that is probably going to be how I could possibly make some progress.

- Michael