Selecting a gemstone pendant can be a very personal thing. Color, type of stone, cutting, style, size and method of hanging all come into play when you finally decide to buy a gemstone pendant. Of course one of the biggest decision is "how much to spend." The type of mounting, a simple bail or setting, the kind of metal used, gold, silver, vermile, silver plate, platinum, gold plate, sterling silver, all must be considered.
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The simplest and easiest is the small faceted stone in a silver or gold setting that can slide over a small chain..
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Or, still keeping it simple, mount a finished stone that has a hole drilled into it on a gold or silver bail to hang again from a chain. This same simple design works well 
with a small setting into which the stone is placed so that no drilling has to take place. This type of setting is common with cabachon cut stones.
with a small setting into which the stone is placed so that no drilling has to take place. This type of setting is common with cabachon cut stones.
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Or go a little fancer with an enlarged setting that may even have multiple stones of a different kind.
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And the same thing can be done with non-faceted stones with a bail that can be taken on and off various necklaces.
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Again a simple setting of multiple stones of the same kind can lend itself to interesting designs. Most faceted stones are set into setting with prongs to hold them into place rather than a bezel or crimp setting as used with cabachons..
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And many people prefer just a small gemstone cross hanging from a chain or necklace..
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Then we can get a bit fancer by making a setting that is part of the pendant, which can include one or multiple stones worked into the design..
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Again the same larger pendant setting with a smaller cut stone works well.
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Another design, utilizing wire-wrapping or wire-sculpturing is taking a faceted gemstone or a cut and polished gemstone and placing it into the setting using the wire to hold it into place.
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Because of the size of some gemstones, especially fossils where you want to keep the entire fossil intact, wire wrapping is the only way to go, as can be seen in this 3 inch long Orthoceras pendant.
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This discussion has purposely stayed away from and has not addressed the multitude of glass, dichroic glass, resin, lampwork, all metal, metal and glass, plastics and other kings of pendants that can be found in jewelry stores, department stores, at craft shows, and on the internet.
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