Emeralds are soft, and hard to work with.

Look at Sapphires, they come in most colors, and are tough and hard! They can be cast into a setting by placing them in the delft clay, then pouring the metal around the stone.

Red sapphires should be avoided, because as Rubies, some have been filled with leaded glass on cracks. So avoid red, and the others aren't worth enough to repair in this fashion.

Chrome Diopside look like emeralds with the same color due to chromium in the matrix. They also share the soft problem emeralds have, but they are cheaper and easier to find.

Keep on casting!

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