Saturday, February 13, 2016

What's on My Bench???

Some of our team members live close enough to get together in real life.  I’m one of those lucky team members and so is Gloria of EarthEnergyGemstones!  In true JET fashion, we decided to get together and play.  Gloria was interested in learning how to create bezels and set stones in them.  And a play date was had!!

Fine silver bezel strip is most commonly used.  It’s pre-formed and comes in various widths to encircle various sized of stones.  Stones cut en cabochon are most commonly set, but you can also set faceted gems.
            • 1.       Select a stone to set.
            • 2.       Measure your bezel height.  Hold the wire next to the stone.  It should be about 1 mm taller than the juncture where the stone’s wall starts to form a curve.
            • 3.       Wrap your wire around the stone and mark where the wire starts to overlap.  Cut just past the mark with a pair of snips.  


            • 4.       Form the wire circle to closely fit the stone and make sure edges line up exactly.  No Gaps!
            • 5.       Dip your silver in a firescale prevention solution (2 parts denatured alcohol to 1 part boric acid crystals).  
            • 6.       Set on your fire safe surface.  Set the bezel such that the seam sits directly on top of a piece of hard solder chip paillon.  


            • 7.       Paint flux on seam.
            • 8.       Heat with torch until solder chip melts and closes the seam.
            • 9.       Pickle and rinse.
            • 10.     Cut sheet silver to make a back plate for the bezel.  


            • 11.     Repeat solder steps from above to solder bezel onto the back plate using several medium solder chips placed inside the circle where the bezel touches the back plate.  

            • 12.     Pickle and rinse
            • 13.     Using the snips, cut excess sheet silver and sand until smooth and round.


Now we have a bezel we can set a stone in.  You can do just about anything with a bezel.  You can make into a ring, and earring, or a pendant.   Today we’ve made a ring for our little moonstone cab.  We’ve placed our ring into a vice in order to push the bezel over the stone to secure it.
            • 1.       With a bezel pusher, push the bezel horizontally around the stone in a North, South, East, West fashion so that the stone is in the center.  Continue all the way around the circle. 


            • 2.       Now push the bezel down at the top edge, holding your bezel pusher at about a 50 degree angle.  It should be smooth and flush against your stone. 


            • 3.       Using a steel burnisher, smooth out the silver to polish the edge of the bezel. 




            • Ta-Da!!  



15 comments :

SatinDollCo said...

Wow is all I can say. From a sheet of metal to a gorgeous ring.

Unknown said...

Lovely!!!

LoveStoneArts said...

Such fun to see your process! I love to share soldering with people who are doing it for the first time. Kids are bold, adults sometimes not so much! Lovely work ladies!!

Gambatte said...

It was such a fun play date and I can't wait for the next one! The cute little ring has been on my finger ever since! Thank you so much, Jennifer, for your expertise, patience and wonderful teaching style!! While I still have some trepidation (as Denise said about adults), I'm jumping head first into the fray to see what new little beauties I can create!

SendingLoveGallery said...

great tutorial! thank you Jennifer!

Jennifer said...

Glad you all enjoyed the tutorial. It's a bit intimidating at first, but once you get the hang of it, you're off and running!

Cher said...

How fun ... you girls got to play, learn and teach... awesome tutorial too, thanks for sharing!

Gemstones on My Mind said...

You guys are so lucky to be able to work together, share ideas and techniques! That's a beautiful ring!

Tracy said...

So jealous of your get together! How fun!

jemsbyjb said...

Sounds like a wonderful day together.

Beadsme said...

How wonderful for you guys to get together. Fabulous post.

Mollie Ann said...

Beautiful things happen when Jets get together! Thanks so much for this wonderful tutorial! I'm inspired to try! :)

Michele said...

Lovely!!! Thanks for sharing!!

capitalcitycrafts said...

Great lesson, thanks!

Brooke said...

Hey, what a fun JET-together and lovely new ring!