While I was on a soldering-skills improvement campaign a while ago,
I amassed a collection of bezel set stones that have been begging to become finished projects.
I successfully ignored these stones while they sat in a container on my workbench
until last week when I decided my holiday line-up would need a few more signature/statement necklaces.
While I was working on my soldering skills, I unfortunately put no focus on how these bezeled beauties would eventually be featured as finished pieces of jewelry.
A smarter version of me might have incorporated a bail before I took the time to carefully and tenderly set the stones into their bezels, thereby eliminating the option of applying additional soldering-related heat.
I decided to revisit a previous design, soldering a bail on to a back layer that would then be riveted to the bezel layer.
One bail-to-be was cut from a piece of etched metal.
After filing and sanding the edges, the piece was shaped with one of my bail forming pliers.
The second bail needed to be simpler, so a closed ring was joined with a previously soldered link that I cut open.
The cut link and the formed bail were soldered on to pieces of etched silver nickel that were cut to slightly larger dimensions that the bezel set pieces.
The matching layers were riveted together with segments of heavy gauge wire....
and I now have bezel set stones that can actually become pieces of jewelry.
No comments:
Post a Comment