Can anyone tell me how this is done??

[Emily]

Hello, my name is Emily, I am very new to jewellery making and I had been trialling soft soldering. I have recently bought a starter kit with a torch to make jewellery that will last. I love the style of the jewellery in the picture attached, when I have tried to find how it is done online there are many videos using copper tape and soft soldering the entirity of an area to set the stone, which I have found does not produce good quality long lasting jewellery. I have been hoping maybe someone on here might have advice for how to do it with techniques that will lead to good longlasting jewellery. I like the look that the stone or gem has been dipped and maintains the contours of the stone.

Thank you for any help! Em

[Dennis]

Dear Em,
First a correction of terminology. Soft soldering is done at low temperatures using a base metal solder and usually a soldering iron. This is not suitable for jewellery.
What we use is hard solders containing precious metals, which melt a high temperatures of about 750° or higher. This is also called brazing and requires the use of a gas torch.

The metal attachment in your picture almost certainly shows an electronically formed structure, hard soldered to a large ring. This can also be reproduced using metal foil and burnishing it in place after soldering, as you probably saw in a video.

As for durability, I would say the result is inherently fragile. Welcome to the forum, Dennis.

[misspond]

That looks like it's been electroformed (usually done with copper because it's cheap) and then plated to look gold. Even as an electroformed piece it looks like it would be very fragile.

[Emily]

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. I will look into electroforming �� The videos I have seen are of soft soldering to encase different items with silver solder, but like you have said it doesn't produce good long lasting jewellery. Here is an example of one video youtu.be/NAQhCxoH4P0
I am aware this is not real quality jewellery making, and am glad to have an answer for how to do this properly
Thank you for your help! Em

[Dennis]

I've looked at the video now, and it really is about soft solder. Sorry I doubted you Em.

The problem is that soft solder seriously disrupts precious metals and for those who use silver there is no warning until blemishes appear.

As a result we are very nervous about having soft solder anywhere in the workshop. Dennis.

[Emily]

No worries! Thanks Dennis, this is all a new learning curve for me, so it's great to get advice from everyone on here.

Love your silver dragon :) Em

[CJ57]

It would be really good to get a book, a beginners guide to jewellery making that would take you through the basics. There are many good ones on Amazon that will take you through the processes step by step.