gold on silver

[Kate George]

Hi guys

I've just purchased a beautiful aqua marine cabochon and I'm thinking it would look lovely in a gold bezel setting on a sterling silver ring....I'm pretty experienced in silver but I've never worked with gold before and would love it if any one has a tips on how I would go about doing this....I'm thinking I could make the bezel using gold bezel strip and soldering that to a sterling backing as you won't see the back as the ring will be thicker than the stone and that I should just use silver solder.....I'm a bit unsure about how the metals will heat together and obviously don't want to melt the gold as it is so expensive... Any help would be greatly appreciated :-)

[theresa]

The first time I used gold it practically disappeared into the silver being only 9ct!
I now know to use high carat for best results which also means expensive!
That's why it is only a dream at the moment.
I am sure the other more experienced members will answer your question Kate.

[Kate George]

Lol that's what I'm afraid of... Thanks for your reply :-)

[enigma]

I hesitate to comment given that Im a total novice but I haven't had any problems using 9ct gold wire and bezel strip on silver rings.
Ive used both silver solder and gold solder depending whether the surrounding area is mostly silver or gold- so gold on the bezel seam then silver to solder it on.
I found the biggest problem is pushing the gold into shape for a bezel as its much harder than fine silver so I used gentle taps on a pusher with a hammer.

This was 9ct rose gold 0.5mm sheet for the bezel and 0.8mm wire for the smaller ones:
6702

Now hopefully somebody who knows what they are doing will come along :D

[Kate George]

That ring is beautiful..thanks for your reply....think I'm just gonna have to bite the bullet and take a chance

[Dennis]

I don't think you will have any problems Kate, other than the 9 or 18ct bezel will be a bit harder to push over than you are used to. So it helps to have a reasonably good fit.

The downside of a good fit is that the stone might stick when trying it in, so lay some dental floss across the bezel first. This gives you something to yank it out with. Sorry if you do this already.

You would normally use silver solder, but place it inside the bezel, to avoid silver running up the outer surface. Dennis.

[FineJewelleryandArt]

Good discussion - now I know something new. Thanks for asking the question KG.

[Kate George]

Wow thanks dennis that's really helpful... I will let you all know how I get on

[enigma]

Thanks Kate,
Cookies do a 0.3mm in the yellow gold in both 3mm and 5mm so maybe go for that, if you just buy enough to do 1 or 2 its not too expensive.
http://www.cooksongold.com/Strip-Bezel-and-Gallery/-Alloy=9ct_Yellow_Gold_Strip/-Type=0/&prdsearch=y&show=N
You could buy sheet of course and cut it to size.

[camalidesign]

Enigma's suggestion of using sheet is a good one, no need to buy specific bezel wire. I just buy 0.4 or 0.5mm thick fine silver sheet for my cab settings, you can even get them cut to size in various widths that I need, e.g. 2,3,4 and 5mm wide. Cookies cut them for you so you have very convenient strips in various sizes. Quick and easy!

Carin

[theresa]

Lovely ring.
I only used 2 x 9ct jump rings on each as an experiment, but your bezel looks great. Think I will try again. I recently added extra gold (Keum Boo) to make them look a bit better.6706


I hesitate to comment given that Im a total novice but I haven't had any problems using 9ct gold wire and bezel strip on silver rings.
Ive used both silver solder and gold solder depending whether the surrounding area is mostly silver or gold- so gold on the bezel seam then silver to solder it on.
I found the biggest problem is pushing the gold into shape for a bezel as its much harder than fine silver so I used gentle taps on a pusher with a hammer.

This was 9ct rose gold 0.5mm sheet for the bezel and 0.8mm wire for the smaller ones:

Now hopefully somebody who knows what they are doing will come along :D

[enigma]

Lovely! I really have a thing about mixed metals, I love the effects.

Is keum Boo fusing the metals? Ive seen the results a few times but never quite sure what it was.

[CJ57]

Lovely! I really have a thing about mixed metals, I love the effects.

Is keum Boo fusing the metals? Ive seen the results a few times but never quite sure what it was.

Oh you'd love keum boo Sarah, it's a bit addictive! It's a technique of fusing pure gold foil to fine silver by means of heat and friction using an agate burnisher. It adds yet another dimension to pieces and I've done quite a few now, more soon to be made :) it's quite exciting as it doesn't always go quite as planned!

[enigma]

So many exciting techniques to explore! I shall be learning/playing forever! :D

[Kate George]

thanks everyone for all your advice...I decided not to use the aqua marine in the end..i used a beautiful violet Iolite instead...I did have some problems with hard gold solder I just could not get it to flow and ended up melting the gold...I had to use easy silver solder in the end...any hoo here is a picture of the finished ring6721

[enigma]

lovely! thanks for sharing the finished pic!

[Dennis]

Good result. Thanks for posting it. Dennis.