How on earth?

Hello

I hope you are all keeping safe...and sane!

I wonder if any of you can give some advice on this please. I’ve seen this ring, made by William White, and I really want to work out how to create this setting but I just can’t!!

Does anyone knowing how on earth it’s done please?

Thanks so much
Emmy
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I think its probs cad and cast the stone will be scanned so the setting can be made as fine as possible but I could be wrong.

Maybe the photos don't reveal all, it is just a fairly standard bezel set ring nothing remarkable, make the components, solder together and set stone, or make wax model then cast etc.

I’ve never made a backless bezel for a faceted stone before. Do you just do as you would for a cab? Ie create a square the same size as the stone, fix it to a plate, then saw the hole out? Will the faceted stone sit evenly in it?
Thank you x

For the bezel, start with the stone upside down, on a piece of silver sheet about 1.3-1.5mm thick.
Keeping the stone steady, if necessary with the aid of a tiny scrap of BluTack and of course your finger, scribe the square using a craft knife, rather than a scriber.

Once you have the square marked out, use a ruler to mark an inner square, just over 1.0mm smaller all round, and cut it out.

You now have the bearer marked out, for the stone to sit on, but it needs to be lowered using burrs, or scorpers, until the girdle of the stone sits about 0.5mm below the metal sheet. This is the tricky bit, and needs to be done slowly and carefully. It could take 30-40minutes.

Once the stone is sitting correctly, you can mark the outer rim evenly using dividers, and add the supports and shank finish the metal, file the outside bevel, and inset the stone.

Note that gem stones are not perfectly square, so mark one corner of the stone and the setting, so as to always insert it the same way. Practice with copper first. Good luck. Dennis.

A good walk through from Dennis.

Instead of using BluTack you could try double sided tape or cellotape on the stone and super glue the cellotape to the metal. I saw this done recently on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B-vVnnil...=1tpg66y17aqgr

It's the second and third pictures in the sequence.

In addition to casting mentioned by Bob you could machine the top plate using a computer aided mill.

Thank you everyone. Seems maybe a little complicated for me! But I’ll have a bash.
X

Hi everyone,

I thought I'd update you on what happened with the ring. I tried to follow your instructions Dennis but got in a mess/confused, so I decided to go for a straightforward bezel approach. It was all new to me and you can see from the photos the result which is nowhere near as finessed as the inspiration ring.

The things I'm pleased with:
1/ it's the first time I've made a bezel with a hole cut in the bottom so I'm happy it worked!

The things I struggled with/not happy with:
1/ it feels too chunky and sits too high
2/ When you zoom in to the bezel edge you can see it's uneven/wavy. I don't know how to get those gorgeous sharp and smooth bezel edges. With this one I hammered a square ended bezel pusher with a repousse hammer, starting at a shallow angle and then building up so eventually I was coming down on top of it. Then I used a needle file over the top of each length, then sand paper. What can I do to get those lovely edges?

Would love to get any tips on how I would make it more refined. It's probably that I needed to follow your instructions Dennis but once I cut out the square ring I really didn't know what to do next. Was it the bearer (is that the square?) or the stone that needed to be lowered? And if the girdle was under the bearer wouldn't the stone just fall through?

Thanks all
EmmyAttachment 12437
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Hi Emmy. Not a bad effort on several counts. However you will find it much easier as a beginner to cut your bezel from 0.4mm fine silver sheet.
It will enable you to rub it down by hand and avoid the hammer and punch.
The less trauma you inflict, the easier it will be to get a good finish.
So make sure that the edges are perfect before you start setting, and then add a bevel, all by using needle files. Once set, finish first by files and then rubber wheels on a motor.
https://www.cooksongold.com/category...flex+polishers. You might be able to get away with just the medium ones. They need to be mounted on a screw mandrel. Dennis.

A good attempt Emmy, I have some observations.

Attached is a sketch of the bezels looking from the side of the 2 rings. I've scaled from the photographs assuming that both rings are size O so that I have a starting point and the scaling is bound to have some level of error.

A) is the original, the stone may be around 12.5mm square.
B) is the ring you've made, the stone may be around 10mm square.

You can see from the image that A) has a much wider chamfer and that the bezel is not as deep. This will lead to a ring, although similar, with a very different look and feel.

C) is an estimation of an equivalent bezel to A) that may be used to for a 10mm stone.

Technique:

To practice the technique for getting a nice crisp finish on the chamfer what you can do is cut a square of brass or other base metal roughly 15mm square and 2.5mm deep and file on chamfers at differing angles and depths so that you can feel confident in doing this on the real thing. I would also use a flat pillar file, this will enable you to get a good flat surface. Then wet and dry to finish. It will enable to to play around and find the angles that you find pleasing.

I hope this helps

Thank you Dennis and Alistair :-)

I’ve had a good read through and taken all your advice on board. Onwards and upwards...next time will be better.

Emmy