As I'm sure you all know I am fairly new to all this and lapping up all your advice. :ta: I'm in need of more please!
At the mo I'm just playing about really and seeing what happens. I'm not desiging properly. The pic shows the beginning of a pendant I hope to give to a celtic and amethyst loving friend of mine for people. I was inspired by a pic in a great book (celtic art: the methods of construction by George Bain). Its a drawing book not jewellery but is great for inspiration. The knotwork was tough to do (I used 2mm wire) but I'm quite pleased with the results.
I want to add some amethyst into the larger loop. I tried bezel setting a facetted stone but did a really bad job. When hunting around for any other amethyst I came across some beads. I thought it would be nice to add the bead instead. The idea is to have a piece of wire or something that the bead can sit on but still move as a kinetic touch. I tried soldering some wire with the bead on it across the gap. This resulted in quite a few broken and discoloured beads from the heat of the torch. After getting hit in the face with a shard of hot amethyst I gave up on that plan.
Should I give up and buy a cabachon instead or can anyone help?