Double sided bezel - tomorrows project

[Faith]

Tomorrow I have absolutely nothing to do, how delicious....

So I'm going to attempt a double sided bezel setting, ie just the bezel wall, no back, using some 12mm rounded square chequerboard / cushion cut smokey quartz.

Plan is make the bezel wall, get a good fit, emery to the right height, solder on some wee jump rings for ear wires, set stone (probably using thermoloc to hold it.

Any tips or advice before I have a crack? I've not done double sided bezels before ever. (But no one panic, the stones weren't expensive)

Faith

[Dennis]

Well have fun Faith. Advice: Don't be surprised if they take longer than expected. That's when you might be tempted to rush things and spoil them. Dennis.

[Dennis]

In the cold of morning I have thought up more advice, hoping not to overwhelm you.

You will end up with some waste, so if possible practice with copper first.

Ideally you would have a square bezel mandrel and though cushioned ones are rare, you might find a cheap square one on EBay. This will work as guide, provided you don't score the metal for sharp corners. Alternatively you could go for the assortment from Proops.

No two stones are identical, or perfectly square. So you will have to keep right and left on separate saucers, keep the stones and bezels the same way up throughout by marking them in some way and also mark which side of the stone goes with which side of the bezel.

Scratch 'this way up' arrows inside the bezels and mark one side of each stone with a scrap of sticky paper so that it always goes in the same way.

Lastly I prefer to make the joins in the centre of one side, rather than the corners. Excess solder on the inside will have to be removed. Dennis.

[Faith]

Thanks Dennis, not overwhelming at all, and actually good tips for me, previously when I've done normal bezels for oval stones I've managed to keep the stones with the bezels but didn't mark the orientation which was probably a mistake.

I don't have a cushion or square bezel mandrel tho, on reflection that does sound like it would make things easier, but possibly I'll be okay, I never had oval mandrel a either - equally looking back my oval settings aren't nearly as pleasing as my latest round ones!

I'll let you know how I get on

Faith

[enigma]

You should be fine with just your pliers to shape it, I rarely use the square mandrel tbh.
Looking forward to pics please

[Faith]

Well I got this far today (Dennis was right not that I'm surprised everything takes me longer than I expect )



The stone is obviously not set yet and (I decided to go for a fixed hookwire rather than a jump ring) but the hook isn't formed. Not too bad tho maybe so far.

Faith