Feels like I haven’t made any jewellery for a really long time (when in reality it has only been 1 weekend)! But I’m really excited to be making a ring for my sister’s birthday present. I still have the lapis lazuli cabochons I bought a few weeks ago. So my plan is to make a silver lapis lazuli ring. This is a first, so fingers crossed for me!
Here We Go…
I am using a D-wire for the first time – 4mm by 2mm. It’s quite an interesting shape, and has quite a nice weight to it. The wire has come from Cookson Gold, and the lapis lazuli measures 10x14mm and has come from Bellore.
D-wire has been annealed and pickled – my only slight hesitation is whether to have cut a slightly shorter wire to compensate for the stone being set on top. I suppose it will have to be trial and error today, since I don’t have the right pieces of copper to figure this out. I’m erring on the side of caution as I think it will be easier to shorten my wire than to have to cut a new piece.
Eeks! Had a little mishap with my bezel – it doesn’t quite join and I seem to have melted the fine silver. Will have to start again!
A Few Hours Later…
3 hours later… I have had so many disasters with making the bezel today… I have had to start again 3 times!
First, it wouldn’t join. Then it was too small, so I started again. Added a couple of mm to try and compensate for my filing, and was a little over-zealous. Cut a piece of the fine silver out and ended up with a bezel that was too small for the stone. On my third attempt, I managed to melt the bezel. (It’s true, you really need to take a break when you’re feeling frustrated!). On my fourth attempt, I’ve ended up with a bezel that *just* fits – I’m going with this one! (And it’s not just because I’ve run out of bezel wire…!)
Alright, so I’m back on track again. I have made the bezel and attached it to a backing plate. For the backing plate, I’m using 1mm thick sterling silver sheet. After some filing to make all the edges nice and even, this is what I’m left with:
Now that I’m happy, I can move on to making the ring band. I’ve cut two slits on either end of my D-wire (about 1mm long) and using some flat-nose wires, I’ve bent the pieces outwards (this will sit under the bezel).
Before bending (to the left)…
And after bending (to the right)…
Shaping & Finishing
Next I bent the wire around a ring mandrel, and used a raw-hide mallet to shape into a nice ring shape. The raw-hide mallet works really well to avoid making marks on the metal. Once that was done, I placed the ring on the back of the bezel and soldered into place (I had a slight mishap with the ring moving out of position, so the ring ended up a little lop-sided. I think I need a lot more practice with soldering so that the ring and solder pieces don’t move around too much!).
I’ve set the stone and pushed the edges of the bezel in, using a bezel roller and a burnisher, given the ring a quick polish and here it is, the finished product, ready for the birthday girl next week!
