My question is about bezel set, round, drop earring balance and
where the half jump ring that is soldered to the top of the bezel
should be placed. Is there a formula? Is the half jump ring just
centered? Or, is the distributionof weight taken into consideration
and the jump ring shifted a little forward or back? Do I make any
sense at all? I work in 22 karat gold and fabricate all the parts.
The stone is a round, faceted, 3/4 carat sapphire (will sit on an
inner bezel) and will be set in an open back bezel. A half jump ring
will be soldered to it and hook onto a French wire. My fear is that
once I set the stone the earring will be a littleheavy at one end or
the other and that the stone will either tilt up or down. Any
thoughts will be greatly appreciated.
Lois- It depends on the cut of the stone. It’s different for a flat
bottomed cab than a deep bellied native cut stone and a precision
cut stone. It also depends on how deep your bezel and under gallery
are.
It just takes practice and experience. If I were you I’d solder on
the jump ring and then with a little sticky wax wax my stone in place
and then see how it hangs on the wire.
This can be a problem. You do need to have the bezel hang nicely.
After you make the bezel stick the gem in it temporarily then
experiment with where the ring needs to be. The ring may need to be
further forward than you think. Maybe it will be a full ring or a
ring with a small extending wire
Make the bezel to a almost complete state, and friction fit or
lightly stickywax the stone in temporarily.
You’ll have to play around a bit to find the point at which it will
balance to hang evenly, usually nearer the front of the bezel.
You can do this by using a jump ring of the same gauge as in your
design, bent into an omega shape, and use sticky wax or tiny pieces
of tape to secure it to the bezel.
Then you move the sticky jump ring forward or back on the bezel
until you eyeball the sweet spot, with the bezel suspended and
still.
Mark both sides of the jump ring lightly with a scribe through the
tape or wax, the marks will disappear during soldering or polishing.
Remove the stone, wax or tape, and solder your permanent jump ring
on, then double check the balance again before proceeding to set and
polish.
Even in a pair, the jump rings may be in slightly different
positions from bezel to bezel because of stone or bezel weight, and
it won’t be noticeable when worn.
I hope that made sense, and it’s quicker to do than it sounds!
I think this depends on the depth of the bezel. Will it be the depth
of the stone? Or will the stone be in a shallow bezel and stick out
the back? I think it is a case of trial and error, make one in
silver and see, don’t set all the way down to get it out easily.
I just put the jump ring in the middle of the bezel, never seems to
be a problem.
A lot of variables here. How deep is the bezel? How much table does
the stone have? I usually eye ball it and solder the jump ring a
little below where the girdle of the stone will sit in the bezel.
Thank you All for the great tips and advice. As I feared, it’s not
so easy. I am comforted with the suggestions to do a trial run. Will
report back with my progress soon.