I am making pendant afixed to a neckwire (platinum) and would like to embed black 1 mm melee diamonds directly into Whitby jet without bezel or channel setting. Using a resin epoxy mixed with black jet dust seems like the only option. Is that advisable? Is there a better method? Thanks in advance.
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Sounds like a lovely project. Real Jet is pretty rare these days. It was a fav during the Victorian era for “Mourning Jewelry”. It’s fallen out of favor because it has a Mohs hardness of only 2.5-4.
I have a question…What color are the diamonds?
If they are clear white diamonds my advice would be to find something black and glue one or a CZ of the same size into it. It might absorb the blackness and pretty much disappear.
I’d use something something black like a chunk of black plastic, or piece of wood stained with perhaps a black sharpie, apply the glue and observe.
My knee jerk response is that when setting with tiny transparent stones I make a white bezel with a highly polished interior. And in this case I’d probably solder a polished back on the bezel to act as a reflector to make the stone pop. Set the stone and then bur out a place to glue it in. Coming from a family full of scientists I’ve been conditioned to run and observe experiments. I love to push boundaries and come up with crack pot ideas. I enjoy taking risks, but often when I am treading on new ground I make a mock up of the project with expendable materials.
Have fun with this and I’d love to see a photo of the finished piece.
Jo
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Thank you for your response. This project will use opaque black diamonds. I did speak to a lapidary artist who confirmed that a clear 2-part epoxy resin (330) is the way to go. He recommended gently heating the resin after applying, but before setting the stones, to remove air bubbles in the epoxy. I’m going to test this with scrap jet and 1mm CZs first.
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experimentation is the mother of experience… go for it! I learned a lot by trial and error and pushing the limits… it lead to some disasters but not something that discouraged me…learned how far things can be pushed and when to back off…
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how did your project turn out… please post a photo if you are willing…sounds like you made something very nice.