Greetings,
I rarely set stones. I think maybe 8 or 9 thirty years. Most of those that I have set were in pre-made bezel cups. And the two or three where I made the bezel the stock was sterling. I had never tried fine silver before this one. It deserves a Fore-Head Slap. I need to do more with fine silver. I think it came out pretty well. It will become something for my wife I expect. Don Meixner
Don…Nice! fine silver makes a great bezel for some designs. We have another dumper coming so make sure your snowblower is gassed up…Rob
Beautiful! What’s the stone? I’d love to see a head-on shot too.
I like fine silver bezels too, though I’ve been warned they can be somewhat less durable than sterling. I try to keep them to earrings for that reason, where hopefully they’re not going to suffer any impacts beyond the occasional pair of headphones being put on or phone being answered.
Thanks Rob.
The tank is filled with hundred proof, we’re all tuned up and gassed.
D
This is a pretty dark piece of what I bought as Malachite. It was fun exercise. There is a workshop in the current Lapidary Journal with a step by step from Jeffery Halas. I can make chain all day but I had this stone and a bit of bezel wire so… I have more stone in a same size so I’ll tried a sterling bezel setting later on. As I said I don’t set stones but if ever there was a time to try something different now is the time. My choice was setting cabs or learning bagpipes. My wife prefers the pounding…Don
Beautiful work.
Oooh gorgeous!
And yes, there’s a time and place for bagpipes- but being trapped in the house indefinitely by a plague probably ain’t it. 
This is a beautiful piece! It’s perfect too.
Don’t take any chances…?
In reference to Don’s 100 proof quote, for those too young to know.
I am currently playing with my first “fine silver” piece, other than bezel work I did when training, and playing, in my youth.
A customer contracted a pendant be fabricated from their 1995, fine silver US $.
I am surprised how hard this fine silver coin metal is, even after annealing it.
Even after 45 years, “riding the bench”, this profession still is far from boring.
After my 63 years at my “setting bench”, I’m still hard at work creating new patterns.
My latest foray into jewellery is setting diamonds into teeth. These are called “grills”!!
This will become another essay in weeks to come.
“Gerry, on my iPhone”
Thanks, The piece did, in fact, become a gift to my wife. Anniversary or some such.
When this thread began I was getting ready for my usual run of eight art shows. All were cancelled but two. Since my Christmas 2021 shows are cancelled I am back at the invention stage of the craft and looking again at setting cabs. I am also looking into to found materials and steel jewelry.
Don
And I am glad to see someone gets the Thunder Road reference.
