Does anyone have any tips on the best way to bezel-set a freeform cab? I have become intrigued with the process, but I thought I would ask "those wiser, if not older" than me! Sandy
Free form cabs, so long as they have a settable girdle plane,
are the same to set as calibrated cabs, except that you have to
custom make the bezel. Form it to shape from a strip of fine
silver, soldered into a closed loop and shaped to fit the cab.
Then solder down onto a base of sheet. That’s the 10 word
version. Obviously, it’s a bit more involved than that. But
basically it’s no different to burnish over the bezel on a non
uniform shape than it is to do so on a uniform one.
Aqua Aura is simply quartz (usually native crystals, but can be
cut to shape too), with a thin vapor deposition layer of gold
sputtered onto it. (Hi tech stuff!). In such thin layers (only a
couple atoms thick) the gold layer is transparent, and not gold
colored.) You can also find similar treatments done with
titanium vapor deposits, usually a little thicker, which gives
wonderfully irridescent blues, golds, magentas, etc, in an
metallic opaque rather than transparent light blue layer. Often
this is done to drusy crystal pieces.
Hope this helps.
Peter Rowe