Hello, I have just returned to “proper” jewellery making now I have retired. I’ve cut and polished a fabulous piece of butterscotch Amber to make a pendant, and I think it would look amazing to insert a tiny sapphire into the piece (like Faberge). I can make a bezel but no idea how to set it permanent into the piece, glueing doesn’t seem right? You knowledge, ideas, suggestions or signposting to the correct article would be appreciated.
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Two ideas suggest themselves - use a length of tubing as a thru rivet and bezel set the sapphire in the top, or solder a pearl peg to the underside of the bezel and cement it into the amber as you would mount a pearl.
I’ve found the most successful way to set a stone in a stone is to do two things. First, recess the bezel set stone into the surface of the cab. You make the stone to set in a bezel with a back, and then solder a piece of tubing on the back of the bezel back plate. I like the back plate trimmed to be invisible from the top. Drill a hole (and on amber that’s a good trick) first with a fine drill, then enlarge it to just fit the tubing on the back of the bezel. At the bottom of the stone (back) slightly relieve the edge of the hole to accommodate the spread walls of the tube rivet. Insert the top cab thru the larger stone and cut the tubing about 1 to 2 mm long past the back of the cab. clip, saw or file the tube so it can be spread to hold the cab in place. Treat the assemblage as a regular cab and set it as usual.
The special care for drilling into amber is this - if you go fast you will make a goody mess. Practice on scrap first.
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Thank you so much for your advice. I had thought of using a pin on the back of a bezel but tube is much more sensible suggestion.