Recently I’ve come accross rings that have inlayed stone across
the face of them. I don’t mean the crushed up stuff that Rio
sells, but interesting and durable stuff like jade. I’ve seen
inlay that looked like the stone was just cut to fit the hole
and epoxied in. This sometimes proves to have an interesting
look; however, I recently saw a square-from the profile-mans
ring that had a stone set across the top. The customer said
that the man who designed the ring milled/cut groves along each
of the outer walls and folded the metal over the stone. Looked
down at the ring, on the mans finger, it was about 5mm wide, the
gold looked to be a millimeter on each side of the stone. The
kicker is that the stove went onto each side of the ring and
this was the same stone, not another piece of stone. Again,
even on the side of the ring, the stone had a millimmeter of
metal on each of the outer edges. My question is, How did they do
this? The ring didn’t look to have an exceptionally high top.
Did they really fold that much metal over the stone? Thanks in
advance to any ideas- Calvin
Recently I’ve come accross rings that have inlayed stone across
the face of them.
Hi Calvin, I do work just like you’re describing, I think…
I’m not sure because I don’t quite understand your description.
Yes it is possible to put quite a lot of metal over a stone,
there’s different techniques to do that. If I’m able to better
figure out what you’re describing, I’ll share some of my
techniques.
Jeffrey Everett
Jeffrey
Thank you for your response. I guess that my discription was a
bit confusing…Anyway, let’s change to two different ideas, one
seemingly simpler than the other- (It seems that I answer my own
question, I don’t mean to. I just believe in trying to figure
out a problem by myself and then verifying my ideas with
others.)
1.) A ladies wedding band about 2-3 mm wide with a strip of
apple green jade set in the center all the way around. Gold,
jade, and gold. It appears that there is 1mm or there abouts of
each all the way around. Now. is this a cast ring(It’s hard to
tell, I know.)? The jade looked to be one piece, but more than
likely was several(I’m guessing that they dyed the epoxy,
green). How would one begin to make a ring like this?
My idea-First make an inner sleave in 20-22ga SS in the desired
size, solder a 1 mm thick band on one edge. Than on the other
edge, using 22-24 ga solder on a higher, but thinner edge-this
being the edge to fold over. On the first edge that was
soldered on, mill out a shallow groove all the way around the
ring. Cut stone in about 5-8mm(sometimes smaller) pieces, bevel
one of the edges to go into the goove that was cut, shape the
inner surface of the stone with a mizzy wheel so that they can
fit snuggly against the inner sleave. Epoxy the stones in, 3-4
at a time. After epoxy, scrape out any that might have flowed
out from underneath the stone toward the edge that is going to
be folded over. Fold over the edge, grind and polish so you
have a uniform surface.
2.)Drilling a stone to set a bezel into the the first stone to
set another stone into the bezel-Hope that makes sense. I know
about core drills, diamond drills etc., and I can see putting a
piece of tubing for the bezel and then burnishing the metal
outward if there was any space, after that tube set or flush set
the other stone in the bezel. You can tell that this idea
hasn’t quite gelled in my mind yet. Would this be the same
technique used to set stones into pearls?
Thanks and I would be thankful for any insite you might be able
to give me- Calvin
Hi Calvin
#1 is something I’ve always wondered about, but haven’t thought
about for years… I think the gold ring is probably stretched up
inside the jade ring. Either that or some kind of die forming
technique…
1.) A ladies wedding band about 2-3 mm wide with a strip of
apple green jade set in the center all the way around. Gold,
jade, and gold.
regarding #2 below, I’ve set quite a few stones into other
stones. It’s pretty easy, and even easier if you can lathe a
bezel and tube to fit. I always set the small stone into the
bezel first, and then fit that into the main stone as seamlessly
as possible. You can set flush, on top, or whatever. I have used
diamond drills and created various shapes of pockets to put
stones into, such a baguettes, marquise, princess, etc…
working carefully, you can create any shape pocket you want. I
have then melted wax or plastic into the pocket and created a
bezel from that. the fit is incredible.
Good luck, have fun!
JE
Calvin,
Souds like you are describing a ring a friend of mine use to
make back in the early 70’s. He wouldcore drill a slab of stone
or wood or ivory slightly larger than the o.d. of a 22 ga shank.
The slab being slightly thinner than the width of th shank. He
would then solder an overlay band on one side of the shank place
the drilled core over the shank and then set another overlay band
on the outside. The shank protruded slightlyon the unsoldered
side and the second overlay was slightly beveled on the outside
of the i.d. He then would burnish the shank out creating a
mechanical lock to hold the stone in place. A small amount of
epoxy befor closing up the overlays kept the stone from spinning.
He would then lap the inlay back until it was flush with the
overlay bands. The overlay can be made from wire for low profile
or cut from sheet stock for a higher profile. As i remember (and
i have slept since then) he used a cone shaped punch chucked in a
drill press to burnish the shank out and lock the whole ring
together. It is a great look and can be done with the softer
materials with just a common hole saw to cut the plug. Good
Luck! Frank