Hi, all–
Oh, no, I’ve done it again. Bought cabochons of a really soft stone.
Maybe it’s time I learned more about stones, so I don’t keep doing
this. But anyway, I purchased a couple of small malachite cabochons
at a local stone shop, intending them to use them for a pair of
earrings with bezel settings. Then I looked up malachite online, and
found that it measures 3.5-4 on the Mohs scale. Ouch!
Now, the stones were cheap, so financially it’s not really an issue,
but they are nice-looking stones, and it just feels wrong to let them
gather dust, so I’d like to do something with them if I can. But I
feel I should do something to protect them from damage in the
finished piece. There are 2 ideas that occur to me: one would be to
surround them with some sort of metal cage that would form part of
the design. But I don’t really like that for the particular earrings
I have in mind. The other thing is some kind of hypothetical
scratch-resistant coating–resin, perhaps? Does anyone do that? Or
have any other suggestions? Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
Matt Gushee
Studio Yanagi | Original Art Jewelry
http://studioyanagi.com/