An interesting ring has parked itself on my bench. Perhaps I should
havesaid, “…an irritating ring”. It has not a stone in the
setting; but asort of mosaic material called: “Roman Glass”.
The problem is: the material keeps flaking away. I don’t have a clue
what can be done to stabilize this stuff - but am currently
considering (among other unmentionable things) coating the material
with a clear, matte finish enamel. FYI - the level of the "glass"
material is uneven; and inplaces, practically the same height as the
bezel.
If anyone has any solution to this problem; I will be greatly
indebted. Thanks.
Roman glass jewelry was very popular in Israel—you used to be able
to find incredible pieces on the beaches here! They are remnants of
broken glass objects such as bottles (not “mosaic material”) with
naturally formed coatings which have built up over centuries (!!!).
Some have truly exquisite rainbow colors. The color-producing layers
are extremely fragile, rather like mica, and flake off easily.
Lacquers would of course lose the lovely powdery, frosty look
characteristic of this material. Crazy to use it in a ring. more
commonly limited to pendants, brooches, or earrings, which get less
wear. So I guess my pseudo-solution to the problem would be to turn
it into an object other than a ring… if you can do so without
breaking the glass…:-)…Sorry…
The micromosaic glass pieces are often set in pitch in antique pieces
so you have to handle them very carefully as far as cleaning solvents
go.
Stabilising with a very low viscosity epoxy resin such as petropoxy
should cure the problem but if it is a customer’s family heirloom you
might want to ask them what they would like as far as state of
preservation goes since this will be almost irreversible.