I’ve seen pictures of semi-precious gemstones or pearls with small faceted stones set into them. How do you do this?
I have seen small stones bezel set on tobes which are the inserted into other stones and pearls, then either cemented or laser welded into place.
Thank you!
I found it fairly easy to drill (under water) into some coin pearls and super glue in sterling bezels (~3mm) and then tube set stones. I’ll try to take photos if it would help.
I found this post in the Orchid archives:
Tom_LaRussa
And now for a suggestion from the peanut gallery…
Set the stone in a pronged stud earring setting. Drill a hole
through the pearl at approximately the diameter of the ear post.
Flare the hole on both ends: to the diameter of the stone on
one end, and to about 3x the diameter of the post at the other.
At the stone end, carve little grooves for the setting prongs to
fit into, so that the prongs look like they come up out of the
pearl itself. Slip the post/setting/stone into place, and then
bend to other end of the post. Finally, put a drop of solder
onto the bent end of the post (at the back side of the pearl).
Personally, I couldn’t accomplish this in a million years, but
it would look cool, no? The stone would sit flush against the
pearl, and the prongs would sort of “grow” right out of the
pearl. Put the pearl into a bezel setting so you can’t see the
back, and it will be a nice conversation piece – “How’d you do
that?”
Tom
I would add that “a drop of solder on the end of the back post” would mean the pearl would be heated. Pearls don’t like that. One could secure the piece in Thermo Loc and flare the post as a rivet.
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There are special drills for pearls. https://www.alohapearls.com/
And Hypo Cement is the traditional glue. It comes with a thin syringe type head that helps direct the glue into a hole.
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