I have pendant design which would incorporate a 3-3.5mm raw diamond
cube set in an 18k bezel. As this is a production piece time
efficiency is a concern, yet I want a organic feel to the bezel to
complement the stone as opposed to a ready made commercial bezel set.
I need to be able to pre-set a bunch of these diamond cubes to then
be soldered on individually to the pendant. I had thought of just
buying square tubing in a slightly larger size then the diamond cube
and just essentially crushing it around the cube and than
sandblasting and tooling the edge a bit to enhance the softened
organic feel. Does anyone have some suggestions on how to quickly
bezel set these cubes?
I think that would work but you would need to be sure the cube can
take the pressure and you do not end up with a couple of skinny
rectangle looking stones. diamonds can shatter and they can split
along lines of pressure inside that you may not see in that
particular shape. take care gregg
I used to prepare quite a lot of presettings -in round, not square
bezels- and since time was a concern, I would ask the custmer to
provide me with tubing of the diameter needed -around 3,5 mm-, I
would then saw that tube into 15 to 20 cm long pieces -long enough to
hold them comfortably with your hand- and I would start setting the
stones at both extremes of each piece. Once a batch of stones are set
(if I had cut five or six tube pieces, that would be 10-12 stones), I
saw the extremes to the needed length off the tubes -with the stones
set- and I end up with 10-12 nice small bezels. And then the process
begins all over again. At the begining you can perfectly hold the
tubes with your hand -this makes the process really quick. But as the
tubes become shorter and shorter they are more difficult to hold (I
used to use a glove in my left hand), to the point that you have to
start using a wood clamp or somenting to hold them properly if you
want to make the most of the tubes.