Hi All,
I have a customer who wants me to bezel set an opal cabochon in sterling silver and then create a snap attachment for a leather cuff. Typically when I have worked with snap attachments they are made from a base metal and affixed using a hand press for leather. Has anyone done something like this before? I would really appreciate advice and/or suggestions!
Thanks so much,
Sally
First thing is to make certain your customer is aware that opals are delicate stones that scratch and crack easily, and that mounting them on any sort of bracelet is looking for trouble.
If they can live with that, then you could attach the snap “upside down” as it were. Put the cap section against the wrist and have the base, usually flat, part inside the bezel with its stem through a hole in the bezel base plate and then through the leather. Fix the snap to the cuff before setting the stone.
There’s an advantage here in that the cuff can be worn either way round, with the opal to the outside or with the snap head outside and the opal protected against the wrist. This would work best with a leather strap with two grain sides, i.e. two thinner pieces of leather with the flesh sides glued together.
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Elliot, thank you so much. This is hugely helpful! I would be setting the opal and snap for the leather worker who is making the cuff. I really appreciate being able to give them this context before proceeding. Thank you again! Sally