Just wondering if anyone here might be able to point me towards a
source for sterling silver bezels that look like the one you see in
this pic (minus the set “artwork”):
I’m not too fussy about the size, though somewhere around an inch in
diameter would probaby be ideal! Would also be interested in
something the same size, but square.
I have been told by a few suppliers that these would need to be
custom made, as there as little demand for a bezel this big, but I am
sure that someone out there must be manufacturing them already.
Looks just like the mountings on p. 574 of the current Rio Grande
gems and findings catalog. It’s hard to tell from the sample picture
how high the bezel is though.
Melissa, Is there a reason why you want them made out of sterling
instead of fine silver?
I make all of mine out of fine silver, and when making larger sizes
I use a heavier gauge than I use for small bezels. For 1 inch size or
larger, I use 24 gauge—though you can get by with 26.
1 inch round, as well as square bezels are no harder to make than
small ones are. Alma
Have you tried riogrande.com? They have some pretty large bezel cups
in the catalog, and if they don’t have it, they are really good
about pointing you in the right direction. Have you thought about
making your own bezels? It’s kind of fiddly at first, but once you
get a feel for it, it’s a lot easier than you think.
Alma, actually, it doesn’t need to be sterling; fine silver would
be… fine. And thank you for the info on which gauge of silver to
use.
Ashley, that’s funny, I’m pretty sure I checked the Rio Grande
catalog, but I better have another look! Right now I’m concentrating
on producing the artwork which is going to be set in the bezel cup.
Thought it would just be easier for now to buy them if they were
available.
Brian and Jerry, thanks to you both for pointing me as well towards
RG (Jerry, thanks for the page number!). I will check the catalog
when I go to my studio tomorrow or day after.
