[Source] Silver Trillion bezel setting

I am looking for advice on how to make or where to buy silver
trillium bezels in the 4-6 mm range for wide rings.

I have tried to fabricate them by constructing a triangular shape,
and after soldering the bezel closed, reshaping it on a round bezel
mandrel to get the curved sides - it does work but its time consuming
and the failure rate is unacceptable with one side usually just
slightly off-spec.

I would be grateful for any advice on how I could improve my
fabrication technique or where I can by them already made in silver.
I can buy ready-made 14ct/18ct gold trillium bezel settings to use
with the silver ring but having never mixed metals in this way I am
not certain of the market response. If you have tried this please let
me know how they sold.

regards

mike kersley
Hertfordshire
UK

I can buy ready-made 14ct/18ct gold trillium bezel settings to use
with the silver ring but having never mixed metals in this way I
am not certain of the market response. If you have tried this
please let me know how they sold. 

Quite a bit of my work is silver with some gold added. It is very
well received, and the perceived value of a silver piece is much
higher when it has even a little gold on it. I find that I need at
least 18k for good contrast-- 14k is too pale to show up well.

Also, I haven’t looked, but I would be astonished if somebody
didn’t have a trilliant bezel mandrel for sale! Scratch that-- I just
looked-- Otto Frei has one (don’t know who else)-- ottofrei.com

Noel

mixing the higher kt. gold trillion or trilliant (cut cornered
trillion ) settings are rather trendy at this time and look quite
nice. The silver wears longer because of the copper content and the
gold looks rich…Hoover and strong (online) sells a number of the
prefab settings. but the easiest way is to take a fairly thick
(16-22g.) strip of an appropriate height using the old formulae:
length of side of the stone x 3 + metal thickness.

OR wrap a string around the stone,and add the metal thickness to the
end to get the bezel 's appropriate length. then if its a trillion
mark the length of each side on the metal and file a groove with a
triangular, or square or file of choice to make a ‘v’ shaped groove,
bend to shape run a small paillion of hard solder on the folds and
then,if you are going to cut a bearing solder the seam and proceed,
if you are going to make a bearing out of, say, a 26g square wire,
cut to length and bind in place and solder seam and bearing wire in
one step,clean, set stone and finish…the grooves are the essential
step in trillions- the trilliant with the cut corners are a bit more
time consuming considering the quality and/or precision of the stone
cutter… some edges i have seen in cheap native cut stones are all
different when measured with digital calipers, then there are those
that are all equally cut angles…anyway there’s the basics, and
hoover and strong or Cooksons or any number of suppliers sell both
bezels and bimetal rings designed for trillion stones…let me know if
I can be of more help.

R.E.Rourke

Mike,

I have fabricated trilliant settings and can cast them in sterling,
14 kt, 18 kt. (I do wholesale casting on a small scale for other
jewelers.) I can send you pictures. I think I have 4, 5, and 6 mm.
Email offline at denverjeweler@msn.com

Richard Hart

three ways come to mind here…

If you have a source for what you need but in gold, simply cast
duplicates in sterling.

Instead of rounding out a triangle, try making a curve with your
flat wire that matches the stone, then mark off and bend the corners.

If you use these a lot maybe think about making your own bezel
mandrel. It would indeed be a lot of work but if it gets the job
done, might be worth it. If you started with a commercial triangular
mandrel you’d need a good grinder and a steady, consistent hand. You
may not need to do the entire length, just the size range you use
most.

If you opt for using the available bezels in gold, for a two tone
look, 18K will make a richer statement.

bought a trillion bezel mandrel from rio grande- very very poor…I
have done better following McCreight’s recomendation of grinding a
triangular file till smooth and tapering then finishing with a
mirror finish…works way better than the ones sold by contenti,
rosenthal, riogrande, gesswein, frei and borel,etc…

Hi Mike,

I’d suggest molding the gold bezels that are of the appropriate size
(accounting for shrinkage if necessary) and casting what you need in
silver.

Good luck,
Bruce Morrison