Sticky problem

Jewelry Discussion
1

I need a little help. A customer has brought me some repairs to tax
my brain, and as I am ignorant as regards the subject of "gem repair"
I turn to you all for enlightenment.

Problem 1. A silver bangle, handmade in Kenya with a large cab stone
which I believe to be Malachite, the stone, 30 x20x9, has broken along
the grain and is now in two parts. The stone was originally glued in
place and had a piece of wire going over it , as decoration,
diagonally, about one thirds way from the top.

Is it possible to stick the stone back together? What type of glue
should I use? Is it possible to color the glue so that it can hide
some of the chipped areas?

Problem 2. A very ornate silver filigree torque bangle, hand made in
Saudi Arabia, It is about 25mm wide and originally made a complete
circle meeting in two opposing arcs, the owner found it difficult to
put on and gave it to someone to put a hinge in it. Boy what a hatchet
job!!! They cut the bangle in half and soldered in a rectangular
section tube hinge, all held together with a rectangular pin. The
soldering very poor and some sections of filigree are missing. The end
result is a bangle that is almost impossible to put on.

I realize that part of the solution is to replace the rectangular
section with round section tubing and to fit a rivet rather than a
pin. How do I make the hinge so that the bangle will stay closed, Is
there some way of incorporating a spring into the hinge to keep it
shut. It would need to be light enough to be able to put on easily and
yet heavy enough to allow the bangle to be worn with confidence.

Any and all ideas would be greatly appreciated.

While I am on the subject of springs, can you buy/make the springs
that are used in lobster catches (also called trigger catches or
parrot catches). I get these in to repair and usually have to replace
the complete catch, all because of a little piece of broken wire.
Seems a bit of a waste really.

Sorry for going on a bit, but when your in the flow…ya just gotta
let it rip.

Many Thanks
Neil KilBane
Longford ,Ireland.

2

My thoughts on this is the following, why not purchase a new stone,
it is a calibrated size and should be easily purchased, in fact at the
gem show in Tucson I purchased last year about 8 of these for a whole
$1.00 each, did make sense for me to cut my own!

Now on to the Lobster Claw, replacing it is probably your best bet,
use the left over catch for the metal in casting. At least that seems
the logical thing to do.

Hope this helps…probably not the answers you wanted though

Laura

3

the answers aRe: yes; epoxy; and yes. the 330 colorless jewelers
epoxy is frequently preferred (although in this case, since you would
be coloring it, you do not really need the colorless). There are dyes
available for the epoxy. on this side of the pond, in california at
least, we get them from a place called tap plastics. I’m sure their
is a similar place there. I would probably be a good idea to ALSO
grind up some malachite and add it to the colored epoxy where you want
to fill the chips.

On the other hand, malachite cabs are not all that expensive -
unless the sentimental value of THAT particular cabb is too high.

good luck (this one’s a piece of cake - you should have no trouble)
gregor

4

Ive founf that model paint mixes nicely with epoxy! karen in
vancouver

5 
   which I believe to be Malachite, the stone, 30 x20x9, has broken
along the grain and is now in two parts. The stone was originally
glued in place and had a piece of wire going over it , as
decoration, diagonally, about one thirds way from the top. Is it
possible to stick the stone back together? What type of glue should
I use? Is it possible to color the glue so that it can hide some of
the chipped areas?

Just like they crush up red coral and Turquoise and do an inlay,you
can do the same to repair your Malachite.Just mix powder of some
crushed Malachite with a 2 part epoxy(clear) and inlay,sand and
polish. Mark Liccini

http://www.LICCINI.com