My lovely and ever stylish client Rosie chose these two titanium coated drusy stones to be made into rings to add to her collection of Silver Forge pieces. Fabulous!
Tag Archives: bezel
Botryoidal Carnelian Ring
I love all the cabochons I source, and it is a bit of an obsession with me! I’d love to keep them all, but that’s just silly – so one of the many joys of being a silversmith is sharing these gorgeous finds with nice people.
Once in a while, though, I come across a cabochon that I just can’t part with. This botroidal carnelian is one of those.
It’s a great ring to wear with earth tones, which I’ve been more drawn to lately.
If you’d like a custom made gemstone ring of your own, check out my gemstone collection, and let me know which one you’d like to wear!
smithing – creation of a pair of gemstone and sterling silver earrings
Lots of people like to know the process behind the creations I produce, and I sometimes forget – just because I know how I do this, doesn’t mean everyone does! These lovely dangly gemstone earrings were a wedding gift from my friend and client Natasha to a dear friend of hers.
Natasha found these sparkly amethyst, Rose de France and aquamarine rose cut cabochons in my gemstone collection.
First I shaped the bezels. A bezel is the part that goes around the stone and holds it in place on the piece. I take a strip of silver, bend it into shape with my half round pliers, and solder the join. Once the bezels have been immersed in pickle (an acid solution) to remove the buildup of borax and the oxidisation, I rinse and dry them and hammer them into shape with a mallet on my ring mandrel.
I solder the bezels onto a silver backing plate. After I pickle, file and emery the bezel settings, I check that the stones all fit nicely into their little housings.
Then it’s time to add some links to join the bezels together. I create the links, line them up and solder them on.
I add the ear wires. As always, I am amazed that something that looks so unappealing will soon become something beautiful!
After some more cleaning up, I mount the earrings in sealing wax to hold them still while I set the stones with my engraving ball and chasing hammer.
After yet more emerying and finishing, the earrings are ready to go off to their new home!
In case you want more, I have written before here, here here and here about my processes. Happy reading!
Peach Moonstone Flower Brooch
This brooch I created for a client is in the shape of his wife’s business logo.
The peach moonstone reflects the colour of the logo, and provides a nice focal point to the design.
What an apt and thoughtful gift!
Lemon Quartz Wedding Rings
Natasha and her partner Philipp were in need of some new wedding rings. These lemon quartz cabochons from my gemstone collection had a good feel to them, and Natasha had a number of designs that she gave me for reference.
We worked together to come up with the perfect rings.
It’s always a joy to create for someone who is like-minded, I feel very fortunate to meet such lovely people!
Black Oblong Drusy Ring
Some very kind friends gave my client a Silver Forge gift voucher for her birthday.
This oblong shaped drusy cabochon makes a gorgeous piece!
Round Labradorite Ring
My lovely client, Natasha, chose this cabochon from my gemstone collection, and commissioned me to create this labradorite ring for her mum.
The gorgeous stone is offset beautifully by the silver. I’m very happy with the end result!
Thanks, Natasha, it’s always a pleasure to create for you!
Mookaite Men’s Ring
My lovely client Natasha commissioned me to create this mookaite ring for her partner.
She chose the cabochon from my gemstone collection. Doesn’t the mookaite look great with a reticulated silver shank!
It’s always a pleasure to create with like-minded people. I’m so lucky!
Smoky Quartz and Sterling Silver Pendant
One of the lovely mums from school had inherited this gorgeous piece of smoky quartz, and asked if I would be able to make it into a pendant for her to give to her mum. The stone even came to me in a cute little vintage box!
I created the setting so that the stone would be protected, but the maximum amount of light would come through – I always aim to make the stone the star of the show!
Thanks, Emma, and I’m so glad your mum loves her new pendant!
Green Freeform Drusy Ring
One of my lovely regulars, Karen, reserved this stone from my collection, and when she was ready, asked me to create her a ring.
We worked on the design together, and I love Karen’s request for a wire border of silver around the stone.
Love the sparkly crystals in that drusy!