[Jewelry making - Article 00056] - Re: [Orchid] How'd they DO that?

[Watchman]

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>      1.  If you were to approach this as a design problem, would you
>     use some sort of "cool-jewel" heat sink on the stone to solder the
>     jump rings? 

    Hi Karen, I have done this kind of thing many times and use one of
    two methods, both of which are very old and don't involve buying
    proprietary goop... 

    One way is to thoroughly wet a wad of cotton wool with water and
    cover the stone with it. I usually thread the wool through the ring
    and use the slushy mess to hold the ring upright on a soldering mat.
    Make sure the wool is not too near the bit you want to solder and use
    a small flame. Because the boiling point of water is only 100 degC,
    whilever there is water present in the wool, whatever is inside it
    will get no hotter than this. The other way is an even older
    technique but uses the same physics. That is to bury the stone in a
    potatoe - either just cut a slot and push the part of the ring with
    the stone on into it, closing the gap as much as possible, or cut a
    piece out of the potatoe, pop the stone into the recess and put the
    cut out piece back on top. This method is a bit more messy than just
    using a cotton ball as you have to clean away the cooked potatoe from
    the stone afterwards! 

Best wishes,
Ian
Ian W. Wright
Sheffield, UK


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