[Jewelry making - Article 00103] - Re: [Orchid] The secret of faceted stones and bezels

[Peter W . Rowe]

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>        I don't understand this.  It has always been my understanding
>     that the purpose of the step is to provide a seat for the stone. 
>     Indeed, the only step bezel I have ever worked with has the step on
>     one side and the pattern on the other side.  What would be the
>     intent of having step bezel with the pattern and the step on the
>     same side? 

    Simple step bezel stock has a plain bezel wire, with the added step.
    You normally use it with the step on the inside as a seat, but
    there's no rule against soldering this material down to a backing
    sheet like normal bezel wire, and using the step only as a
    decorative element on the outside. The patterned step bezel referred
    to may be one I've seen, where there's a normal square or rectangular
    cross sectioned step on the inside, a pattern on the outside, and at
    the bottom of the pattern,  an additional "step", which on the stock
    I saw, was a half round cross section. It was intended as a
    decoration, not a seat for setting. It also served another very
    useful purpose.  Normal step bezel is difficult to bend around,
    since the bezel section tends to "shrink" inwards, due to the effect
    of the stepped section on the way the whole wire bends.  On the types
    with steps on both the inside and outside,  this doesn't happen, as
    the bezel section is centered on the thickness of the wire, and it's
    wall stays straight as you bend it to form the bezel. The types of
    bezel wire where there's just a single step, but that step is a half
    round bead,  are intended to use that bead as a decorative element,
    not for setting, and the bezel is soldered to a backing plate, or an
    additional seat soldered into the wire after it's formed. 

Peter


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