[Jewelry making - Article 00289] - Re: [Orchid] My first bezel settings

[Jay Whaley]

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Hey Dan,

    I wouldn't worry about calling your work "sterling" if you're
    soldering a pure silver bezel onto it. After all, the concern is
    whether your metal is at least as pure as it is stamped, not whether
    it has an even higher total silver content, which the fine silver
    bezel would add to the piece. 

    The reason bezels are often fine (pure) silver instead of sterling
    is that when the fine silver is pushed up against a stone, it tends
    to stay put, whereas the sterling has a bit more natural "spring" to
    it, and will tend to spring away from the stone slightly. The step in
    the bezel you inquired about is to "sit" the bottom of the stone on,
    or in some cases the girdle of a faceted stone. If you are soldering
    your bezel to a flat sterling sheet, for setting a cabachon, I'd
    forget the stepped bezel, and use a plain flat bezel. The stone will
    sit directly on the flat plate, unless you want to prop it up to a
    higher level with something underneath the stone. You'll want to
    solder the bezel together with a hard silver solder, so it won't melt
    apart during the soldering to the back-plate. I'd use medium solder
    for soldering the bezel to the backplate. By the way, I'm no big fan
    of most commercial- made bezel wire. It is VERY thin, and difficult
    to work with. I prefer about a 22 gauge bezel, and even thicker if
    the stone is larger. The bezel width will vary according to the
    thickness of the stone. The thicker gauge of bezel is much easier to
    work with, and makes nicer looking setting job, in my experience. 

    All metalsmiths have their own preferences and techniques, and you
    will undoubtedly find your own, as well. 

Good luck!
Jay Whaley UCSD Craft Center

 
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