[Jewelry making - Article 00045] - Re: [Orchid] Fabrication Issues

[John Donivan]

========[ Invite a Friend - http://www.ganoksin.com/invite.htm  ]========

    Hello, Cathy.. I read a reply to this and had to go to the original
    to get it clear - always a good idea. First, the easy one, which
    another reply answers, also. Your measurement of 2.12 is about right
    for a 2.5mm stone (see the other reply, too, though). But a more
    general rule of thumb for all settings, bezel, prong, channel, is
    that the stone should just NOT fit into the space. The stone should
    just hang by the edges of the girdle on top of the setting. In your
    mind cut a bearing into the setting, and the outer diameter of that
    bearing cut and the stone girdle should resemble each other. I say it
    this way because it's more of a general way for any stone. The same
    idea applies to a 15 x 19 pear shape and a 2.5mm round. This is much
    more useful, because real diamond setters rarely encounter calibrated
    stones, or calibrated tubing, for that matter. If you want to 
practice
    channel setting, there are many channel set pendants, or eternity
    rings. While there do exist "premade channels", there aren't many and
    I haven't seen one in a while. The reason being as you say that they
    are almost always built into the piece, like down a shank. If you
    soldered a strip of channel onto a piece, it will look just like a
    channel soldered on, and they don't bend well at all. It's a chore to
    make channels, but it's pretty easy, really. For melee size, I 
usually
    just cut them - I start with a round bur of 1/2 - 2/3 the stone
    diameter to sink it, and then finish it off. This is what equalling
    files are made for, that kind of work. For larger stones there are as
    many ways of making a "U" profile as there are people - cut a base
    piece to width and solder two strips on either side - I like to bend
    a wire into a long "U", solder it onto a base, and then cut off the
    "U" part - instant channel, with some tweaking... 

http://www.donivanandmaggiora.com
____________________________________________________________________
T h e   O r c h i d   L i s t
Open Electronic Forum for Jewelry Manufacturing Methods and Procedures
____________________________________________________________________
Orchid FAQ:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/faq.htm
Orchid Archives:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/archive
Orchid Galleries:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/gallery.htm
Invite a Friend:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/invite.htm
____________________________________________________________________
Tips From The Jeweler's Bench - Article Archive
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/tip_sear.htm
The Jeweler's Selected Bibliography List
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/jewelry-books
Buy Orchid Jewelry:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/shop
____________________________________________________________________
-Unsubscribe:
-Email: orchid-request AT ganoksin.com Body=unsubscribe subject=blank
____________________________________________________________________