Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist – September 2019

Again, coat every delicate surface

with yellow ocher, including the thin

wires where they extend outward,

and apply heat from the torch, using

the #0 tip. Heat until the solder fi ller

burns off and the silver fl ows. Quench,

pickle, and rinse. The 20-gauge wires

also are extra long to dissipate heat

and protect them from melting.

14

Use fi ne, round-tipped pliers

and fi ne-tipped cutters to curl

and trim the 20-gauge wires into eye-

lets. Flux the piece all over again, and

coat at-risk details with yellow ocher.

Apply more extra easy paste solder

to close these eyelets, and focus a

low #01 tip fl ame on them until solder

fl ows. Quench, pickle, and rinse.

15

The last fabrication step is to

trim off the 20-gauge wires

between the twigs to open up the

Easier Ways

• Do you belong to a rock club? Then
  you may know someone who’s into
  faceting. Create your design, and ask
  them if they would be willing to cut
  and polish stones for you.


• Create a simple stone setting using
  sterling silver sheet and prongs
  embedded into your Solderite board.
  Solder a closed jump ring to the top,
  add a ready-made bail, and string from
  a chain.


• I had a casting company make me
  a dozen sterling silver frogs, which
  are about ¾" in length. I’ve made
  frog pendants and clutch-back pins.
  You can solder them on to pieces of
  textured sheet, cut-out sterling silver
  washers, ring bands...
  
  
  • Turn your frogs into earrings. Add
    half-drilled pearls by soldering a
    closed jump ring onto the front toes.
  
  
  • Consider using a full-service casting
    company. They can scan, 3D print,
    and cast multiples of the rubber frog
    in Photo 12. Or any other small object
    you come across that you would like to
    have duplicated. I did that recently for
    a trout-inspired piece that appeared
    as “And Thereby Hangs a Tail” in the
    last issue.
  
  
  • Not into swamp things? Rio Grande
    and other catalog companies sell
    dozens of sterling silver charms and
    components, such as horses, panthers,
    dragonflies, wings, mermaids, initials,
    religious symbols, and scroll-work
    hearts, so there are lots of choices. Use
    these for your project.
    
    
    • If you’ve mastered making twig-like
      shapes out of sterling silver, consider
      fabricating twigs and turn them into
      rings, bangles, simple pendants, and
      brooches. Want to make multiples?
      Send your originals to your casting
      company. Have them make molds and
      reproduce your designs.
    
    
    • Do a riff on the half-drilled pearl I
      wire wrapped onto the bottom of the
      emerald pendant. It makes a great
      stand-alone piece if you epoxy it onto
      a larger wire wrapped eyelet, then
      string the pearl on a delicate chain.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  

A simple 5-prong setting holds a triangular

manmade emerald.

Mockup of a sterling silver twig necklace

with sea glass.

The wire wrapping technique used in the

emerald necklace project also can work to

create delicate pearl pendants. Or earrings

dangling from ear wires.

view. Then sand away all rough edges

and polish the setting with Tripoli until

the silver shines.

FINAL POLISH AND

SET STONE

Although natural emeralds have a

hardness of 7½ to 8, they can chip

or break during setting because of

their inclusions. Same is true for the

RusGems emeralds I cut. Hardness is

the resistance to scratching; brittle-

ness is a diff erent matter.

Photos 16-18 feature a triangular

rose-cut emerald in a fl at back prong

setting. The gap was created when the

stone got hung up on some extra sol-

der on the prongs. (See this fi nished

project in Easier Ways below.)

16

The fi rst step is to make sure

the modifi ed rose cut fi ts

perfectly fl at in the setting.

17

Use a small bud bur and

sanding disks to cut away the

meniscus of solder between the

back plate and each prong.

18

Put the stone back in the

setting and mark where you

want to trim the prongs. Again, this

is an example of a triangular setting.

Each prong should be long enough

to bend over the second facet. At

the bench, trim the excess off with

a saw, then round each prong with

Moore’s sanding disks. Toss in a

shot-fi lled tumbler for an hour to

help harden surfaces.

19

The 12-gauge prongs are stiff

after tumbling. So, gently

anneal them with the small fl ame

of a #00 torch tip. Then thin them

some more with a sanding disk.

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019 93