Liz's Jewelry Bench
CLICK ON THE IMAGES TO SEE AN ENLARGED VIEW
 
Liz's Jewelry Bench
Liz's Bench on left, Doc's on the right
Soldering Area
We thought that you might be interested in seeing some of the
steps involved in constructing some of our jewelry projects.
Make a Simple Ring
This particular ring is a two wire shank, 14K gold ring with a
bezel cup for an opal. Look at the steps involved in the process.
Here are the raw materials that will allow us to build the ring.
Gold sheet metal, gold bezel wire, gold round wire and the opal.
I cut a length of the gold bezel wire to fit around the opal and bend
it into a flattened oval shape in order to make the ends meet perfectly. They have
to fit together exactly in order to solder them together.
Here is the bezel bend into a flattened oval and held in a pair of
soldering tweezers with a piece of gold solder sitting on the seam ready to solder.
After soldering the bezel is formed to the proper shape by placing it
on the steel oval bezel mandrel (seen at the bottom of the photo above) and hammering it
with the hammer seen at the top of the photo. Once the bezel is formed into a the
proper oval shape the opal is place into the bezel to check the fit.
Enlarge the photo to see how closely the bezel fits the opal. A
close fit is important.
Next the wires are sawed to length for the ring shank. For
this ring we will need two lengths.
Here you can see the flattened ovals necessary for soldering.
After soldering, the ring is hammered to shape over a steel ring
mandrel.
Then the second ring is also formed over the ring mandrel
One side of each ring is sanded down to create a flat area in order to
have a surface area where the two rings can be soldered together.
Here the rings are placed between two steel blocks to make them
perfectly flat in preparation for soldering.
After soldering the space between the two rings is file and sanded to
make it into a groove that is even and attractive.
A small piece of gold sheet is sawed to fit below the bezel and form
the bottom of the bezel cup.
Here the sheet metal piece has been soldered to the bezel. It
looks horrible before it has been pickled in an acid solution to remove the oxides.
If you enlarge the photo you can see the shiny line of the solder that we watch for when
soldering to show that the solder has flowed everywhere we need for it to be.
The excess metal has been sawed off, the edges then filed and sanded
until the base and the bezel appear to be one unit. The solder seam is not visible
in the construct.
Now the two component parts are ready for assembly, the bezel cup
and the shank.
A place on the shank is flattened to prepare the shank for the bezel
cup.
Checking to see if the bezel cup fits against the shank.
   
In this series of photos the bezel cup is just sitting on the shank.
A horizontal configuration look just as good as the intended vertical placement.
 
Ready to solder and when soldering is finished. Notice it looks
really bad again. It goes back into the pickle.
 
After the pickling process the now soldered ring is cleaned.
The opal is being checked for fit again. With close tolerances
the shape of the bezel can change slightly during soldering.
 
The opal has now been set and the ring is finished, a successful
fabrication.
Look on the Custom Jewelry Page
for more photos of this ring and the cabochon before it was set into the ring.
We will be happy to fabricate a ring like this for you or one
that is very different. Pick a cabochon from one of our Cabochon pages, or we will
be happy to cut one to suit your specifications. This one was purchased from our
Cabochons Page by the owner of this ring.
Another Simple Ring
Here is another type of ring that is relatively simple to
fabricate. Before you start to look at these photos you might be interested in
watching the steps involved in cutting the actual opal that goes into this ring. The
photos on Doc's Opal Bench show photos of this opal being
cut along with some others.
The ring below started with the opal. The customer picked
out the opal that she wanted and preferred the way that the opal looked when it was placed
over a black background. For me that meant that we would be placing the opal into at
least a partial bezel cup so that the metal area beneath the opal could be darkened.
Some of her choices for her ring. She picked the opal at the top
left in this photo.
 
This is the way that the opal looked on my brown desk top (to
show a dark background) and the way that it looked over white - I know it does not look
white, but it was. Now you can see, perhaps, why she wanted the opal set over a dark
background. Many of the crystal opals are like this and many of the clear Mexican
opals are the same way. That is why we frequently picture them over a light
background and over a dark background.
We now had the opal cabochon that we wanted to use and I then
did a number of designs sketches for the customer that would work for the opal and to have
a dark background under it. The sketch that she picked is show below.
We agreed that a hammer texture on the shank would be an
effective texture for the ring. So, with the design agreed upon I started to work.
The bezel for the opal was made by sawing a length of metal
into a strip in a length sufficient to go around the opal, but leave no excess space.
We show the fabrication of a bezel in the set of photos above, so we will not
repeat that here.
The length of the shank was determined by the ring size in
conjunction with the gauge of the metal being used. The metal for the shank was then
covered in white Contact paper and the shank design was sketched onto the paper.
I put the Contact paper on both sides to keep unnecessary scratches off of the
opposite side of the shank creating a sandwich with the metal I am about to saw in the
middle.
Here is my metal sandwich with the metal between Contact paper
on each side.
Here is the pattern that I plan to use sketched onto the Contact paper.
An oval that corresponds to the size of the opal we are using is drawn
for reference here along with some curved reference lines
Here one side of the metal has been sawed away. Notice that I am
staying on the outside of these thickened lines. I do not want to be close.
There has to be plenty of room to solder on the bezel when I am through with the
sawing. I can file the shank to size at a later stage.
The entire shank is now sawn out. The length is slightly longer
than what is required and I am well outside of the outline for the shank.
An oval that corresponds to the size of the opal we are using is drawn
for reference here along with some curved reference lines. I am going to refine the
sawn out shape by filing and I do not want to go too far.
The basic shape is okay and I have removed the Contact paper from the
shank.
Just checking. Doc always quotes the old saying that says
to measure twice and cut once. A really good procedure to follow in making jewelry.
We normally bend shanks by hammering them into shape on a mandrel
starting with the ends. In this case I was able to bend this one this far by hand.
The balance of the bending was done with a hammer.
Now I have hammered the shank into a circle. The seam needs some
work though. The ends of the shank must meet exactly in order to solder them together.
Here the bezel and shank seams are ready to be soldered. The
cut-to-length bezel was formed into a circle and the seam sanded and cleaned to prepare
for soldering. The seam on the shank has been sanded and made to align perfectly for
soldering as well.
Here are the two pieces after they have been soldered together.
The bezel and shank have been cleaned up somewhat after soldering.
Both have been rounded to fit. The bezel was place on an oval steel mandrel
and the ring on a round steel ring mandrel and then they were hammered into shape.
The trickiest part in making this ring is making the bezel fit exactly
against the shank. The surface of the shank is curved and the bottom of the bezel
has to be filed to make it fit exactly against the curve of the shank. Solder will
not fill holes or skip gaps so the fit must be exact. I have made the bezel extra
tall - taller than I actually need or want - in order to allow for errors in the sanding
and filling process to follow. I want to have plenty of room to work with in my
fitting.
The shank has been formed into a circle and the bezel now fits snugly
against the shank. We are ready to solder.
Bezel and shank ready for soldering. If you enlarge the photo
above you can probably see the solder chips inside of the bezel. A lot more solder
than I would use in an ordinary application, but excess solder inside of the bottom of
this bezel cup will not matter and I would rather have too much solder in this application
than not enough.
The thin shiny line at the base of the bezel tells me that the solder
joint between the bezel and the shank is complete. I look for this line to go
uninterrupted all the way around the base of the bezel before I quit soldering.
I have pickled the ring - removed the oxides in an acid solution
- cleaned it up somewhat, and now I am working to file the bezel down to a level that is
pleasing. This is also a good view of the bezel that shows the necessity of the
fitting the bezel exactly to the shank.
Speaking of fit, I want to see if the opal still fits into the bezel
and it does. The high heat of soldering can actually deform the bezel sometimes and
since it is such a close fit it can be a problem. This time all is well.
 
The hammer texture in now applied to the shank of the ring. I
create the little dents using a small jeweler's hammer and a rounded dap near the bezel
where the hammer cannot strike. I want to get the texture on before setting
the opal into the bezel. I would not want to hammering near an opal where a
misplaced hammer strike could mean disaster.
The opal has been set into the bezel and final polishing is in
progress.
The ring is complete. I pronounce this project a success.
There are more photos of this ring on the Custom
Jewelry Page along with photos of the opal cabochon being cut on the Doc's Opal Bench Page of this web site. I do need to
thank the customer to allowing us the extra time during the fabrication of these projects
that is needed to stop and take photos every step along the way.
If you would like to talk to us about making a ring or other
piece of jewelry for you we would love to hear from you. There are unlimited design
choices and cut stone choices as well. We specialize in opals, but we are happy to
work with other materials. We can custom cut a cabochon for use in your ring from
almost any material that you can think of. Send us an email or give us a call.
We will be happy to talk with you about your project. Be sure and look at
some of our completed work on the Custom Jewelry Page.
, on the Art Jewelry Page, and on the More Art Jewelry Page of this web site.
opal@opalopal.com or
719-836-2143
or
Gold Rush Jewelry, Bead and Art Company
P.O. Box 635
Fairplay, CO 80440
719-836-2143
719-836-0831
You are welcome to call us. These numbers ring at our home and studio which are
located in the same place. Just place your call at some reasonable hour for our time
zone which is Mountain Time in the United States. You may also contact us by email
at any of the addresses below.
goldrush@starband.net
opal@opalopal.com
sales@opalopal.com
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