I had the opportunity to spend several hours in the garage today, so I decided to tackle my first bezel. I knew I didn't have any appropriate tools to set the stone, but I didn't actually expect to get to that point and thought I could just get the piece ready for setting.It turned out that I've misplaced my file too, so I had to sand the bezel down. I thought it might be a bit high, but I was tired of sanding, so I stopped too soon. The first time I thought I soldered the bezel to the back plate it actually didn't, but the second time worked just fine! Woo hoo!
I didn't have anything that let me strike the tube rivet on the front without damaging the bezel, so I basically didn't. That worked okay, but isn't ideal. And the lack of a file meant that finishing the edges of the piece wasn't done as well as it should have been. Oh, and when I soldered the jump ring I almost undid the solder on the bezel... But aside from that I thought it was all going well!
So I foolishly decided to try to set the stone. I had read that you can use a cut-off old toothbrush to bezel set fragile items so I thought I would give that a try. I couldn't hold the piece steady, and although the toothbrush worked, it didn't work easily. I ended up using my hammer to push over the bezel. This created a very rustic look that I almost like, but it does need some refinement.
All in all this was an entertaining and educational experience, even if the piece is far from perfect. Very far...
2 comments:
I love the rustic feel of this bezel. Well done
By the way I've "tagged" you as well.
You can see more about being tagged on my blog post here
http://getsilvered.blogspot.com/2007/05/ive-been-tagged.html
Hmmm....I really like this. I tend to prefer rustic looking pieces. They have a history. ;-) And my first bezel is on a ring. Even though it's not very good, I still wear it. But I'm reading back a while in your blog.....you've become very proficient at this. But I wanted to tell you that I really like this.
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