Another string to the bow!

Bezel making technique finally achieved.... 

This has been, quite literally, the most exciting week in the studio for me! Although slightly worrying in some respects too because now I know this technique is achievable, I'm going to want to go on a spending spree for gemstone cabochons and fancy bezel wire!

It all began about 3 years ago when I commissioned a glass artist friend of mine (Jo Turner) to make a glass cabochon for me. I spent many hours researching how to go about making a setting and bought in all the necessary equipment. Low and behold, I was able to create this beast of a ring!

The basic ingredients - a cabochon, bezel wire & sheet silver

One huge ring!

I added the beaded wire to hide a few soldering mistakes!

So off I went on my merry way sourcing some more lovely glass cabochons!

These glass cabochons look like the contain mini galaxies or nebulae!

But could I solder those bezels?! Perhaps they were just too big and I couldn't get my silver sheet hot enough? Well, 3 years on and I have finally got this technique to work again for me - fluked the first try I guess, I'm not sure!
It's pretty hard for me to pick myself up after failure. Some people are able to bounce back no problems but for me, I stew for long periods of time. I consider the financial costs of having to purchase more materials, new equipment and question my own sanity - after all, isn't the quote about insanity something to do with repeating the same task and expecting a different outcome?!
So every few months I would come back to this technique, try something new but alas, fail. Until finally, last week, I had a breakthrough! What did it in the end? Buying a tripod with wire gauze allowing me to heat my silver sheet from below - it worked a treat! Here are some work in progress shots:

The bezel wall freshly soldered onto the sheet silver - no gaps!

Carefully sawing around the bezel wall

Soldered on a beaded loop to the back - ta da!

To prove this wasn't a fluke either I also successfully managed another 2 settings but these are a top secret personal project - all will be revealed shortly!

Thanks for reading!