Anyone into lapidary?

[slodave]

My best friends b-day is tomorrow and I had been thinking about making her a sterling silver and turquoise ring. She does like her rings! I procrastinated until yesterday, but sourced all the materials yesterday and started working on it. Finished it this evening.

I took silversmithing in HS, but we never made rings. It's also been a long time since then! Thank you YouTube! Found a nice, short video that outlined everything I needed to know. Sine I have the woodshop to work out of and a crap ton of tools - though, I needed a bunch I didn't have, but improvised. I wish I had taken more pix of the process, but it's too late now!

First, form the band of the bezel to the stone.


Then solder it to the base of the bezel.


Next is to trim the bezel.


I used a piece of a sterling silver bracelet my mom never wears anymore for the bottom portion of the ring. I had to file it into ahape, as it had some slight design bends in it. Then cut and form the "V" on each side.


Next, solder the two pieces together. Set stone and polish.




Done!


I think she'll be very surprised and happy.

I'm thinking about taking this a bit further and start making some jewelry....

[on2wheels52]

Hiccups?

[masraum]

Very cool. When I was younger, I was into "rocks" whether it be raw/rough specimens of things or stuff that had been polished or whatever. I always thought that it would be cool to be able to make jewelry. Nice result, and so glad that you were able to get a thread or two created.

[Baz]

Nice work there, Dave.

Sorry though....can't resist....

[Steve Carlton]

Check with slodave. That's all he talks about.

[slodave]

Yeah.... There was a glitch in the system.... iPhone and Pelican don't mix. Seems when I went to preview the post, it submitted it each time. Or I was going for a new record for duplicate posts.

[BlueSkyJaunte]

My grandfather (RIP) had an entire basement devoted to his lapidary hobby. He faceted stones, made lots of silver jewelry and went on numerous rockhunting expeditions. Sadly by the time I was old enough to appreciate it he was slowing down and just making a ring for each of his three daughters's birthdays.

My mother has quite a collection of his work. I have two small pieces that he did (a small silver ring and a button cover I wore in place of a bowtie for my wedding).

Your post and that cool ring you made brought all kinds of memories to the surface.

Did you polish the stone as well?

[look 171]

Dave, not lapidary, but have grown up on my dad's lap in front of a jewelry bench. Naturally, I ended up working for him during highschool and college and being a closet wood worker / cabinet maker did not help. It was commercial jewelry, but it was all done by hand as my father's training was from the old country. He has a drill, polishing machinery, and an ultrasonic cleaner. That was it. He forged all his stuff by hand, no casting and such. I haven't done it in over 15-20 years, but i have done my fair share of dirty finger tips on those work bench. If you need help with any of that stuff, give me shout. I don't have any connection with stone dealers and such anymore, but I still know my way around a file and anvil.

[slodave]

Originally Posted by BlueSkyJaunte

My grandfather (RIP) had an entire basement devoted to his lapidary hobby. He faceted stones, made lots of silver jewelry and went on numerous rockhunting expeditions. Sadly by the time I was old enough to appreciate it he was slowing down and just making a ring for each of his three daughters's birthdays.

My mother has quite a collection of his work. I have two small pieces that he did (a small silver ring and a button cover I wore in place of a bowtie for my wedding).

Your post and that cool ring you made brought all kinds of memories to the surface.

Did you polish the stone as well?

Glad I could help bring back memories.


This stone I did not. Don't have the proper wet wheels to do it. I did look it over and it did remind me of my silversmithing class on HS. Innthat class we did cut and polish stones for our projects. That process was fun, frustrating, and tedious.

[craigster59]

So did she like it?

[slodave]

Originally Posted by craigster59

So did she like it?

I've not seen her yet. She was out of town visiting family, came back late last night. We gotta talk later about dinner plans this week.