Setting an Oval Cabochon Stone in a Bezel

Setting an Oval Cabochon Stone in a Bezel

It has been a while since I started this little Oval Cab Project, so I figured I should finish building these earrings and setting the stones. When I left off, I just finished soldering the bezel together, today I will solder the posts on the back, and set the stones.

I have the bezels built, so now I fit the stones in the settings, I will trim the bezels down just a bit so the bezels do not cover up too much of the stone. I do this with a #4 Hand File and follow it with a sanding stick with 600 Sandpaper on it. After the bezel is to the height I want, I solder the posts on the back. I use Medium Silver Solder, Handy Flux, and my Mini Torch to do this. I solder this on a flat Soldering Board.

Now that I have the earrings assembled, I mount them in Dop Wax which is attached to a wooden dowel for ease of handling. The wooden dowel I am using has a “slit” cut into it so the post of the earring can sink into the wax and secure the earring better. I heat up the silver earrings just enough so it sinks into the wax, to the base of the bezel. I do not want much of the bezel itself sunk into the wax because I will be bending this area over the stone.

After the earrings are set into the Dop Wax, I put the stone in the settings and use a Prong Pusher to slowly and carefully bend the bezel over the stone. I am careful to not press too hard or the piece will come loose from the wax, and bend the earring post.

Another way to hold the earrings is to drill a small hole into your Wooden Bench Pin so that the earring post can go into the hole and the setting sits flat on the surface of the bench pin. You still want to secure the bezel with your fingers while you are setting the stones.

The stones are now set and ready to be cleaned up. I hold the pieces with a small Pin Vise and clean up and take out the marks with a couple of rubber wheels. I use a Medium Grit Rubber Wheel to take out the marks and blend, and use a Pink Silicon Wheel to finish taking out the scratches and polish.

The pink silicon wheel will leave a nice shiny surface, but you can also take the pieces to a polishing wheel to give it that fine shiny luster.

There you have it, a quick way (in 3 tutorials) to make a cute little 6×4 oval cab earring set. You can use this technique on oval, round, or any other shaped bezels, and larger or smaller stones as well. I hope this inspires you to try something new and shows how easy bezel setting can be.

As always, Thank you for stopping by and “hanging out” for a bit. I know how important everyone’s time is, especially at this time of year with Christmas around the bend. I try to keep these posts short and to the point, while trying to fit everything in and explaining in an easy to understand way.

If you have a little extra time, check out some of the other posts, there are a bunch of them by now and don’t forget to sign up to get these lessons sent to you via email.

Now go dazzle someone with your new-found talents.

Doug

“Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, for it is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold.”