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  • Textured Silver and Floating Stone Ring
    • From "Crafters Coast to Coast"
    episode HCC2C-136F


    PHOTO
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    Project by Simma Chester of Novato, Calif.

    Simma is a woman of many talents, including sculpting, drawing, weaving and sewing. But her jewelry is what she enjoys the most, like this textured sterling silver and floating stone ring.

    Materials:

    22-gauge sterling silver sheet
    bezel wire
    amber "donut"
    turquoise cabachon
    easy and medium solder
    soldering touch
    "pickle" (metal cleaning chemical)
    flux
    metal files
    sand paper

    PHOTO

    Figure A
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    Figure B
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    Figure C
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    Figure D
    Steps:

    1. Choose metal for band (gauge/thickness, ring size, etc) (figure A). Prepare the metal by sawing, filing, and sanding.

    2. Add design to the band using stamps and hammer or a rolling mill.

    3. Curve and join ends to prepare for soldering closed. Solder band closed (figure B) and put into pickle (cleaning chemical). Extract from pickle and clean.

    4. Hammer on ring mandrel to get ring shape (figure C).

    5. Make bezel for bottom stone. Solder in place and add to pickle for cleaning.

    6. Solder backs (seats) to bezel by soldering and pickle. Solder bottom seat to ring and pickle. Solder pin onto bottom seat (to hold top stone).

    7. Drill top stone seat to accommodate pin from bottom seat. The rivet must be snug.

    8. Put the finished piece into a tumbler machine to polish (before setting stones).

    9. Extract from tumbler, dry, and set stones (figure D). First set the bottom stone and then rivet the top seat before setting the top stone.

    10. Patina the piece to give an antique finish.

    Website: www.simmachester.com

  • ALSO IN THIS EPISODE:
  		• Textured Silver and Floating Stone Ring
  		• Three-Layer Star Book
  		• Paper Collage Bookmark
  		• Handmade Tile Mosaic Frame