06/16 Alternative Stone Setting: Adding Gold Bezels
Thursday, June 16, 2022
6:00 - 8:00 pm PDT
Instructor: Jennifer Stenhouse
Beginning to Intermediate Levels
Zoom link and instructions for joining the call will be emailed 1 day prior to class.
The class supply list is below and contains links to buy the supplies you need.
This class will be recorded, and the recording will be available for students to access through their Little Metal Foxes accounts for a full month after the live class.
Bezels are a great place to start your stone-setting skills. Adding a gold bezel to a stone can highlight its natural beauty and add value to jewelry. We will begin with the working properties of gold bezels, making them from scratch, and with great tips to make them affordable. We will explore bezels for faceted, cabochon, and free-form stones. Demonstrations will include soldering gold and gold-fill bezels, recycling tips and tricks, and of course, soldering gold bezels to sterling for contrast. Following the class, students are encouraged to produce both samples and finished elements for jewelry applications and share with fellow classmates.
Students can practice on samples in gold, fine silver, or sterling. Participants are encouraged to try working in sterling silver sheet and gold bezels to set stones.
Students may work along with their materials or just choose to just watch, take notes, and participate in the class. Everyone is encouraged to return to the LMF website, sign in to your account and watch the video again for up to a month following the class. Pro tip: Take screenshots of images that you want details of and add them to your notes for reference later!
Prerequisite: Beginning to intermediate jewelry working skills. You will need the ability and tools to solder.
Supply List for Students
The links below will take you to RioGrande.com or other suppliers. To see prices for precious metal items, you need a free Rio Grande account. Registered Little Metal Foxes students can access the Rio for Schools program for significant savings (discounts and flat-rate shipping). This site may contain Amazon and other affiliate links. If you purchase something through the link, at no cost to you, we may receive a small commission on qualifying purchases.
Recommended Tools & Supplies:
Solder options:
- Silver: easy, medium, hard, 1' each
- 14k Gold solder (2 inches 14k medium 22ga wire)
Flux options:
- Options for silver, copper, or brass, paste flux:
- Options for gold & gold-fill
- Rio Stop Ox II
- "Homemade" Flux (Prip's Flux)
- Borax from the grocery store
- Boric acid from the drug store
- Measuring Teaspoon from the hardware store
Metal options:
- 18g, 16g, or 20g, 1/2 hard Sterling sheet (small amount to work with)
- Gold bezel, recommend 1/8” 26ga dead-soft about 3"
- Gold-fill 14/20 bezel wire, recommend 1/8”, about 1 foot
- Wide fine silver bezel wire
(The height of the stone will determine how wide a bezel you will need.)
Stone options:
Don’t use your best/most precious stones to learn a new technique. Try a few inexpensive options first, like CZ’s, or semi-precious stones.
- Rio Grande has a great selection of faceted stones and CZs. Try a new shape like a pear or rectangle.
- Etsy has many stone sellers that have a nice wide variety. With online sellers, be sure to read all the details carefully so you know what you are getting.
- Verzazio, (and similar wholesale gem sellers). They have a great affordable grab 100ct bag of assorted stones that will allow you to play and practice. They are genuine gems stones. But the selection always varies in colors and shapes. They can be found on Etsy, Amazon, and eBay. Again read the descriptions carefully so you know what sizes are likely to be in the group.
Supplies from the hardware or craft store:
- Paper and pencils
- Safety glasses
- Set of small drill bits
- Pack of craft needles
- Large craft needles or tapestry needle
- Little paintbrush for flux
- Small hammer
- Wet/dry emery paper, 200/400/600
- Fine Sharpie
Tools for the basic kit list:
These tools are available from Rio Grande and other suppliers local and online for your convenience. But, if you have your own tools or want to add to your kit, this is what I will be using. You will need access to basic jewelry working and soldering tools.
Basic Soldering Supplies
- Copper tongs - 501017
- Flux
- Flux brush - 115141 or small cheap paintbrush with natural bristles & plastic ferrule
- Pickle - 5010233 - OR sodium bisulfate for pools from the hardware store
- Pickle pot - 501021 - OR small crockpot; OR glass jar & plastic lid on a mug warmer
- Solder Easy, medium, and hard, minimum 3" each
- Solder pick, - OR pick made from 6"-10" of a wire coat hanger with a point on one end
- Solderite pad 6" x 6" - 505063, 502064, or other fireproof soldering surface (a fire brick or scrap of cement board, i.e. HardieBacker(R) tile board)
- Torch lighter - 114.205 (Otto Frei)
- Bernzomatic Propane Torch - includes built-in lighter (Home Depot)
- Blazer Butane Torch (Amazon)
- Orca EZ Torch - 114.250, for disposable propane tanks (Otto Frei)
- Smith Little Torch - Contact us for our recommendations
- Soft charcoal block
Basic Tools
- 6" half round file
- Beeswax or bur life
- Bench block
- Bench pin
- Bench pin & anvil - 110014
- Bench vise
- Brass sliding gauge - 116075
- Burnishing tool
- Center punch - 118117
- Chain-nose pliers - 111911
- Chasing hammer - 112225
- Cross-lock tweezers - 115051
- Dividers - 116224
- Drill - pendant drill, flex-shaft, hand drill
- Emery board or sapphire nail file (Amazon)
- Flat hand file #2 cut - 114925 (get a handle as well)
- Flat-nose pliers - 111912
- Flat/half round forming pliers - 111180
- Flush wire cutters
- Forming pliers
- Half round hand file #2 - 114931
- Jewelers saw blades 4/0 or 2/0
- Jewelers saw frame -110039
- Joyce Chen shears (Amazon)
- Large craft needles or tapestry needle
- Loupe (magnifying eyepiece) - 113780
- Magnifiers/Optivisor
- Metal ruler - 116493
- Needle file set
- Nylon mallet - 112013
- Small ball pein hammer - 119333
- Pair chain-nose pliers – 111911
- Pair flat-nose pliers – 111912
- Paste solder
- Patina - Liver of Sulfur gel - 331033
- Pin vise - 113146 & sewing needle (creates a scribe)
- Polishing cloth - 337039
- Ring clamp - 113106 or Ring clamp - 113969
- Ring mandrel - 112575
- Riveting hammer - 112087 (optional, if you have a chasing hammer)
- Round-nose pliers - 111913
- Safety glasses
- Sanding sticks (DIY - popsicle sticks &+ masking tape)
- Sandpaper (800, 600, 400, 220 grits)
- Scribe
- Set 6 needle files (cut #2) - 114797
- Set of small drill bits
- Side cutters - 111931
- Small ball-peen hammer
- Small rawhide mallet
- Small tweezers
- Tweezers (for solder placement) - 115018