Loosening up some skills.

Whenever I lay off of metal work for awhile I have to warm up with a project.  It is a lot like riding a bike - it comes back.  The bitch of it all is that you are working on something while you are warming up and you aren't pedaling as fast as you did and the handle bars wobble and sometimes the wheel wants to fall off the bike.  I think that covers it. 

So I want to bezel a stone with outside prongs and then go from there.  Here are the drawings that are coming along.  As usual I put my cart before my horse - although that's not unusual when you are just "going for it".  As rough as it is at the moment it will all turn out.

Not exactly an artistic rendering but you get the idea of the possible permutations of this piece.

I did a square wire circle to set the stone on and added prongs (not to worry, they aren't cut to length yet.  I just wanted to get them on).

Not the best pic (not even pickled yet) - but you can see the how it's going to sit on the square wire.

Then I figured I needed a bail - duh, nice thing to think of after I had started but whatever.  See the drawing - plenty can be done here after the fact so it's not so worrisome.  I was considering this thick rubber cord I have so it's going to have to have a healthy opening on it.

All four prongs are on here now.  Now there are choices - lots of choices.  Considering the second one from the left.

 

After I did the initial setting it just seemed plain and I've been working on cabs for the project Susan and I are doing so I figured maybe I needed something hanging from the stone.   I didn't want to try and match up a stone bullet so out came the glass so I could match some colors.   You can create bullet cabs on the end of a mandrel so that is what I did.  I will lap the ends just a bit so they have plenty of surface to grab inside a bezel when it's set.  Primarily I went organic on the design so it would be like the stone but maybe it's too matchy - matchy. 

 

I'll make a few more bullet cabs today before I decide on the final one.  With a heavy silver bail between the two pieces like in the drawing it will break up the match some and then maybe a citrine colored stone on the bezel would help with that too.

 

Choices, choices - good to have them but it always gives me a reason to procrastinate and be slow.

 

Hey, did you see silver is down in price again.....hallelujah!