Rutile / Rutiliated Quartz Gemstone Cabochon Bezel Jewelry Design

March 24, 2009

Members on my forum join in with bi monthly semiprecious gemstone cabochon contests. This time instead of picking a particular mineral this time we are doing any mineral type in freeform. Any way, as a result I ended up choosing Titainium Rutile in Quartz for my entry. Wanted to share my limited experience working with […]

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Todays Quartz Gemstone Silver Soldered Bezel Setting Attempt Using Flattened Wire Backing

March 1, 2009

Needed something to blog about so thought would add an entry about today’s soldering project. I wanted to try another like 1Rockhounds Biggs Jasper piece with the bezel tape on the outside of the backing. Except I tried another attempt at using flattened wire for the backing again instead of cut out sheet backing. The […]

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Stock Market Plunge Changes My Casual Online Venture Into A More Serious Business Obligation

February 12, 2009

At year end we had thought after a portfolio evaluation, things were not going to be so bad. That has changed. Another recent evaluation shows that I am going to loose some where between 20 and 30% of monthly income. What was once a casual and non stress business/hobby now has to be picked up […]

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Undercutting Gemstone Cabochons – Minerals and Abrasives – Preforming

February 8, 2009

For most Lapidaries, cutting gemstone cabochons has most likely resulted in at least a few undercutting experiences.  For the purpose of this blog entry, I wanted to post a bit about undercutting as related in dealing with combined soft and hard mineral compositions . Different from that of flat spots that result from sanding and […]

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Joining Jewelry Design Social Networking Communities

February 2, 2009

About a year ago I began exploring various marketing and promotional techniques for the purpose of boosting my online presence. I think just like myself, a lot of brand new online lapidary related business owners find ourselves somewhat overwhelmed with the many different possibilities that just sorta seem to present themselves to us as we […]

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Trials And Tribulations From Soldering My Gemstone Necklace With Step Bezel Setting

January 22, 2009

Just to share ….. One of my recent pieces started out so well…… I was smiling through the entire process of shaping and soldering the three step bezels for this three piece necklace. Then came the last two solders for the little bails on the top of the two hanging pieces. That is when disaster […]

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Sterling or .999 for inner rim / bearing of bezel?

January 21, 2009

Thought might try to get some activity/discussions started on my new Ganoksin blog! This network is really awesome! Any way…, I am getting ready to start forming some 18 gauge bezel settings. Looking at a William Fretz page showing the process. It shows how to solder the inner wall of the bezel with a thinner […]

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Silversmith Forging Hammers Used For Embossing, Raising, Planishing, and Texturing

January 19, 2009

A Glance at Jewelry – Scale Silversmithing Methods by William Fretz Designs I would like to acknowledge the Lapidary Journal / Jewelry Artist magazine. Permission to do this blog entry was kindly provided by William Fretz. The original article was from the November 2007 issue. Forging is a controlled method of moving metal by stretching […]

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Tutorial Guide Making Assembled Gemstone Cabochons

January 19, 2009

Bob Rush of Bobs Premium Cabs shared this assembled gemstone tutorial with our forum members. Although not the same thing, it reminded me of the domed intarsia type cabs that a few members make and have shared. theImageOne shared his tutorial about those. Like Bobs assembled cabochons, they are glued too. Here is Bobs Tutorial […]

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Learning About Basic Silversmithing Techniques , Start Up Tools , and Supplies

January 19, 2009

Not too long ago I fumbled my way through silver soldering my first piece of jewelry. It hardly qualifies me as a Silversmith, but sure felt good ! Over the past few days I managed to silver solder some bezel tape around a couple of more. The one is a Carved Agate Cameo, and the […]

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