Five Stone Dress Ring

This is a project from Stage 9 of the Apprentice program at Jewellery Training Solutions, a stage dedicated to advanced soldering skills and construction, as well as multistone settings. When I finished Stage 8 and was looking ahead, I commented about how Stage 9 seemed like it was a bit easier. I was so wrong! However, Peter Keep, of Jewellery Training Solutions, has done a brilliant job of structuring the lessons so your progression of skills keeps pace with the project, even if at the time it might seem like you’re in way over your head. There were so many prongs in this one - at times it seemed as if I was struggling with an octopus! Two more rings to go in this level - I’m on a mission now!

What were the challenges?

This lesson taught a different way to make the bezels, from a single sheet of metal. Peter says this is a quicker method, although as long as it took me to make this ring, I can’t imagine how long it would have taken using a different method! The real challenge in this ring is that there is virtually no room for error - each stone has to fit just a hair’s width apart from one other. Any closer and they will crack, any further apart and the shared prong won’t hold them in. The other challenge was simply so many soldering steps, so close together. I was thankful not to melt anything.

Where could I improve?

I could improve a lot on this one. I got the spacing of the stones almost correct, but unfortunately I chipped one of the purple ones when setting. I should have scooted the seat over a touch. There were also a couple spots where the stones should have been closer together. Just a hair - as I said, there really isn’t room for error in this project. One of the bottom holes is out of alignment . Also, some of the prongs are a bit off center. While soldering all of the prongs, I had some trouble getting the solder to flow, so there was a fair amount of cleanup to be done (as can be seen in that first photo).

What did I learn?

This was a really interesting way to make the bezel, although it seemed to take forever to carve it. When I do this technique again, however, I want to drill the holes in the bottom after the carving so I can be sure to get them exactly centered and the correct size. I’m becoming more comfortable with positioning the stones and setting, though. I am still struggling to get the prong tips a nice round shape and very flat to the stone so that they don’t snag on clothing. These need to be adjusted a bit.