Six Claw Solitaire

This is the second project from Stage 6 of the Silver program at Jewellery Training Solutions. The projects are definitely getting more difficult. The soldering on this one was a real challenge!

What were the challenges?

Making the basket for this ring was a real challenge! There are 15 solder joints in total, and I melted it a couple of times and had to start over. Great practice for heat control, though! At least making the half round ring shank is becoming pretty “easy.”

Where could I improve?

In my opinion, the setting looks a little spindly. I don’t know if I don’t have the stone at the right height, or I’m not used to looking at a six-claw ring. I think the prongs fold over the stone more than they should, too. In the example ring, the prongs seemed to be more rounded. I also had difficulty getting the prongs pushed down enough on the stone so they didn’t catch on anything.

What did I learn?

The big learning moment for this one was simply to make a six claw setting and attach it to the ring shank! While he covers the basics of stone setting in the lessons, I’m looking forward to finishing my apprentice program and moving on to the stone-setting program so that I can learn how to truly set them correctly. I still really struggle with this.