| Make
Stamped Stepped Bezel Wire
by
Victoria Lansford
Victoria's
Original Stamp Making Project
Translucent cabochons often need an open backed setting to
allow light to show off their beauty. Cutting out the center
of a bezel cup can create too much waste in a large setting,
and making multiple bezels with individual seats is too time
consuming. Creating strip bezel wire is relatively simple,
and embellishing it with your own customs stamps makes your
work so much more unique, endlessly extending your design
possibilities!
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Rivers
of Gold V (detail) |
Tools
& Equipment:
Acetylene
torch
Firebrick
Paste flux
Hard solder
Easy solder
Solder pick
19 gauge binding wire
Scriber
Dividers
Metal ruler
Metal sheers (I prefer kitchen sheers because they are precise
and more comfortable.)
Jeweler’s anvil or round mandrel
Materials:
6” x 1” sheet of 26 gauge fine silver sheet
2-3” 18 gauge sterling round wire
One large cabochon any shape
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Rivers
of Gold V |
The
stepped bezel wire is composed of two strips of fine silver
sheet. One is the shelf on which the stone sits, and one
is the outer strip that is stamped and folds over your stone.
Using 26 gauge sheet is ideal for setting stones more than
10mm in length because it is thick enough to wear well yet
thin enough to allow compression even around the tightest
curves and corners. It is best, however to stamp on the
part of the bezel that actually sits below your stone, so
that the part that gets folded over is not thinned out,
and the edge remains straight and undistorted.
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[1]
Determine the height of the area you would like to stamp.
You need enough space to stamp without hitting the bottom
edge. Use dividers to mark a strip this wide on your sheet
of fine silver. Cut the strip with sheers. This will be the
strip for the step inside the bezel.
Now determine how high a strip of fine silver you would need
to hold your stone in place, and add that amount to the width
of the strip just cut. Use the dividers to mark this second
wider strip on your remaining sheet of fine silver, and cut
it with sheers. This will be the outside of the bezel wire.
For the stone pictured, I needed approximately 4.5mm of space
to stamp the design and approximately 4.5mm to hold in the
55 x 22mm stone, so the outside strip was 9mm wide, and the
inside strip was 4.5mm wide. It is better to make the bezel
wire slightly wider than necessary and trim it if needed. |
 1
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[2]
Flux one side of the narrower strip and either place pieces
of hard solder on it, or, if you are comfortable stick soldering,
have a long piece of hard silver wire solder ready. Flow the
hard solder all over. Use a solder pick to drag out any potential
bumps. It is important to get a thick but even cover of solder
on the strip as if you are spreading butter or jam on toast.
Quench the strip in water. You do not need to pickle it yet.
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 2
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[3]
Flux the wider strip of fine silver and reflux the solder
side of the narrower strip. Lay the wider strip on the firebrick
and the narrower strip on top of it, solder side down. Place
the strips with the bottom edges aligned. To keep the strips
from shifting, you can make wide ‘staples’ by
bending lengths of heavy gauge binding wire into squared
‘U’ shapes and poking them all the way down
into the fire brick. They should be wider than the strips
but can safely touch the silver without soldering to it.
Sweat solder the strips together, taking care to heat up
and down their length. Remember, it is the overall heat
of the silver (not just the torch!) that makes the solder
hot enough to flow. Use a solder pick to very gently push
down any areas that are not touching snugly. Quench in water
and pickle. The solder should form a continuous seam on
both edges of the step strip. If there are any gaps, flux
and solder again. It’s best to reflow the existing
solder rather than to risk unwanted excess blobs by adding
more.
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 3
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[4]
You may find that the top and bottom edges are not exactly
parallel with the edge of the step. To correct this, draw
a straight line with the dividers along the top edge of the
bezel, using the top edge of the step as your guide. Trim
the uneven excess with sheers. If necessary, repeat this process
for the bottom edge. |
 4
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[5]
Gently file the top edge using a flat needle file. To remove
marks and burs of metal, run the side of a burnisher or polished
scriber back and forth along the top edge and along the corners
of the top edge. This very useful trick will create a perfectly
smooth line where the edge of the metal meets the stone after
the stone is set. |
 5
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[6]
Your bezel wire is now ready for stamping. Be sure to practice
on a scrap sheet of copper first! Determine approximately
how long your bezel will need to be. If your design is complex
or uses more than one stamp, you can mark guidelines on
your bezel wire with a permanent marker. Place the bezel
wire step side down on a steel bench block. Place the stamp
on the portion of the wire that is doubled, the part with
the step underneath it. Hit once firmly with the chasing
hammer. If you feel you need to strike the stamp again,
take care you do not shift it.
If
you are using only one stamp and your stone is large, there
is considerable room for fudging the spacing. Take your
time and be patient with yourself. Remember that, once the
stone is set, the pattern will not all be visible at the
same time, so that any discrepancies in spacing along the
way will not stand out.
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 6
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[7]
After all that stamping your bezel wire may have developed
a lateral curve where the lower half of the bezel wire was
stretched. Don’t panic! Anneal, quench, and pickle your
bezel wire. Hold the strip very firmly between your first
fingers and thumbs, and wiggle it forwards and backwards while
simultaneously pulling the wire horizontally against the curve
(toward the stamped edge). Inch your way up the bezel wire,
firmly holding, wiggling, and pulling a small area at a time.
If held tightly, this will correct the curve, and your bezel
wire will be perfectly straight again. |
 7
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[8]
With shears, trim one end of your bezel wire to form a 90-degree
angle with the top and bottom edges. Wrap the bezel around
the stone, mark where it meets the end, remove the stone,
and cut with sheers. Don’t worry if you have to cut
in the middle of a stamp impression. Set up the bezel for
soldering closed by placing a piece of hard solder perpendicular
to the seam. Heat the opposite side of the bezel first to
keep the seam from expanding open. Quench and pickle. If solder
gets into one of the impressions, you can correct it in the
following steps. |
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[9] File off any solder blobs on the seam or anywhere solder
should not have flowed. Stamp across the seam and re-stamp
any necessary areas by placing the bezel setting over a jeweler’s
anvil or a round mandrel secured in a vise. |
 9
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[10]
Large stones sometimes need extra support across the back,
and it is always good technique to solder a bail on the
back rather than merely on the side of a bezel setting.
One way to accomplish both of these needs is to spiral a
length of sterling round wire and solder it across one end
of the setting with easy solder. To avoid getting solder
in the stamped impressions, flow solder on one side of the
bail, where it will touch the setting. Turn it over, and
sweat solder it to the back of the setting the same way
you sweat soldered the strips together. After setting your
stone, gently spiral the length of wire, protruding from
the end to create a bail for a chain or for another element.
There is no need to solder the bail it closed.
When setting your stone, remember to push over corners or
sharp curves first to allow the metal to compress easier
in the areas where it will need to most. After pushing the
metal over all the way around, use a burnisher to smooth
away any bumps. (I prefer an agate one that will not scratch
most stones.) File the bottom edge of the setting flush,
and clean up with silicon wheels on the flex shaft. Take
care when you polish the setting not to grind away your
stamping. You can either leave the impressions white after
polishing the surface or patina the setting before the final
polish and leave the impressions darkened for a different
effect.
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For
faceted stones:
You can use your step bezel wire for faceted stones as well.
Before soldering the two strips together, file a 45-degree
bevel on the narrower strip to accommodate the pavilion of
your stone. |
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