Silver ring with Topaz.

For this ring, we first had to go shopping at "Edelsteenslijperij de Sprong", where we bought a wonderful Topaz. The color most likely originates from irradiation of the stone, a common treatment.

This ring is made as the final assignment in this years jewelry making course.

The stone is 6mm in diameter and a simple design is made in my sketchbook:

The outer bezel is drawn on a sheet of 0.4mm 925 silver, sawed, filed and soldered. The inner bezel is made in the same manner from 0.6mm silver. The Topaz will rest on this inner bezel and be held in place by the outer.

The base of the ring is made from 1mm 925 silver. Again, sawn by hand from a larger sheet of metal.

The inner bezel, outer bezel and ring are all soldered together in several stages with hard (1) and medium (2) solder.

The excess length of bezel is filed down to make a smooth surface on the inside of the ring.

Now comes the fun part. Setting the stone in the bezel.

Hammering the silver over the stone made me very nervous, even though it is relatively inexpensive.

After a final polish and cleaning, the ring emerges. I Still can't believable that I just made this! Time for some 'manly' photographs of my new ring :-)

This ring is now featured in our portfolio, Similar rings can be found in our webshop.