The Agony of Complicated Designs

This ring was a nightmare but also a joy to make. I learned a lot of lessons on this piece that I'd like to share with you.

I usually use a small butane torch, most commonly used in the kitchen and called a creme brulee torch. For this piece I had to switch to a larger propane plumber's torch. The stone is 30 x 20 x 6mm Red River Jasper. Much larger then I've ever attempted to set before, much less in a ring. I formed the bezel and soldered it to the backplate. I had a few problems getting the solder to flow, using hard, but managed it in the end by applying heat, taking it away and reapplying quickly. Great care must be taken to not melt the delicate gallery wire that I used to form the bezel. After soldering the two pieces together I cut away the excess backplate and filed down the edges smooth. I popped the whole thing in the tumbler for a few hours and let it dry.

The next day I cut the thick wire for the ring shank and attempted to solder it on. I inadvertently kept the flame on too long. When soldering a ring shank on you must lie the bezel face down on your soldering block. By doing so I stopped paying attention to the delicate wires and melted the near side. When I attempted to melt the bezel off and save the backplate the whole thing crumbled due to the high temperatures I'd been subjecting the piece to.

I cut another bezel and soldered it to a new backplate. I repeated the above steps to prepare it and readied my torch. I fluxed the back of the ring and laid it on my soldering block. I tend to go in order of hard, medium, easy solder but I had just received some super easy solder and decided to try that for the ring shank. Using it made all the difference in the world for me. I was able to preserve the fine detail of the wire and solder the ring shank much more quickly. I let the piece cool to the air then pickled the whole piece before popping it back in the tumbler.

After removing the ring I polished it using fine abrasive buffs and my Dremel then switched to felt/linen buffs and polishing compound. I placed the stone within the setting and set about pushing all the prongs down to securely hold the Red River Jasper.
The ring is a size 7.25 - the setting itself is 32 x 22mm - just around 1.25 inches long. I take a great deal of pride in this ring and consider it my statement piece. Any and all comments are welcome!! Red River Jasper Ring is available here