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| A slightly off center lapis stone. |
For my first try at bezel setting, this wasn't too bad. However, you can see that the lapis shifted slightly while I was pushing the bezel sides in. By the time I noticed, it was too late to fix.
Although I didn't realize it at the time, part of the problem was my tool:
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| A bezel roller. Photo courtesy bestjewelrysupply. Ebay user. |
This is a fairly standard bezel setter, but I don't have a lot of upper body or hand strength. Using it, I found that I could only push the bezel sides in a micron at a time. Typically, you want to firmly push each side of the bezel to form a square that "locks in" the stone. With my wimpy pushes, I had inadvertently jostled the stone. I was in a class, and I spent so much time trying to get the first stone set that I took the second bezel and stone home to finish. Only, I forgot that I didn't have a bezel roller at home. What I had instead, was this tool:
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| A used airliner burnishing tool |
This tool is a much used burnisher that I purchased on e-bay. Previously used on airliner innards, it was twice as big as the usual burnisher for sale on e-bay and much too big for my hands--or so I thought. I had nothing else to set the stone, however, so I tried it out. It was fabulous! It bent the silver like butter, and I quickly locked the second stone in:
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| This stone is perfectly centered. I haven't yet created the rolled edge to give it a finished look |
It turns out this large burnisher greatly improved my mechanical advantage. If you find yourself struggling with bezel rollers, I highly recommend it. That, and double-checking the position of your stones before it's too late.
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