Making a Pendant

Making a Sterling Silver Pendant
click photo to enlarge	One of the things I have taken up in retirement is cutting and polishing semi precious gem stones and also setting them in sterling silver. This page is going to show the steps involved setting a stone in sterling silver. Not all steps are shown but just a general over view. First I have to cut the rock, in this case Larimer, from a flat slab. Then rough grind it, then rough polish then final polish shaping the dome as you go. The sides are at a 15 degree angle so that when you set the stone in silver it is locked in place. I start with gallery wire in a coil and a flat silver sheet.
click photo to enlarge	Using a jewelers saw I cut a piece off the flat sheet. Then decide which side looks the best and stamp that side sterling and file off any rough edges.
click photo to enlarge	Next I form/shape the gallery wire around the stone and when I am happy with that I file the ends square and solder the shape together. Then I solder it to the flat sheet. I use a barrier flux of Boric acid and a flow flux from Rio called My-T-Flux. The barrier flux keeps the silver clean and helps stop/prevent fire scale.
click photo to enlarge	Next I make a bail and soldered it on. Then I tumbled the piece and polished it.
click photo to enlarge	Finally I set the stone in the setting and used the burnishing tool to fold the edges over to lock the stone in place. I also used a pair of round pliers to shape the bail. The entire process of cutting and grinding the stone is probably an hour and then the silver work is probably 2 hours. So all told there is about 3 hours of labor involved.

Making a Sterling Silver Pendant