Spring 2017 DES 331 Post #4

The last sample setting assigned was a basket style prong setting, made out of 16 gauge brass wire.  Fitting the jump rings to the appropriate size of the stone was challenging and required a re-do after my first attempt was too large in diameter and wouldn't allow for notching of the prongs and a good fit when pushed over onto the stone's crown. 

Instead of starting from the beginning with new wire, I disassembled the setting and created new rings which were then soldered to the original basket.  You might think that by this point in life I would understand the futility of this type of shortcut, but yes indeed, I spent more time and effort cleaning up the original piece and refitting the rings than I would have had I started over. Oh well, optimism is a virtue I suppose.

The prongs are a bit asymmetric around the circumference of the stone, again, a consequence of not starting from the beginning. They were appropriately positioned on the original setting.

 

Love those needle holders, I used them to hold the rings and basket while soldering.  I used the notched, self-clamping forceps for the first solder joint of the ring to the basket. After that I was able to solder the other 3 joints at one time using the micro torch. The micro torch has become one of my favorite tools as it can give you such a hot, but tiny flame that you can solder each separate joint on the setting without risking melting the others as long as you work quickly.