Sally Russick, the talented, sweet, and generous artist behind
The Studio Sublime is hosting another wonderful challenge/blog hop, Creating with Cabochons! This one hit home with me, as it has been my goal to practice and work on my soldered bezel-setting skills.
I set out by choosing a few tasty cabs (short for cabochon, in jewelry-speak) and had the dream of trying a few different settings. I had an idea for 3 different pendant settings, and at least 2 rings! I have been collecting favorite stone cabs for a while in various shapes and sizes, so I pulled a few out and started playing.
Then, as things tend to happen, I saw one of Sue Kennedy's glass frit cabochons at BeadFest last month, and my mind started racing in a different direction. Still soldered, bezel-set, but a totally different look from the designs with stones I had in my mind.
Copper and sterling, embellished with a 4mm turquoise cab...this was a bugger! I melted the first one while trying to get the silver balls to stay on, and I must have used way too much solder, since even though I checked it about 20 times, once I was ready to set it, I had to tap and push and stretch to get it to fit. As it is, I am scared it might pop out! Overall, I am pretty proud of it, however! I may go back and do copper chain and 86 the flowers!
Oh, by the way, all the other pieces I had high hopes of completing and amazing everyone with? They obviously didn't come to fruition. Although, I did get one about 88% complete with great results (for me), but I must have gotten too cocky, as I botched it at the end. It was going to be an asymetrical setting with 2 stones. Luckily, I was able to salvage the larger setting, so I will continue on with a new design in the near future. Here it is in mid-salvage with the stone just there...sorry, I forgot what the stone is. I think I am going to create a new back plate with room for something for embellishment, and just solder this to it. I am purposely hiding the top where I cut off the ruined piece which was a smaller round bezel for a 10mm carnelian :(
About 2 days after I signed up for the challenge, I remembered a honkin' big labrodorite cab I had that I cut out of a mass-produced pendant I bought ages ago. The setting was really ugly and the cab has a big fault in it, but it really has amazing flash. I started wrapping it with a needle-lace technique I learned a few years ago, but I put it aside, unfinished. I decided to finish the initial bezel, but didn't get a chance to completely finish it. My idea is to add some tiny faceted labradorite I have around the edges, and create sort of a lacy bail. More on that later...
Thanks, Sally, for kicking my pants to get me to actually work on something that I have been wanting to but putting off! Practice, practice, practice! But hey, this is a Blog Hop...there are lots of other artists that joined in and have been working on amazing things, with lots of different techniques. Who knew there were so many ways to incorporate cabochons into your designs. Bead-woven bezels, wire-wrapped bezels, tab-set bezels...the list goes on and on! Go and check out the awesome-ness!
