Silver & Amber Ring

Over 15 years ago I made a silver ring with a bezel-set amber stone in a jewelry making class, and I've been wearing it ever since. In this project, I'll walk you through my process for recreating this ring (a newer, nicer version of the original).

For this project, you will need:

• Sterling silver crazy-8 wire (8 gauge)
• Sterling silver sheet in 14-18 gauge
• Fine silver bezel wire
• Amber stone - oval cabochon
• Silver solder in hard, medium, and easy
• Butane torch and fuel
• Fire extinguisher
• Fireproof soldering surface
• Everything else from the Torch Soldering lesson in my Jewelry Class

To keep up with what I'm working on, follow me on YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and subscribe to my newsletter.

Step 1: Bezel Base Cutout

Since the amber stone allows light to pass through, the base of the bezel should, too. I used my rotary tool to drill a hole in a piece of scrap silver sheet, traced my stone over it, and then used my jewelry saw frame to cut out a shape about 1/8" from the line. If you're new to piercing precious sheet metal, check out my Jewelry Class' lesson on the topic to get up to speed.

Step 2: Form and Solder Bezel Wire

I trimmed down my too-wide bezel wire and formed it to the shape of the amber stone. I used hard solder to connect it into a ring, and then refined the shape to match the stone with my nylon-nosed pliers.

Step 3: Connect Bezel Components

I cleaned the sheet and the bezel and soldered them with medium solder and a soldering tripod, since the thick sheet needed more heat than the delicate bezel wire and the tripod lets you solder from underneath. Then I pickled the whole piece to remove oxides.

After rinsing and drying the piece, I cut out the bezel shape from the silver sheet and filed/sanded the edges smooth. This tiny piece is hard to handle so I used a ring clamp at times to gently hold it (but not clamping down so hard as to bend the soft bezel wire).

Step 4: Bend and Connect Two Wires

Following my paper template, I bent two pieces of wire into shape with pliers, being careful to mar the surfaces as little as possible. At times the shapes would become less than flat so I used a rawhide mallet and bench block to flatten them back out.

When the two pieces of wire were in shape, I bound them together with steel binding wire, applied flux and bits of hard solder, then evenly heated the whole piece to solder the wires together. I only quenched silver after letting it cool for a minute, then removed the binding wire before throwing it in the pickle pot.

Step 5: Refine, Shape, & Solder Ring

While the wire shape is still flat, it was convenient to refine the soldered area with a triangular file and do a test fit of the bezel.

Sizing can be tricky and the ring turned out too big in the end. But my solder joint turned out so well (the main flaw of my original version was a poorly executed solder joint in this location) that I didn't want to risk mucking it up with a do-over. The idea is to cut it a little too long and then remove further material as you square up the wire ends, and redo the whole process if it is too big (but you can't add more material if you make it too small).

The thick wire was difficult for me to shape with just pliers, so I used a rawhide mallet and bench block to help out. I could have annealed (softened) the shape with the torch, too.

Step 6: Final Assembly & Polishing

I shaped the ring on a mandrel with a rawhide mallet and did a long filing/sanding/polishing session with the main ring and the bezel while stills separate, since the whole thing becomes a bit more delicate after soldering. The bezel will soften up even more and then the whole ring cannot be braced on the bezel or it will crush/bend.

I braced the assembled ring between two firebricks (and atop a fireproof surface) and applied flux and easy solder to the two locations where the bezel meets the ring.

After pickling, I did some cleanup work on the rogue solder (probably applied too much solder and flux, in retrospect) and polished the whole piece to a mirror finish using some Luxi compounds and my rotary tool with felt buffs.

Step 7: Stone Setting

I cleaned the ring with a toothbrush and soap (and a toothpick inside the bezel) and thoroughly dried it before getting ready to set the stone. I placed the stone in the bezel and clamped its edges with my nylon-jaw pliers. I don't have a real burnishing tool so I used my round-nose pliers to firmly slide across the edge of the bezel to get some burnished smoothness.

I look forward to your feedback in the comments, and hope you'll check out more techniques in my free Jewelry Class here on Instructables!

Comments

[2pLuSS]

Soldering has been my nemesis for close to three years. The ring project looks interesting. Please explain how to make the ring the correct size.

[bekathwia]

I use a method similar to this: https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-silver-rings-the-perfect-size/

[micksmom2]

wow! I want to learn how to do this someday! I love your ring.

[bekathwia]

Thank you! You can learn the basics of silver soldering in my free Instructables Jewelry Class, i hope you'll give it a try sometime! https://www.instructables.com/lesson/Torch-Solderi...

[Linherr]

Very Cool! Very easy to make.

[Sshimatzki]

Suggestion...
1) Form the bezel like you did on the stone and solder it together (hard solder) and double check the finished shape on the stone.
2) Next, use a piece piece of round silver wire or use a silver jump ring and shape it to fit INSIDE your bezel. Solder that inside the bezel with medium solder.
4) Use sand paper or file to shape bottom flat and clean it up where the bezel and the jump ring meet because the curve in the wire.

You now have a basic bezel cup to use in your various basic ring designs and it was faster than cutting and file out the sheet and solder, etc. Ez solder it in place and cleanup and set your stone! Ta-da! Enjoy.

Good tip if you need to make multiples for that weekend craftshow or family presents, etc...

[silvertinkerer]

I use this method quite often, & it works well for plain bezels. I would only use the method featured in the instructable if I wanted a shelf around the bezel for adnormants. I use square wire though, less sanding the bottom of the bezel.

[Sshimatzki]

Oops, Lol... 2 notes on my bezel cup suggestion:
1) your bezel will have to be taller than the stone because now the stone rides on top of the jump ring or wire. Didn't know if i made that clear. But it shouldn't be an issue because most bezel wire is wider than you need. (Or at least that's how it always seems to be in my supply box.... )

B) I apparently have problems numbering sequential steps so that's why I will probably never make my own instructables!

[Yonatan24]

1. Great tips.

2. You should publish Instructables!

4. No one notices that!

[47miky]

I've always wanted to make my own ring as I have never found what I'm looking for. I have seen other rings made that don't have stones in them, and I loved them too. So now you've given me some ideas for making some jewelry I can't wait to do. Thanks and not only will I go through your jewerly class, my local craft store has classes on different crafts and one of them is jewerly of which I'm also hoping to take to get the hands on teaching/learning area. Thanks again!

[chiefgirliam]

im so impressed i absolutely love this ,,,i would love to have one too, you did a great job,

[Modern Rustic Workshop]

Very nice! This looks gorgeous!

[wold630]

It's gorgeous!

[Mjtrinihobby]

Awesome