Progress!

Well today was very eventful! My uncle and I went into the shop at around 2:30 and didn't end up leaving until 8:30. We decided to restart the bezel and make it better. I had to cut another piece of silver out and shape it into a circle again. I am incredibly glad I learned how to solder because that seemed to be one of the most important things in jewelry making (other than patience). I soldered the bezel shut and then had to make it a perfect circle. This was a big challenge. While I was shaping it, the solder came undone so I went back and soldered it again, and then it broke again.... I soldered it shut about three times before it finally stayed.

I then had to shape the shank (the ring band) into a circle so it would fit on a finger and solder that shut which came undone several times as well. I then shaped the shank into a circle by placing it on a round ring sizer and hammering it down.

The next step was finding a way to solder the bezel to the shank. I had to file the bezel down on two sides so it would fit perfectly around the shank. Surprisingly this was the hardest part because it took so much time and frustration. I had to make sure both sides were even lengths and width so the shank would fit perfectly. Once I got them to fit, I had to solder the bezel onto the shank which took about 4 tries to finally get it to stay. The next step was filing the bottom of the bezel to make sure it was round. I took a large filing tool and went at it for about twenty minutes until it was finally perfect.

I then had to cut a piece of metal for the stone to rest on in the bezel. I took the piece of metal and shaped it into a ring shape and soldered it. I the. Had to shape it by placing it on the ring sizer and hammering away once again. That piece was then placed inside the bezel and the stone will rest right on top.

Upon doing all of this, I faced a few challenges. I made many soldering mistakes where the solder didn't go in the direction I wanted or I completely burned the solder off. I also had to saw a few things down and I ended up cutting them in an angle.

Tomorrow I will return to the shop. All I have left to do with the ring is set the stone and polish it. I'm incredibly excited to see the final product.