Bead and Bright setting

So today we've been working on bead and bright setting and finished up the day with a little gypsy cab setting. We're not finished with the latter yet, so pictures will follow tomorrow.

Oh my, my hands are so sore today from all the graver work! You can see two of my bead setting projects. We used two different techniques, thus the two different rings. The second technique (the one with less distance between the wall and the stone) can be used for colored gemstones, which I thought was really fantastic. In this technique we carved around to make the beads, in the first technique we actually pushed beads up out of the metal.

My projects still need to be polished and a little burnishing done to the inside, but we haven't had a chance to make those tools yet.

I would write more about how we did this, but my hands are quite sore and need some rest.