So today we started with this marquis head and set ring. The first step was to round out the shank with a diamond drum and some hammering. Then we sawed part of the forged/tapered area to get the proper angle for the marquis bezel. Then we filed the sawed area flush and used a diamond thimble shaped bur to round out the same area.
Then we followed up with trying to get this marquis bezel to sit level and centered on the shank. This was very challenging. The bezel wanted to pop up and out so it took a lot of finagling to make it work. We then put the whole ring into head set pliers. Boy are those things hard to use! I think my bezel popped out 8 times before I got the tension just right and everything lined up. From there we soldered the out most side while still in the tweezers. And then after the first side was soldered, we could finagle the second joint to make sure everything was centered and ready to go.
The final step was to again round out the shank with hammering and a diamond drum to grind out any part of the bezel that might be hanging in the middle of the ring.
The next project we worked on was this three set arrangement. We had to get the cast settings ready to go with filing and drilling. Then we filed the top gallery wire flat on two sides of the larger setting and one side of the two smaller. This was to make sure they set flush against each other, allowing no taper between the heads.
After that step, we put a small amount of white out on the prongs to ensure that solder would not find it's way up the prongs and make and ugly mess. Then we used some special clay to hold and arrange the settings in the proper arced formation. After the settings were in their proper place, I put a dab of super glue in the areas where I would put solder. This was so I could check to make sure the heads were correctly placed prior to soldering.
All was good to go, so I soldered away and voila. Tomorrow we're creating a split shank for this and finishing up the piece.
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