Large cabochon sterling silver rings

A friend of mine Denise wears a large labradorite sterling silver ring, some 40mm by 25mm, with gorgeous blue green and grey hues. It's her signature ring that she wears every single day, and it is much admired and commented on. Most of my rings are quite delicate and not to everyone's taste, and I wanted to experiment with something bigger. I bought a labradorite cabochon off ebay, measuring 32mm x 20mm, and sold the ring before I had even made it to a friend of Denise's!

 I had difficulties soldering the bezel to the base, couldn't seem to get the bezel completely flat so there were gaps that the solder wouldn't fill, but all in all am pleased with the finished ring, and my customer loves it.

(The photo below is a rare one of me with reasonable looking nails....they are usually ragged and scruffy from being in the workshop.....one of the only downsides to silver smithing!)

I found some bargain cabochon's whilst visiting my sister Sue is Blandford Forum the other week. We strolled into the town and there is a small shop on the right on the way down the hill into the market square called aurora gems that I hadn't seen before. It sold a right mixture of beads, gemstones, rocks, as well as crystals and some finished jewellery and I found a marquise labradorite cabochon ring for £20 which I couldn't resist.

They didn't have any marquise cabochons for sale but the elderly chap behind the counter produced a tray of stones amongst which were some oval 20 x 10mm cabochons, labradorites, carnelian, aventurine, and jade. They were only around £1 each, (I would normally expect to pay £3 minimum, even as much as £6 for similar stones elsewhere) so I bought most of them.

For the carnelian ring I used some sterling silver D wire for the shank, and cut out the back of the bezel base to let the light shine throught the stone. Just sold my third one of these by word of mouth which is great!

I personally prefer the marquise cut to the oval, and I want to try making one of these next, though I expect it won't be easy to get neat corners like the one I bought, but practice makes perfect!!

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