How do you set a cabochon? DIY pendant with a stone. How to attach a cabochon to a metal plate without soldering. Tutorial.
Professional jewelers use torches, fluxes, solders and other stuff to attach cabochons. Today we will make a beautiful pendant. We will attach the stone to the plate without soldering and we won’t use any expensive tools.
How do you set a cabochon? I described a similar way of stone attaching in a previous post on this blog.
Make sure that you’ve studied the previous lesson.
We need a metal plate 0.8 – 1 mm thick. In my case, this is a copper plate. And we need a natural stone cabochon of any shape.
How do you set a cabochon? What tool do you need for this?
Scissors for metal.
Jigsaw for metal.
Drill.
A set of embossings for notching on the plate.
Pliers, round nose pliers.
Sanding set for grinding and polishing metal.
Jewelry Jigsaw
Jigsaws have different shapes. You can find jigsaws of different heights (take a look at the photo).
Jewelry jigsaws also differ in the way the file is attached. I have several jigsaws – I don’t see much difference in the attachment. It’s all about habit.
Jewellery Jigsaw – Files.
All jewellery jigsaw blades are classified by size. The thinnest blade has a size of 8/0, this value increases as the blade becomes thicker: 7/0, 6/0, 5/0, 4/0, 3/0, 2/0, 1/0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 (the largest size). You should consider the thickness of the metal that you need to saw while choosing a jigsaw blade. For example, sizes from 3/0 to 1/0 are suitable for a piece of copper wire that is 1 mm thick. The 8/0 blade is suitable for sawing material up to 0.4 mm thick. But 8 size blade can handle 2.1 mm.
On the picture below you can see how to set the blade properly (teeth should be pointed down). I touch the teeth with my fingers so I immediately realize how to set the blade.
Besides conventional files, there are dusting files and etc. As for me, I use conventional files.
How to saw?
Place your metal workpiece on the sawing shim. Pinch it with your fingers from above and below. Thereby it will help you to control the process and prevent the metal from moving. It will make the process easy and safe.
Shim is a wedge-shaped piece of hardwood (palm wood, boxwood). The working part of the jewelry table serves as a stopping point when you perform cutting with a jigsaw, filing and scraping.
Sawing shim can be made by yourself. I made it of thick plywood.
I saw, that some stores sell sets as in the photo below. A very convenient option to buy.
We’ve prepared the tool – it’s time to get to work.
How do you set a cabochon?
First, you need to decide on the size and shape of the pendant. Eventually, we will draw the pattern and cut it out of metal. We will need a small square area on the upper side to make the eyelet for a cord or chain.
Cut the template out of paper. It should be the same size as the plate. Place the cabochon in the middle. Draw the line around the cabochon with a pencil. Draw “holders” (thin stripes of metal that will hold the cabochon) to attach the cabochon.
Glue the piece of paper to the metal plate with paper glue. Drill a hole so that we can place the jigsaw blade inside. We should saw according to the template that we have drawn.
Try the plate on the cabochon. We should make a beautiful notch. Then we should grind the metal. If necessary, patinate and polish. We will make an eyelet for the cord with round-nose pliers. Clamp the holders and attach the cabochon.
I showed you how to make a simple pendant today. My goal was to tell you about an affordable way of attaching a cabochon without using soldering. And it is up to you how you are going to use it in the future.
Watch the video tutorial. Video is in Russian. But it seems to me that you don’t need a translation anymore.
Also, check out Wire wrapping pendant tutorials:
Wire wrapped tutorials PDF Valeriy Vorobev
Wish you all good luck in creation. Save the pin on your pinboard on Pinterest!
