Flush Setting

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© Watson Art LLC 2019 All rights reserved. Duplication, distribution or publication of this project or these instructions is prohibited without written permission. Basic Tools andMaterials 66 Material in which to set the stone (A practice setting block - 1/8” brass bar stock mounted on a block of wood - is ideal.) 66 An assortment of small CZs (3mm to 5mm) 66 A flexshaft or dremel tool 66 A center punch 66 Drill bit and lubricant 66 Setting bur 66 Ball bur 66 A fine-tipped steel burnisher 66 A caliper (digital is easiest) 66 Beeswax or sticky utility wax

Other Useful Things 66 A polishing buff with polishing compound 66 Flexible sanding discs 66 A loupe or close magnifier 66 A drill press 66 A drill press vise 66 Safety glasses 66 A particulate mask

IMPORTANT SAFETY NOTE! Metalsmithing is a full contact sport and this tutorial is not intended to cover all safety issues you should consider when working with metal, tools, and equipment. Proceed at your own risk and always, always, always follow basic safety precautions. For example:

Flush Setting Flush • Wear safety glasses and a particulate mask whenever you use a rotary tool - your eyes and your lungs are far too valuable to risk. • When using a drill press, use clamps or a drill press vise (both very inexpensive) to hold metal as you drill it. This is espe- cially important when drilling thin metal, because spinning metal turns into a very efficient slicing tool if it gets away from you at high speed! • Keep your hair tied back and never wear loose clothing in the studio - both can easily get caught up in equipment or torch flames. Flush Setting 2 Fig. 1 Fig. 2 Fig. 3

1. Start by measuring the stone you’re going to set. The easiest way to do this is to set the stone upside down on your bench pin or a bench block, and come straight down over it with a digital caliper. Make note of the measurement. (figs 1 and 2) JJ When flush setting a stone in something other than a practice block, you’ll also want to measure the height of the stone. Be sure the material you’re setting the DIRECTIONS stone into is thick enough that the culet (the bottom point of a faceted stone) doesn’t protrude beyond the material. 2. Use the digital caliper to measure your setting bur at its Fig. 4 widest point. Ideally, it should be smaller than your stone by a fractional amount - in this case, less than a tenth of a Fig. 5 milimeter, which is ideal. (fig 3)

3. Use a center punch and hammer to make a small divot in the brass plate on the practice block. (fig 4)

4. Drill a hole at the mark using a drill bit that’s about half the size of your stone’s measurement. (A little more or less is ok - but shoot for half or so.) (fig 5)

Flush Setting 3 5. (Optional) Expand the hole you’ve made with a ball burr roughly .75m to 1mm smaller than the size of your stone. Make sure the bur is lubricated and go slowly, until about 2/3rds of the ball bur is in the material. Don’t go too deep! (Note: This step isn’t essential, but it helps to remove material gradually, rather than all at once.) You’ll be left with a nice tapered hole. (fig 6 and 7) Fig. 6 Fig. 7

6. Use the setting bur you measured in step 2 to open up and shape the hole. Make sure the bur is lubed and go slowly, until about 2/3rds of the straight section of the bur is in the material. (fig 8)

7. The resulting hole will have a tapered bottom with a straight-sided rim that is even all the way around. (fig 9) DIRECTIONS

JJ It is essential for this step that the bur is completely perpendicular to the material you’re drilling! Check often to make sure that the interior rim Fig. 8 is even all the way around - that will tell you if you’re going in Fig. 9 straight or at an angle. 8. Use a small piece of beeswax or utility wax to pick up your stone by the table and test it against the hole. The stone should be very slightly larger than the hole - in other words, it shouldn’t drop right in but it should feel like it would “go” if you pushed fig. 10 it. (fig 10)

JJ If the stone drops right in, the hole is too big and you have to either find a larger stone or start over. 9. If you need to make the hole a little wider, “stir” the hole gently with the setting bur and stop frequently to check your work. Use a really (really) light touch and make sure you aren’t making the hole deeper! You can always remove more metal but you can’t put it back. fig. 11 10. When the hole is large enough, use a flat wooden tool (the back of a burnisher or scribe is perfect) to fig. 12 press the stone into place. (fig 11) Press firmly and evenly, then check to make sure the stone is level in the setting, and the top of the stone sits just level with the top of the metal. (fig 12)

Flush Setting 5 11. Optional: Use a loupe to examine the stone placement up close and make sure the stone is level.

12. Use a highly polished, fine-tipped burnisher to burnish the metal down around the stone. • Hold the burnisher straight up and down so that the polished tip rests on the top of the stone next to the edge Fig. 13 Fig. 14 of the hole you drilled. Brace your fingers against the block to help keep the burnisher vertical. (fig 13) • Apply slight sideways pressure towards the vertical wall of the hole as you move the burnisher around the top of the stone (see red arrow) being carefult to ensure the burnisher

DIRECTIONS stays vertical! As you apply pressure, the metal will bulge into the area between the side of the hole and the burnisher tip. (see red circle) (fig 14)

13. Note that if your burnisher is too blunt, it may slide Fig. 15 out of the small channel created by the top edges of the stone and the side walls of the hole. See fig Fig. 16 15 for an example; the top burnisher is correctly tapered. The bottom burnisher is too blunt for this 3mm stone and created the “skid marks” on the top of the practice block (fig 16) when it slipped out of the channel under pressure. 14. A few tips: • The shape and angle of any burnisher can be adjusted to suit your project using a flexible sanding disc in your flexshaft. (fig 17) • Make your own burnishers out of broken drill bits and modify the end into an appropriate shape, then use it in a pin vise handle. fig. 17 • Polish the shaped end of your burnisher with a flexshaft buff and polishing compound before each setting session. We like Fabuluster beause of it’s slight cutting action. (fig 18) 15. The edges of the setting around the stone may look a little ragged up close (fig.19) but a light polish with some polishing compound will usually be enough to clean it up. Be sure to use a compound or polishing wheel suitable for your stone so you don’t scratch it. (fig 20) fig. 18 fig. 19 fig. 20

Flush Setting 7 16. If you decide to try making your own practice blocks, here are a few tips:

• Check your area for local metal supply shops and ask about brass bar stock. We found one nearby and the cost of brass stock from them was less than half the cost of ordering it online. • An inexpensive chop saw will easily cut brass bar stock (fig 21), but you’ll have to sand and clean up the edges before mounting the pieces. • A drill press works well to make the holes fig. 21 (fig 22), but we learned that drilling thick brass stock presents some challenges unless you modify your drill bit. We found this video on YouTube full of helpful information: bit.ly/drillingbrass • Any inexpensive wood will do; we used plain thin stock from a local building supply store and cut it up into lengths to match our brass plates. Don’t forget to drill pilot holes before tacking the plates in place, and sand the edges to make them smooth and eliminate any splinters. (fig 23) fig. 22 fig. 23 Thank you to Jeff Georgantes!

A special thank you to our friend Jeff Georgantes of Dartmouth College for his recent workshop at our studio. His deep dive with us into stone setting inspired us to write this tutorial, and his practice blocks were the basis for ours. Learn more about Jeff and his work on his website at https://www.jeffgeorgantes.com/

Flush Setting 8 Francesca Watson is a Texas transplant who originally hails from upstate New York. After stops along the way in Washington DC, Maryland, Virginia, California, Hawaii, and the Philippines, she and her husband Nick, a painter, finally settled for good in the Hill Country outside San Antonio. In 2006, after years working in administrative jobs, she took a bead stringing class with some girlfriends - and the rest, as they say, is history.

Today, Francesca and Nick operate The Makery, a working and teaching studio in the Old Village in Downtown Bulverde, Texas. Francesca is a passionate and curious metalsmith whose work tends to be one-of-a-kind pieces or pieces that are part of limited series that grow out of her technical explorations. Currently, she is particularly drawn to non-traditional enamels, stone-setting, highly textured metals, and keum boo, which is the ancient art of layering 24k gold over other metals.

In addition to creating and teaching at The Makery, Francesca teaches nationally at local studios and major venues across the United States including BeadFest Philadelphia, BeadFest Santa Fe, the Bead and Button Show in Milwaukee, the Tucson Gem Shows, and the Glass Craft and Bead Expo in Las Vegas. She also hosts an annual metals retreat that features top instructors, over-the-top food and special events, and killer projects designed to stretch student skill sets.

The Watsons live on just over an acre of Texas dirt with a flock of chickens, two dogs, and a variety of wildlife that insists on eating everything. They have one

notes grown daughter who lives and works in nearby San Antonio.

2355 Bulverde Road #4 Follow Us On Social Media Bulverde TX 78163 www.makeryarts.com 830.980.9089 @makeryarts @jewelryinstructor