Making a Malachite Necklace

Make the Cabochon

To make the cabochon, I needed a slice of Malachite of the right thickness.  These can be bought but as I had my own mineral specimens it was easier to cut this myself using a diamond lapidary saw.

Once I’ve got my slice I use a trim saw to roughly cut out my cabochon shape.

I then use a diamond grinder to further refine the shape - trim saws can only cut in straight lines!

The rough cabochon is then shaped and polished using various diamond grits - starting with 170, then 400, then 600 and finally 1200.

I always polish the bottom of my cabochons as well.

Rough shaped cabochon ready for refining and polishing using the flat lap.

Finished cab!

Make the Setting

Before I start I draw up the design to scale.

I cut a thin strip from .5mm Fine Silver.  I always use fine Silver for bezels as it is softer than Sterling Silver which really helps when shaping and setting.

The shaped bezel is then soldered, the solder seam is cleaned up and the bottom is rubbed over sand paper to make sure it is completely flat.

The fit of the bezel is then checked.  It can be corrected at this stage by “stretching” if it is too small or cutting and resoldering if it is too large.

For me, the back of any piece of jewellery is as important as the front.  I use different methods to make sure backs are attractive.  For this piece I decided to use a roller to impress a pattern on my silver.

Textured silver after rolling.  

I can now solder the shaped bezel to my rolled silver.  The bezel is placed on the silver and the fit is checked carefully - there must be no gaps between the bottom of the bezel and the silver sheet.  The entire piece is fluxed and chips of solder are placed evenly around the bezel.

Using a nice “bushy” flame the bezel is soldered to the sheet.

After soldering the flux is cleaned off by placing the piece in warm “pickle”.

After pickling, the piece is scrubbed with pumice powder and rinsed.  The soldered seam is inspected carefully to ensure it has soldered evenly.

The excess back plate is also cut off and the edges filed down to be flush with the bezel.

As the malachite cabochon is quite heavy, to keep the weight down to ensure comfort when wearing the central area of the back plate will be pierced out.  A cutting line is scribed where the silver will be cut.

The whole piece is then cleaned and finished.  Using various grades of sand paper and then polished with Tripoli and Rouge.  I always finish the components of my pieces as I go as it makes the final clean up and polish much easier.

The bent tube is then placed on the scale drawing and marked for cutting.

This is not meant to be a “how to do it Guide” but rather an insight into the processes taken to create this necklace.

The next part to be made is the bail.  To make this I am using tubing which is bent using a tube bender.  The tube has been annealed and to stop it crushing I use a cord of leather which fits snugly in the tube.

Because Malachite is quite soft, I didn’t want the beads next to the bail to rub.  To prevent this, bead caps are going to be soldered to the bail and these are made by punching out circles of silver using a disc cutter and then shaping them in a dapping block. Once shaped a hole is drilled to take the beading thread and they are checked for fit and soldered to the shaped bail. This is then cleaned and polished.

All the components are then soldered together, pickled, cleaned and, once again, polished.  The pendant is then weighed to determine the Hallmarking requirements.  Silver items which weight over 7.78g have to be officially hallmarked by an Assay Office to be sold as Sterling Silver.

As this piece is below the statutory hallmarking weight, it can be stamped with the Makers mark.  As the back has now been textured, this is achieved by soldering a pre-stamped disc.  All the previous solders have been protected using a heat gel.

Once again, the piece is cleaned and now the cabochon can be set.  When I am setting soft stones, I use a plastic bezel pusher (made from an old toothbrush).  The silver bezel is pushed firmly against the stone and slightly over the top to hold the stone firmly in position.

Once all the stones have been set, a steel burnisher is used to finish off the edges.  This also acts to harden and polish the silver.

The pendant can now be strung with Malachite beads to complete the necklace.  I always use 49 strand Beadalon because of its strength and flexibility.  The stringing wire is threaded through the beads, through a sterling silver crimp bead and up and around a sterling silver wire guard.  The end link of a sterling silver toggle clasp is then threaded through until it nestles in the wire guard.  The thread is then taken back through the crimp bead and about 5 or 6 of the end Malachite beads.  The cord is then pulled to tighten it and the crimp bead is closed using crimping pliers.

All finished!