Tutorial #1 – How to set a bullet cabochon
(Update 06 Aug 2009: I promise to write this one up with more details sometime soon, as so many of you arrive here looking for help – A.)
Tutorial #1 – How to set bullet cabochons.
Setting a bullet cabochon is the same as you set any other cabochon – bezel strip, gallery strip or bezel cup (my favourite).
Bezel strip and setting strip are used in the same way – cut a length of the strip to wrap snug around the stone. Solder this into a circle. Attach the circle to the main body of the work, file it to depth, then set the stone. Bezel cups can be bought, or made by hand.
I use a small blob of adhesive to keep the stone in place while I push the bezel over the stone. Otherwise there is a tendency for the stone to pop out and ‘ping!’ away to the depths of the studio, never to be seen again. Once you have set the stone in the metal, the adhesive is unnecessary, but it’s part of the journey.
A couple of years ago I was advised by Jody Cory, a talented goldsmith who has a studio and shop in Bath, that you can set bullet cabs by burring out a setting directly in the metal. I tried this (once – and failed), so in the attempt to stop myself wasting any more silver in trying to perfect the technique, I used bezel cups instead. Here’s my result:
Persephone Cuff, (c) Aileen McAulay 2007-8
I was trying for a mechanical/modernist look anyway, and the cups don’t detract. Burring out a seat for the cabs gives a more fluid, organic look to the piece. Here’s another example by a Scandinavian jeweller, B G Pedersen:
Ring, B G Pedersen, 1960s
The cup on this one is deeper, and flows down to the ring shank in a smooth curve.
I made some bezel cups by hand for the counterweight of Lady MacBeth, which has three long bullet cabs in black onyx.
Pendant Counterweight, (c) AMcA 2008
Now, how about a guide on how to cut a bullet cabochon? Any takers 
?
Craft & Design Magazine
Rings & Things
This does not make any sense to me. So, you wrap the bezel strip around the bullet, cap it off w/ a cup and then what? How does the cabochon stay in there? I can see that no matter how tight you make it that the cab will eventually fall out. You mentioned not having to use glue but I see that it would be a necessity. I have some largish rutilated quartz cabs I want to make in to pendants. Thought about just using adhesive in a bezel cup.
Suzanne
I use bezel strip OR a bezel cup. If the cab is too deep for a commercially-supplied cup, I’ll make a cup out of strip and sheet the usual way.
If the bullet cab has been cut properly, there will be a TINY gradient from the base up to a certain point (each stone is different), which is like the girdle on other cabs.
It’s meant to be deep enough to hold the stone once the bezel’s pushed over, but often it isn’t. Most people use two-part epoxy glue to make sure it stays in place.
If you’re clever enough with lapidary tools you can shape a groove into the bullet, and make a bezel cup with a ridge to fit into the groove.
With a transparent stone like rutilated quartz, you’ll want to make sure none of the glue shows through the stone when it’s set in place. Maybe just glue round the edges?
A.