How to Make a Chain Link Silver Necklace

Materials and Tools:

11 stones 16mm x 3-1/2mm
12-gauge sterling wire
24-gauge sterling sheet
3/16" fine silver bezel wire
7mm OD 16-gauge jump rings
toggle or clasp
hard, medium, soft solder
2 pairs flat-nose pliers
snips
torch
pickle
flux
tweezers
third hand
metal stamps
hammer
jeweler's saw and blades
files
220-, 400-, 600-grit sandpaper
drill bit
bezel pusher
burnisher

Steps:

1. Wrap bezel wire around each stone to fit. Solder seams with hard solder and pickle.

2. With rawhide mallet, hammer each bezel around ring mandrel to make perfect circle. Sand top and bottom edges.

3. Solder each bezel to 24-gauge sterling sheet with medium solder. Pickle. Trim edges, file and sand.

4. Draw desired pattern onto back of each bezel. Drill small hole, thread saw blade through hole and saw out pattern. File.

5. Cut jump rings in half to create bales for each component. Solder to each bezel cup in places where each will need to be attached to a ring. Pickle.

6. Anneal and coil 12-gauge sterling wire around mandrel, as many times as the number of rings you need. Saw through the coil. With two pairs of pliers, bring ends together. Flush, solder and pickle. Embellish as desired.

7. Lay out all components as you would like them to look. Begin attaching with pliers and jump rings. When finished, solder all jump rings and pickle.

8. Place stones in bezel cups and set. First push edges in with bezel pusher and then with burnisher.

9. Do any other sanding necessary. Clean and place in hot liver of sulfur bath until black.

10. Polish with Tripoli and then rouge.

Jodi Rae Brownstein, Chicago
Website: www.jodiraedesigns.com