 Puzzle Clasps
By Michael Boyd
Intermediate necklace clasp project.
The concept of these clasps is one I've used in jewelry making for decades. Using a rail pass in Europe in the late '70s, hopping from city to city, I saw at a museum in Athens a collection of wonderful Etruscan animal trappings, interlocking buckles in cast bronze, thousands of years old. Variations of these interlocking puzzle forms using stones have served me well in everything from belt buckles to earrings.
Editor's note: To learn more about Michael Boyd's design concepts, see “Elegant Vessels,” page 20 in the March 1999 Lapidary Journal.
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Details
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Price: $4.00
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- Fine-tipped permanent marker
- 18-gauge sheet silver
- Bezel wire (appropriate size for stone you are using)
- 14-gauge round silver wire
- Stone (I used a 12mm barrel-shaped dalmation jasper)
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- Jeweler's saw
- Callipers (in millimeters)
- Pliers
- Torch
- Pickle, tweezers, and any other soldering equipment
- Hard and easy silver solder
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For information on supplies, please see the Annual Buyers' Directory.
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Michael Boyd is a Salida,
CO-based jeweler. He explained bezel making in Technically
Speaking, November, 1998.
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