How to Inlay Jewelry

How to Inlay Jewelry
Inlaying Jewelry is a State of Mind

What I am about to explain is very valuable and can potentially make you a very good inlayer. I have spent many years figuring out how to inlay all types of precious gemstones into jewelry, mostly through trial and error. I am self taught with no formal instruction or teachings.


My Beginning Years as a Jewelry Inlayer
Developing the skill of Inlaying Jewelry
When I first started inlaying, I used an old wet lapidary machine arbor with worn trizact belts. I was getting sub-standard results. The drums were very old and the machine would rattle around which gave me an inconsistent straight edge for grinding and polishing. This is important to consider because I wanted to make nicer detailed inlay. Once a piece is inlayed, there is much to consider, such as multi-stone polishing and polishing stones next to different metals such as silver or gold. In my opinion, cabbing is far easier than inlaying, because you are only grinding and polishing a single stone without any metal around it.

I also started inlaying hand carved channels which were not symmetrical which is a pain in the neck, making the inlay process more difficult. A good straight channel will make a noticeable difference, just as a perfect round channel is easier to inlay rather than an imperfect round channel. For round inlay pieces, I glue a small dopstick to the stone, then inlay with ease. For all other pieces, I use small instruments that feel comfortable with my grip.

Once I bought my first diamond 220 grit steel back wheel, I was inlaying cleaner and faster! You will find that diamond tools are superior to any other lapidary tools on the market. After years of working with this wheel, it still has a clean edge and cuts remarkably fast. You get what you pay for. A 220 grit soft back wheel comes in handy for fragile stones such as lapis lazuli and spiney oyster. When inlaying these stones, I use the soft back wheel first, and then gently touch them on the steel back wheel creating a flush and uniform straight edge. These diamond wheels work well on most lapidary arbors.

For more detailed work I found that working with polypads, crystalpads, and small leather wheels with variable widths on the handset work very well. I use diamond mesh starting from 600 grit to 3000 grit with these pads for most stones. Between each step I clean the stone and make sure that I do not contaminate the pads as well as my work area. I mostly use these pads after I finish stones with the big diamond wheels before inlaying. This method makes the jewelry much nicer yet there is more skill involved. When I finish a stone before inlaying I bring it to the 1200 grit with a slight cab. I make sure that when I do inlay the stone that I do not get epoxy on the finished surface. Once the stone is set, I use a 1200 grit leather wheel followed by a 3000 grit polypad. (For all flat surfaced mulitstone inlay, I use a lap charged with sapphire powder). For this method I will use a soft leather wheel charged with sapphire powder on my handset.

When finishing opal I notice that any type of contamination or minute mistakes will show up on the finished surface. I make sure that before I set an opal that the surface has a fine polish and that the back of the stone needs to be ground to the desired depth. In some cases, there are traces of epoxy on the surface of the stone. This can be easily removed with a 1200 grit small leather wheel (you must make sure that the wheel is always square and that it is cleaned before each use).

You can visit my website for more articles on lapidary techniques and other jewelry fabrication articles.

--Brent DeSantis--
The Steps I Use To Inlay Jewelry
How I Inlay My Pieces
My jewelry stone inlay consists of all natural gem quality Australian Black Opal, Lapis Lazuli, Black Onyx, Sugilite, Coral, Turquoise, Mother of Pearl, and Spiney Oyster.

There are four steps I abide by in successfully completing natural stone inlay:

1. Grading the gemstones
2. Carving each stone for a channel within the piece of jewelry
3. Correctly bonding each stone to the very bottom of the desired jewelry channel
4. The final polishing of the gemstones

After each inlay step, the stones are carefully inspected for fractures, cracks, and inclusions. If any of the aforementioned is detected, we will remove the stone and repeat the process.

-Grading
Each gemstone is carefully graded where there will be no calcite (white patches) in our lapis, no black matrix patches in our sugilite, no pits or discoloration in our Coral, etc.. As for my natural opal inlay you will see that each stone displays a generous play of color ranging from blue-green to yellow-red flashes (this play of color will determine the overall price as well).

-Carving
When you carefully look at my inlay, you will notice that it is very high quality. There are no gaps, only uniform design and symmetry when inspected from all angles. A good representation of symmetrical inlay would be the Yin-Yang jewelry inlay.

-Bonding
Once a stone is ready to be inlaid, it is precisely bonded with an indusrial strength 2-part epoxy to the bottom of the jewelry channel. Provided that all the stones are securely set, there are no traces of epoxy on either the metal or stones.

-Polishing
The most important and last process is polishing the stones. I make sure that each and every stone that is inlaid has a nice high polish. There will be no scratches, just high polished gem quality inlaid stones. As for opal, I hold on to a finished opal inlay piece for months, sometimes years before displaying it for sale to make sure no crazing or cracks occur.