Turquoise wrist cuff

[bdpeters]

my son gave me a nice flat piece of Turquoise that looks like it would lend itself well to a wrist cuff. right now i am trying to figure out the best way to mount it on the leather cuff. I have googled some pics and seen some who have made a leather bezel and some who have used a metal bezel to hold it it place. I am shying away from gluing it because I am not sure if it will hurt the stone. it is an odd shaped piece but pretty flat, about the size of a 50 cent piece.

any thoughts on how to best mount this stone?

does turquoise need to breath (leave the back open) like some other minerals do such as when mounted in a ring setting with an open back?

[battlemunky]

Commenting so I can see how this gets answered. I got zero info for you though, sorry to be not helpful.

[HeatherAthebyne]

I'd never heard of needing to leave a mounting open in the back for "breathing". A quick search suggests it's just a term for using an open-back mounting to 1. protect the culet (pointy end) of a faceted stone from being knocked against the back of the mounting and 2. allowing the gem to sparkle on its own instead of having stray yellowish gold reflections coming back out of a white diamond. (Third reason: uses less gold.) As far as specific stones' atmospheric preferences, opals and pearls like humidity, but that's about it.

I don't know of any particular concerns with adhesive on the back of untreated turquoise, though you might have trouble if you ever wanted to remove it. The GIA suggests that it's susceptible to discoloration from chemicals and skin oils, which may also include whatever's used to tan the leather. The absolute safest bet would be a tall metal bezel to protect the stone from scratches and eliminate the need to use any adhesive against the stone. The metal bezel approach would also be safe for any dye or stabilization treatments the turquoise might have received.

If it were me I'd either do a metal bezel of some sort (perhaps wire wrapped with copper) or a veg-tan bezel for minimum reactivity.

[ScoobyNewbie]

Fire mountain gems has settings for gems that you might be able to attach to leather. Good prices as well.

[bdpeters]

12 hours ago, Diversiforge said:

I'd never heard of needing to leave a mounting open in the back for "breathing". A quick search suggests it's just a term for using an open-back mounting to 1. protect the culet (pointy end) of a faceted stone from being knocked against the back of the mounting and 2. allowing the gem to sparkle on its own instead of having stray yellowish gold reflections coming back out of a white diamond. (Third reason: uses less gold.) As far as specific stones' atmospheric preferences, opals and pearls like humidity, but that's about it.

I don't know of any particular concerns with adhesive on the back of untreated turquoise, though you might have trouble if you ever wanted to remove it. The GIA suggests that it's susceptible to discoloration from chemicals and skin oils, which may also include whatever's used to tan the leather. The absolute safest bet would be a tall metal bezel to protect the stone from scratches and eliminate the need to use any adhesive against the stone. The metal bezel approach would also be safe for any dye or stabilization treatments the turquoise might have received.

If it were me I'd either do a metal bezel of some sort (perhaps wire wrapped with copper) or a veg-tan bezel for minimum reactivity.

thank you for the info. sounds like good suggestions.

[bdpeters]

9 hours ago, ScoobyNewbie said:

Fire mountain gems has settings for gems that you might be able to attach to leather. Good prices as well.

thank you. I am familiar with them. I am also interested in jewelry and do a bit of beading on a loom.

[kiwican]

On 24/12/2018 at 11:07 AM, battlemunky said:

Commenting so I can see how this gets answered. I got zero info for you though, sorry to be not helpful.

I'm with BM on this. I'm zero help but wanting to see how this turns out