Making a Dragonfly

Click to enlarge image

Initial Sketch In this photo, the artisans have done a basic sketch of the dragonfly they are about to craft. This schematic is being used to evaluate the sapphires that will be used in the design.

Wing Layout The artist has rolled out a sheet of platinum on a rolling mill and bonded a copy of the sketch to the platinum bar. The form of the wing was sawed from the platinum sheet and is now being filed to the desired shape.

Click to enlarge image

Click to enlarge image

Pierced Wings In this illustration, the platinum plates have been pierced and trimmed with a jeweler’s saw and the interior edges of the wings have been precision filed with miniature escape files.

Applying the Lattice At this stage, an 18kt yellow gold bar has been rolled down into fine, flat strips and soldered into the platinum wing frames. The wires were fashioned into attractive scrolls and soldered to the outer frames. In this photo, the jeweler is shaping the tendrils with a jeweler’s saw to prepare the wings for the addition of 18kt bezels.

Click to enlarge image

Click to enlarge image

Applying the Bezels The lattice work has been trimmed to accommodate bezels. In this shot, the jeweler is positioning the bezels in the wings with tweezers. The bezels will now be soldered into position with a micro torch.

Finished Wings The fully assembled dragonfly wings are now complete and positioned on a wax board alongside of the sapphires that will be set in the body. The wax model maker will use this layout to plan the carving of the foundation for the stones.

Click to enlarge image

Click to enlarge image

Wax Carving The wax model maker is sculpting a wax prototype of the dragonfly body out of a hard plastic-like wax. The body will be embedded in a plaster-like substance called investment and burned away. The remaining plaster will have a hollow impression of the wax. The hollow cavity will then be filled with 18kt molten gold using a high-speed centrifuge. When finished, the body must be stable enough to support the stones, wings, and legs of the dragonfly without looking cumbersome.

Casting Head and Body The platinum wings are positioned alongside of the newly cast 18kt head and body. The head and body will be trimmed with files and grinding bits to realign the shapes that have been distorted in the casting process. Once the castings are prepared, the pieces will be pre-polished and the model maker can fashion prongs to secure the stones.

Click to enlarge image

Click to enlarge image

Prong Assembly The model maker has drawn down platinum bars into fine wire in the gauges required to support the stones. The prongs must be durable enough to support the stone, yet delicate enough to allow them to gracefully display the gems. Here, the jeweler is soldering the platinum prongs into position on the body with a micro torch.

Pre Fit The main body and wings of the dragonfly are now fully assembled. The layout for the fabrication of legs can be planned around the loose components that are seen here on the jeweler’s fire board.

Click to enlarge image

Click to enlarge image

Legs Eighteen-karat gold was rolled and drawn into the gold rod seen at the top of the jeweler’s fireboard. From this rod, segments were cut and the ends were wilted by torch to form the insect’s joints. The leg segments were shaped with files and then linked at the desired angles at the joints with a micro torch. The legs and wings will be assembled after the diamonds have been set so that they do not collapse while being worked on.

Drilling the Wings In this photo, the diamond setter has mounted the platinum and 18kt wings to a mounting plate using hot shellac. After locating and center punching the sites for each diamond, a hand-held rotary flex shaft is used to drill pilot holes into the wings where the diamonds will be mounted.

Click to enlarge image

Click to enlarge image

Cutting the Beads The wings are mounted in shellac and are being cut with a graver in preparation for the seating of the stones. Next, the setter will use a rotary tool to create a seat for each individual diamond. The seat will mirror the underside of each diamond so that the stones nestle perfectly level and flush with the metal’s surface. After all of the stones are properly seated, the setter will use a graver to excavate platinum until only the raised beads that support the diamonds remain.

Assuring the Wings The wings have now been flipped over and remounted in the shellac. The reverse side is being decoratively cut with a graver. The jeweler is carving out neat, beveled boxes beneath each stone. This type of hand-cut detail can only be found in the finest jewelry.

Click to enlarge image

Click to enlarge image

Assembling the Wings Here, the model maker has clamped the dragonfly in a third hand to hold it while the wings are also held in position. He carefully melts 18kt gold into the joints to bond the metals together. At this late stage, the model maker must accurately control the micro torch to avoid melting any of the work that has been completed.

Setting the Body In this photo, the wings have been fully assembled, and diamonds have been set in the miniature beads that the jeweler previously carved from the flat platinum surface. The sapphire eyes have been gypsy set into the head, and circles of diamonds have been prong set around the sapphires in the body. The tip of each prong has been gypsy set with a small diamond. The setter is now seating sapphires in the diamond tipped prongs of the tail.

Click to enlarge image

Click to enlarge image

Tightening the Stones After all of the stones are seated in the diamond tipped prongs, the jeweler must tighten and adjust the pitch and angles with various setting pliers.

Bezel Set Wings The dragonfly setting is complete. The bezels in the filigree wings have been set with sapphires, and the setter is now trimming the bezels with a graver to give them an even, bright finish.

Click to enlarge image

Click to enlarge image

Plique-A-Jour Here, the clear, faint blue tinted delicate plique-a-jour has been added between tendrils of the wings. The jeweler is inspecting the piece and touching up the final details.

Dragonfly-Finished The final piece is life sized. The Dragonfly has been featured in museums, hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles, and dozens of television shows as part of the "A Treasure’s Trove" collection.

Click to enlarge image

Click to enlarge image

Jewelry Designs is the area’s leader in retail and manufacturing of fine diamond jewelry. Jewelry Designs is located in Danbury, Connecticut in western Fairfield county bordering Westchester and Putnam counties on the New York state line. Click here for directions. Click here for store information.