Inlaying stones into a carving.

[redrockrods]

I've seen gem carvings where the artist has inlaid an opal cabochon into another stone by carving a recess into the host stone and slipping the other stone into the recess and having it fit perfectly. No glue is used, and the inlaid stone is locked in by a lip or "bezel" of stone. Does anyone have an idea of how this process works, or know of a tutorial somewhere that demonstrates the technique?

[asianfire]

Excellent question as this will be the next step for me too. 

I relied in the mouse project solely on glue and the current eye project is not much better. Even though the eye is not glued the back-cover is. 

[pete]

Don, a bezel type inlay as you describe is basically achieved by making a channel in the host stone where the base of the channel is wider than at the top. Normally, a soft malleable metal is then hammered into the channel and smoothed flat to the surface of the stone. In your case the inlay stone could only be slid into position because to get the mechanical locking the inlay stone will be flaired at the base which then locks into the host stone's wider base. Because the inlay stone is wider at the base then the top and the host stone is also wider at the base than the top that's why I say it can only be slid into position. It's not physically possible to push the inlay stone down into the host because the host's bezel and the inlay base will chip and break. Therefore it's not possible to do this style of inlay with a round inlay stone. The slide inlay also needs to be incredibly extremely accurate to get a tight fit.
The more common method is to glue the inlay in place and I believe this was the method used in antiquity. This method is much simpler (relatively speaking) and is not limited to the shape of the inlay.
Alternately there is a method of using fine bezel wire to lock the stones in place.

[redrockrods]

Thank you Pete for sharing your knowledge. I am fascinated by this technique and think it would be quite valuable to learn and incorporate into my carving work.

[DadOhs]

I know this thread is a lisle older but thought I would share some info...
I was at a local craft show and the gentleman there was doing  inlay work with a twist.. he carved the outer stone (his accent piece), then opened it up for the inlay complete with a reverse bevel (or lip to hold the middle stone) then he made the center stone to match the outer. once that was done he placed the outer stone over the inner stone and set the whole piece into the frame, for lack of a better term.
When the frame locked down the outer stone it help the center stone in place without any adhesives, just the frame held everything together. And it looked fairly seamless where the 2 stones met.


anyways I thought it was cool at the time but I wasn't really into rocks at that point and only know am I remembering this because I have  been reading the older posts.

[thewrightthings]

Does anyone have an example of this type technique.  I'd love to see it....front and back.

[christopherl1234]

I got dizzy reading that. 

[thewrightthings]

I got dizzy reading that. 

Yea, I'm a visual person, I need a photo.

[pete]

I got dizzy reading that. 

Yea, I'm a visual person, I need a photo.

I think I get DadOhs drift. Sounds like one stone is placed over the top of the other stone and held in place by the bevels.
If you imagine a round flat top cab (or any shape dome) with bevelled sides, then another stone with a hole drilled the same size as the first, placed over the first stone. Naturally it won't fit because of the first stone's bevel, so a bevel is cut in the base of the hole so the two stones fit snugly together.
If I'm correct then it's more of an intarsia style of composite stone rather than traditional inlay.