TaoGem Gemstones

Tutorial by Art Jewelry Magazine

Ten Good Reasons
1. Hard solder actually becomes easier and quicker to use than the “step” method. No hat trick, just controlling your torch, all my students can do that easily with in the first 30 minutes of learning to light a torch. This includes junior high age students. By using only hard solder there [...]

Something to blog about !
Have been burning, melting, and generally wasting a lot of silver trying to learn how to silversmith, the past few pendants have turned out a-ok though.
Thought might blog about and share a few of the most recent, successful, and favorite pendants.
This first one has a Nipomo and Marcisite gemstone cabochon. Unlike [...]

Just for fun want to show off this recent Mexican Crazy Lace Agate pendant. Sorta patting myself on the back just a little as it is my best silver solder project yet !
We decided to have a jewelry design contest for existing forum members.  Actually, it is still ongoing as of this blog entry..
Not being [...]

I have blogged before about “Advantages for Gemstone Jewelry Designer who Develop Relationship with Lapidary Shop”. Much of the same really does apply when considering a reputable gemstone jewelry designer/silversmith. Your extremely lucky to find not only a reputable and qualified designer, but a designer who’s unique ability to work with precious metals place them [...]

Wanted to share a really neat tutorial on how to set a square gemstone cabochon by one of our forum members, Bob of Bobs Premium Cabs shared with us.
Bezel setting a stone with sharp corners is somewhat more difficult than an oval because if it isn’t done properly the excess metal puckers at the corners.
Bezel [...]

Been a while since I have added a new entry.. All the action is on the forum !
Was finally fortunate enough to have a member from our local club come over and walk me through some basic silver soldering. She was a big help. Little things like working the torch properly, using the flux correctly, [...]

At year end we had thought after a portfolio evaluation, things were not going to be so bad.
That has changed. Another recent evaluation shows that I am going to loose some where between 20 and 30% of monthly income.
What was once a casual and non stress business/hobby now has to be picked up a notch [...]

Just to share …..
One of my recent pieces started out so well…… I was smiling through the entire process of shaping and soldering the three step bezels for this three piece necklace.

Then came the last two solders for the little bails on the top of the two hanging pieces. That is when disaster set [...]

Not too long ago I fumbled my way through silver soldering my first piece of jewelry.
It hardly qualifies me as a Silversmith, but sure felt good !
Over the past few days I managed to silver solder some bezel tape around a couple of more. The one is a Carved Agate Cameo, and the other is [...]

Blog entry’s are a great way to be seen in search engine results.
So this blog entry is simply to show off a few pairs that I have made while including a link to my gemstone store for jewelry designers to check out. Hopefully so as to find something that they can use for their own [...]

It can have so much color and pattern variation. Gray wave red jasper is very similar to red bend jasper in color.
I cut this Wave Jasper Gemstone for a customer. As you can see, this Jasper mineral sure has the potential for some beautiful gemstone jewelry.

The Wave Jasper Slab above is available for special requests. [...]

Link To The Lapidary Forum Discussions.
The Jewelry Designer
Jewelry designers are people who design special one of a kind jewelry pieces in their own unique style using any number of techniques. The pieces are considered designer jewelry when the design is a specific piece of jewelry even though at times another designer may copy that designers [...]