This was a really cool project for me. The project concept was to create a sterling silver net around this large oblong piece of black agate. I played around with various concepts before arriving at this solution. The piece was designed and then cast in two pieces. The agate was placed inside and then the top cap was welded in place securing the agate inside. It was also important that the stone not rattle around inside or get scuffed on the inside of the net so I had to devise a way to keep it from moving or touching the netting. My solution was to create two circular hollows in the top and bottom and place two nylon washers in each space. These hugged the top and bottom of the stone and because they have a small amount of give also allowed my to tighten the piece down on the stone so it does not budge at all. Lastly the customer wanted to be able to put it on and off a titanium chain the he provided. So we used two S clasps that could be removed as needed. The double clasp system was also more secure than a single clasp.
