How I created an Amazing Turquoise Bolo Tie

For this project I chose a beautiful turquoise cabochon, I knew I wanted to make a bolo tie, so I went to my friend Ezequiel Cabrera’s artisan shop, I like working with him because he has a very distinct style that can be rustic yet elegant which is what I want  on this Turquoise Bolo Tie..

Here is a picture of the amazing finished piece and my beautiful daughter Kristen Rose wearing it so you can get excited and then I’ll show you the process.

We solder the union of our bezel strip. Next we place the bezel on our base and solder those two together. We next align our stamped wire and solder it to the base and bezel.

For an ornament, I used an elegant eagle with its wings open soldered on top making sure the stone goes in nicely.

I made the cord restrainer  from a rectangle by forming two jointed cylinders open on both ends to pass the leather cord.  It was then soldered to main piece. 

In order to mount the stone I gently pushed it into the setting. To secure the cabochon in place you must carefully apply even pressure to the sides of the bezel until the stone is secure and no visible gaps between the stone and silver.

Making the silver tips for the handwoven, eight strand, goat leather cord is quite easy even though it appears challenging. I first cut two triangles from our silver sheet, rolled them to form a perfect cone paying close attention to the union before soldering.

For ornamentation I used a long strip of silver, cut length on one side in a zig zag pattern, measured to top of cone, soldered and filed.

Buffered the whole piece using a buffing wheel, front, back and the tips. Once shiny I polish it with some rouge to a high gloss

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WOW!, I knew it was going to be beautiful, but this Bolo Tie turned into something amazing

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After it is nice and shiny, we washed the piece to clear it from any imperfections, (I really couldn’t see anything) Add the cord, glue the tips, and viola’ Our incredibly beautiful bolo tie is finished.

To see other bolo ties we have made click on this link: Bolo Ties – Onobird