To start you need a decent strip of silver. For this ring I used 2 mm. (You can use thinner, but it really depends on the overall effect you want, and how much you intend to reticulate.) Then slowly, almost layer by layer, sweep the blow torch backwards and forwards over the metal, to melt just the top layer of silver until you get the desired effect - NB: we are not after a molten mass. What you will find is that as the torch moves over the silver the metal expands and move, where the torch has left, it cools and constricts. Bear in mind the more reticulated it is, the more altered the internal crystalline structure of the silver will be and therefore making it more and more prone to breaking... Make sure you quench, pickle, wash and scrub after each session of reticulation.
Once you have a nicely reticulated strip of silver, carefully bend it into a ring. This is when my warning above comes to play. It is at this stage when you might end up breaking the strip in 2 (or more pieces) instead of a single. complete ring shape. Just take it slowly, and ease the silver round a mandrel slowly, but surely.
After soldering and ensuring good fit, it is then time to set the stone. For setting this small, round faceted sapphire, I drilled a small hole, then using a round ball burr cut the seat to fit the stone. What you want is for the stone to sit just under the surface of the silver to allow enough metal to rub over it. Then polish!
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