Welcome to the Process!
Working with recycled Sterling Silver and Lost Wax Casting is a long, involved method of fabricating jewellery that I have absolutely fallen in love with. Slowing my creative process down and being really intentional about the pieces that I am creating has been incredibly challenging, but especially rewarding.
Come along as I break down some of the steps that were involved in carving my very first ring!
First step: Designing!
Working with Recycled Sterling Silver can be a costly process, so it's important to figure out WHAT you'd like to make before you get started. I've really been inspired by fish motifs lately - that's where I got the idea for my ring design.
Carved in wax!
Once I have a design in mind that I would like to bring to life, I use a variety of different waxes and tools to carve and sculpt a physical piece.
Attaching a sprue!
Once I am happy with what I have sculpted in wax, I use a hot tool to melt the wax and affix the sprue. A sprue is a stick of wax that will be used to attach my piece to the casting tree - it will get cut off after casting!
Ready for Casting
Once the sprue is attached and I am SATISFIED that there are no lumps, bumps, or thin spots in my wax piece, it is ready to be attached to the casting tree
Casting time!
I am currently working with a local expert Silversmith to help me with casting. Shown here is a wax casting tree that has been fully assembled by my mentor- can you spot the fish?!
Casting Complete!
What you see here is SOLID recycled sterling silver! During casting, molten silver was poured into the wax, dissolving it and leaving behind solid metal pieces. Again - can you spot the fish?!
Pickling, Filing, Sanding, Polishing
I COMPLETELY forgot to take a picture of the Fish at this stage, but you can see that the wax pieces have been transformed into solid metal, and cut off the tree! Now it's time to sand and file off the sprue, and any other rough bits on the surface.
This was also the stage where the fish was bent gently into a ring shape!
Liver of Sulphur
Next, I mixed up a Liver of Sulphur solution to oxidize the entire surface of the ring. Doesn't it look completely different now?
Polished up - what's next??
Behold! The fish ring in its current state! So what's next?
I have an emerald picked out to set into the eye, but I have no learned those skills yet!
Check back soon to see the final finished product!