Perhaps you have thought of or have known someone that has had a piece of custom jewelry created and wondered how it was done. From time to time everyone has seen something that was beautiful and small enough and thought to themselves that it would be nice to incorporate it into a piece of custom jewelry. How is it done? Is it expensive? How does the jeweler get the precious metal to take the form that they want and have it come out in such perfect detail?
The fact of the matter, is that most of the work in creating the form in a piece of gold jewelry is done in wax.
Its called 'lost wax' casting and it is a method that was developed thousands of years ago. The object that is to be made in metal is first created out of wax and then the wax object is then encased in plaster or silica. Ancient people would have used bees wax that was then encased in clay. After the piece of plaster that contains the wax figure has hardened and dried it is then placed in a hot kiln.
The heat of the kiln causes the wax to melt out of the piece of plaster, leaving the hollow shape inside the piece of plaster. Molten metal is then poured into a hole in the piece of plaster and fills the void that the melted wax has left behind. After it has cooled, the plaster is then chipped away to reveal the object that was originally sculpted in wax, now being exactly reproduced in gold. It will then be cleaned and polished and any final details will be carved into or welded onto it. There are jewelers out there that will work with clients on custom pieces but of course you are going to have to pay extra for the service.
