Yesterday I had another silversmithing lesson, this time on lost-wax casting, which you all know as the process where the object intended is carved out of wax, plaster is poured around the wax, the wax is melted out, leaving an empty mold where the wax was. Then molten Silver is poured into the mold, the silver hardens, and you break open the plaster mold to reveal the silver whatever-it-is-you’re-making. In my case, it was a mens ring (for me, this time). Men’s rings are thin at the bottom, and gets considerably thicker as it goes up, up to an inch wide at the top, where normally a single stone is embedded and held in place on all sides rather than by a few prongs.
This ring I carved in a style called the Nugget Style. It is so called because of the bumps, ridges and dips all over the front and sides of the ring, simulating a gold nugget. Mr. Wade had me use this style because you could do random things, nothing has to be uniform, and so it is much easier.
Because it takes a few hours for the plaster to dry, we could not do it all last night, so next lesson, he will show me how the pouring works, the centrifugal force machine, and lot’s of other interesting things. And, once it is done, I will post a photo of it.
Blades of Belaq Knives 