Design and Preparation for Casting

Over the years, many people have asked me to describe how pieces are made or fabricated.  So here, presented for your amusement and edification, is a high level look into the "Bear's Lair" (otherwise known as my wonderful world of goldsmithing and jewelry fabrication.

It all starts with a good, original idea.  Surprisingly, good original ideas are hard to come by.  Inspiration never arrives when it is most needed.  It's often unexpected, in the middle of the night and triggered by some observation about something I've seen, heard or experienced.  It is not something that can be forced---forced ideas almost never work out and usually result in  the consumption of alcoholic beverages like Cosmo's.  Interestingly enough, good ideas do seem to come from those.

Most goldsmiths keep sketch books for design ideas.  Some of us, keep scraps of paper hastily sketched after waking up in the middle of the night.  When those ideas don't come, well there's nothing else to do but sit back.  Ponder your fate in the universe, indulge in a hobby, go for a vide on the Vespa, or consider a career change (tell me again why I am a goldsmith when gold is nearing $1000 an ounce?)

Fabrication work usually involves cutting, hammering, shaping, bending or casting metal into something beautiful. I do limited production pieces, and often the only practical way to construct these is to create a prototype piece from scratch, then create a mold from which a wax can be made (more on this process later.)  The prototype is usually created in wax, which one thinks would be easy to work work.  Those little details are devilishly difficult to get just right.  But that's where the primal scream therapy comes in handy.

Sculpting a piece in wax is a painstaking process of filing, scraping, cursing, melting, cutting, cursing some more, cursing and finally forcing the wax to conform to the image in your head.  When it finally starts to look like something, there is nothing left to do, but do your good deed for the day, check the alignment of the stars, and hope that karma has smiled upon you and will reward you with something that looks good when cast.

After the prototype in wax is completed it's time to document your design.  Nothing worse than having your design lost, ingested by small pets, or launched across your shop, er I mean accidentally launched across your shop in frustration.  When that's done, it's time to get ready to cast! Casting is the process of turning the wax into metal.  Otherwise, known as the process that strikes fear into the brave hearts of goldsmiths everywhere.  A lot of bad things can happen at this stage--castings get ruined (money down the drain), ER visits arranged (many goldsmiths have great stories to tell about how they lost a finger or had stitches) and profanities and curses are hurled.  Lots of profanities if things don't go well.  So you can see where maintaining your karma comes in handy.

Continue to Learn About Casting

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