As I told you in the previous post these days I will be publishing the jewels that were born in the Treasures Factory this holidays. Today it is the turn of the pieces modeled from a wax block.

Since ancient times (III millennium BC in Asia and Egypt) there is a manufacturing process called casting, commonly using metal. Consisting of melting a material and introducing it into a cavity called a mold (where it solidifies). I will not go into the thousand and one techniques that exist for this molding / casting because it is a whole world but I will explain a little better the most common process that we use in jewelry: lost wax.

Until recently, before the 3D printer boom, it was more common to manually model jewelry designs in wax (the top brand would be Ferris wax that offers different hardnesses) creating authentic treasures. This technique offers us to create and model volumes that would be much more complex from the metal ingot.

· We start from the block of wax that suits us best and as tools only a few sticks / modeling tips (often made by ourselves), a hacksaw, files, sandpaper and sometimes a point of heat or fire.

· We model the desired volume, the three-dimensional vision and the hand and skill of each craftsman play an important role...

· Then we empty (or not) the interior of that volume according to the metal and the function of the final piece (there are density tables but, to give an example, the same volume in sterling silver weighs 11 times more than in wax and 16 times in 18K gold... and this calculation and the final weight must be taken into account both for the budget and for the good functionality of the piece).

· Once the modeling of the part is finished, a mold is made with refractory material , that is, it withstands high temperatures (here we usually pass the part to a smelter, specialist in molds and metal casting). Once the mold is made, it is heated so that this wax melts and in its place there is a vacuum in the shape of our model. Then the molten metal is poured and as it cools it solidifies. Refractory mold opens / breaks and we already have our metal model !

· Now "only" need to weld the complementary parts (cover the emptied part, weld the rings, the earring locks, etc.), grind and rework, sand, perhaps engrave and finish.

All this I have super simplified! because not only there are a thousand and one casting techniques, but each one has a thousand and one intrinsic! And I have only described the process of making an original model, another day I will tell you how it continues with the reproduction process if we want to serialize that prototype ;).

So in this way a sterling silver keychain in the shape of boxing gloves is made, or rather, a volume reproduction of the drawing of Me, the girl who he made the order ;).

And so some sterling silver earrings in the shape of a rose also wax models:

And so far today's lesson ;).