CUSTOM DESIGN
Welcome to our
Department
Step 1: Idea
Step 2: CAD Drawing
Step 4: Casting & Polishing
Step 3: Wax Model
Step 5: Finished Design
The Custom Design Process begins
with a meeting. You bring in a drawing, idea, or old jewelry, and our Owner, Jeweler, and Master Designer: Timmy White, or Designer in Training, Lindsay, will help you to establish goals and show you a few preliminary designs.
Start of CAD/CAM Process
CAD stands for Computer Aided Design- This means that the jeweler will create the piece of jewelry in a software program similar to one used by architects and engineers. Once the piece is created in this program, you are able to see EXACTLY what the finished product will look like with an illustrated design. At this point, you will be able to make any changes or modifications to the design.
Computer Aided Wax Milling Process
Next the design is transferred to a milling machine (the picture on the right). The machine carves the design from a solid block of wax with a computer aided cutter. The wax model is now ready to be used to make the piece of jewelry - this is the first step of the lost-wax casting technique/process. At times, the model can also be made in resin.
Spruing the Wax Model
Once the piece is ready to be cast, it is sprued in place onto a solid base. The "sprue" is the passage which the liquid metal will flow through to form the jewelry piece. This is the beginning of the lost-wax casting process, one of the oldest known metal-forming techniques. It is called "lost-wax" because the wax mold is melted or lost in the process.
Pouring the Investment
The sprued wax model is then placed in a metal casting flask and is filled with investment, which is a plaster-like compound that will harden around the sprued wax model. The mold is then placed in a special oven where the wax is burnt out of the mold.
Melting the Metal
The metal that the jewelry will be made out of
(yellow or white gold, silver, etc) is then heated and melted in preparation for casting the ring.
Casting the Ring
Our casting machine (seen above) is then spun at an extremely high speed to produce a centrifugal pressure that forces the molten metal into the mold. The molten metal then fills the cavity left from the wax model. The piece is then pulled from the mold and ready to cut from the sprue and polished.
Finishing the Piece
The rough casting is now cut from the sprue, polished, filed, and sanded. If there are stones in the design they are now set. The piece then goes through a final polish. Finally, the piece is inspected.
The Finished Product
The piece is finished and your idea
is made into a reality! Now you have a unique piece that will be a treasure for years and generations to come.
