Silversmithing Part 2

In the afternoon the class switched to a different way of working with silver. This method is called lost wax method and had been around for thousands of years. This is the way Egyptians made their beautiful jewelry.

The first step is our beginner class of lost wax was to obtain a wax mold of a ring that we liked. I chose a Celtic knot work ring. We sized the wax ring to fit our finger and cleaned the mold of any bits of extra wax.  I had to clean out each hole in the knot work braid. 

Once the ring was exactly as we wanted it to be we attached a wax sprue which is where the silver enters the cast when it is poured to make the ring. At this point it looks like a wax ring lollipop. This stands inside a container that has plaster of Paris type of material (investment) poured around it. 

The 'investment' container is put in a kiln and fired overnight to solidify the mould. The next morning while the clay was still hot from the kiln the silver was poured in using a crucible of hot silver and centrifical force. Immediately after the silver is cast the entire plaster container is immersed in water. The plaster dissolves and the silver ring emerged. It isn't very pretty at this point. It has to be dunked or 'pickled' in acid, cleaned with metal filings and cleaned and polished on electric wheels. 

This process was fun. Amazing how effective yet simple it is. Now I appreciate all the hard work that goes into a lost wax piece of jewelry. 

The monitor heating the silver to liquid.
I'm glad I didn't have to do that part!!

Here is the crucible with the silver bits in it ready to be heated.

I'm watching.  As soon as the silver is a hot liquid, the drum spins.
This centrifical force causes the silver to enter the mould.

The bottom of the mould shows the dent where the sprue was and now it is full of silver.

The mould is dipped in water to cool and release the silver cast.

Here is my ring with the sprue attached. It needs to have the extra chunk of sprue removed, and to be cleaned and polished. 

All the rings from the entire class went into a tumble cleaner.

Here Joyce is grinding off the extra silver from the clipped off sprue.

Last bit of polishing on my Celtic Ring.

Here is a photo of all my rings.  The Celtic ring is on my left middle finger.
The stone ring of pieced silver is on the middle finger of my right hand.