Casting

This is a walk through the process I use to make a cast ring. My friend commissioned me to make a ring like one I had made previously, but for his wife. I started with a slice of wax ring blank - this is a cylinder of wax with a hole in the middle (so you don't have to clean out so much when you size the ring). The wax I have has a flat top which suits the type of ring I am making. So first step is sawing off a slice that is going to be plenty deep enough for the finished ring.


Next I started to shape it - tapering it so it is wider at the top than the bottom - I did the majority of this by melting the wax against some heated metal and then filing to clean up and do the finer shaping. So here I have the basic shape and now I am ready to start the final shaping - at this stage, I don't know the finished size of the ring, otherwise I would get that done first. The final ring will have a series of concentric ridges around the width.

Next when I get the finished size for the ring, I can size the internal circumference as well as do the final shaping and finishing.


Here the ring is almost ready to be sent away to be cast - I did the final clean up with sandpaper to get a nice finish. Once it is all looking how I want it to, I send it off to Regal Castings who will make a mould and cast it - this one in sterling silver.

It is a pretty quick turnaround from them - I couriered it off to them on a Monday, they receive on Tuesday, do their thing and courier it back to me on Thursday. When it comes back from Regal, there is still the sprue from casting and the finish is sandblasted (to remove any traces of the mould).


There are a few small air bubbles and a couple of other small surface imperfections, but the final clean up with the file and then various grades of sandpaper see to them before popping it in the tumbler for the final polish.