How Is Your Order Made?
Unlike most jewelry companies, we pride ourselves in the fact that we hand make your order when it is received. Making quality jewelry takes time and when you receive your order you will be able to see from the first look that we take pride in each and every order we create.
Below is a step by step description of what is involved in making your order a work of art and why each order takes time to make for you. Our jewelry is always shipped to you attractively gift boxed.
Hand Carving The Original Design
|
|
|
All of our original designs start with a block of Jewelers carving wax. The wax is very hard and with talent and patience, any design can be carved from this material. A single wax carving will take several weeks to complete. Shown here is a Sphynx Cat design carved from wax. This will be the "Master Wax" and from this piece we will make a mold so that it can be reproduced and cast in either gold or silver. |
Making Waxes From Our Molds To Cast
|
|
| We make a mold from the original green wax master. The Mold is pink rubber and when the mold is finished, it is cut in half. The original is removed and where the original was, there is now nothing. To create the wax for casting the empty mold is filled, under pressure, with hot casting wax. When the wax has cooled, it is removed from the mold.
|
Preparing The Wax Pieces For Casting
|
|
| After removing the wax from the mold it is inspected and carefully cleaned. If the wax is approved, it is then attached to a special base (shown in blue above right). The attached waxes and the base are called the Tree.
Investing The Wax Tree
|
| | Each wax "Tree" is placed in a heavy metal container, called a Flask. The Flask is filled with a special white mixture called Investment. The investment must be vacuumed in order to remove any bubbles which may form during pouring. After the vacuum process, the Flask sets, undisturbed for 2 hours. During this time it hardens.
Removing The Wax From The Flask
|
| | The wax Tree is now completely surrounded with hardened investment. In order to cast, all of the wax inside must be removed. The first step in removing the wax is in a steam oven. The steam will melt most of the wax and it will flow out of a hole in the bottom of the flask.
Burning Out The Casting Flask
|
| | The flasks are removed from the stem oven and then placed in a computer controlled burnout oven. This burnout oven will bring the flask temperature up to 1700 degrees. At this very high temperature, all of the remaining wax will "burn out" and the temperature will also make the white investment extremely hard so that it will withstand the hot temperature of the melted metal. After a period of about 12 hours the oven will gradually reduce the flask temperature so that is it perfect for casting the melted silver or gold. Once the burn out process is complete, the wax will be completely gone ... basically where the wax was, we will now replace the empty space with the melted metal.
The Final Casting Process
|
| | Our Casting machine is computer controlled to assure perfect castings. Also, the oxygen inside of the casting machine is replaced with an inert gas to prevent the oxygen from contaminating the silver or gold during the extremely high temperatures of the casting process. The view above (right) shows the melted metal inside of the casting chamber. When the metal reached the correct temperature, the Flask is taken out of the burnout oven, placed under the melted metal and then it is sealed inside of the casting machine. A vacuum is pulled on the flask and the melted metal is released from the melting pot and into the flask. The vacuum pulls the metal into the spaces in the flask that were once wax. When the metal has cooled, the cast flask is removed from the casting machine. . Removing The Castings From The Flask
|
| | When the flask is removed from the casting machine, it is still very hot ... over 900 degrees. The hot flask is submersed into cool water and the temperature change causes the white investment to break apart, leaving the cast metal "Tree" exposed. Whatever was wax, is now metal.
Removing The Final Castings From The Casting Tree
|
| | Next, the individual pieces must be cut off of the Tree. Cast metal at this stage is not very attractive and must now be hand buffed and cleaned.
Cleaning The Freshly Cast Jewelry
|
| | Before any work can be done on your design it must be cleaned and polished. We polish all of our designs by hand. This process takes much longer than quicker methods, like tumbling, but the final finish is worth the extra time and effort. Buffing is done in three steps. The first step is with an agressive buffing compound and each successive step uses a finer compound to produce the highest quality finish available.
Final Steps
|
| | After the design is polished, we then solder rings, attach settings for stones and do any other work necessary to assemble your design After the soldering is complete, the design is buffed again. If your design requires stone setting or engraving or any other work, it will be completed at this time. Then your design is lightly buffed and steam cleaned to remove any remaining residue.Now your order is professionally placed into attractive gift boxes and is now ready to be enjoyed.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
In Houston Texas?
You are welcome to pick up your order at our Houston Gallery and store located at 2368 Rice Boulevard, in the Rice Village.
We have an extensive collection of animal and theme jewelry designs and we are always adding new designs so please check our store frequently. If you are looking for something special ~ rings, ankle bracelets, cuff links, bracelets, earrings, key rings, tie tacks, money clips, photo lockets or any other type of jewelry like this, please email or call us and we will be happy to put those items in our Ebay store.
Our Design Collection
We have created an extensive collection of fine jewelry representing the things we love most in this life and that have meaning for us. Our jewelry collection includes: Dog jewelry, over 50 specific breeds, bone and paw jewelry, Agility and Obedience Jewelry, Cat Jewelry, Pig Jewelry, Frog Jewelry, Horse Jewelry, Horseshoe Jewelry, Fleur-de-Lis Jewelry, Chili Pepper Jewelry, Four Leaf Clover Jewelry, Wishbone Jewelry, Egyptian Jewelry, Wildlife Jewelry, Chinese Symbol Jewelry, Kokopelli Jewelry, Bee Jewelry, Ferret, Rat, Mouse and Hedgehog Jewelry, Sunflower Jewelry and Texas Theme Jewelry. If you are interested in any of these and do not see them on our Ebay store, please contact us and we will place them in our storefront for you.