How to Make Jewelry From Wax By Jewelry Designs

How to Make Jewelry From Wax

Click to enlarge image

Jewelry Wax Carving

Wax is the medium that is often used to craft jewelry prototypes. The wax used to sculpt jewelry patterns is much harder than candle wax. It is more like a block of plastic, so it can stand up to carving and tooling. Here, the artisan is sculpting the foundation for a tanzanite necklace from a block of hard wax. The model maker uses files, gravers, and rotary tools to carve the desired form. Once the sculpture is complete, it can be cast in gold or platinum through the lost wax process.
(See the section on "Casting")

Finished Wax Jewelry Model

Here, the wax model is starting to resemble a finished piece of jewelry. It is now critical that the delicate wax is handled with care. The thin model is brittle and too much pressure from the jeweler’s hands or tools could easily crumble the model, and the project will have to start over from scratch.

Click to enlarge image

Necklace Created From Wax

After the gold casting was completed, the rough metal was polished. Using a torch, the jewelers fabricated prongs from platinum sheet and wire, and then added the chain. The setters added the large 19ct gem grade tanzanite and a polisher finished the necklace.

Wax Jewelry Prototype

In some cases, a wax mold is created to establish scale and function to enable the designer to evaluate any changes necessary. Here is the preliminary rough wax model of a ruby throated hummingbird. The rough model was carved simply to experiment with the feasibility of using the large South Sea pearl that is seated in the wax.

Click to enlarge image

Finished Wax Jewelry Sculpture

As the hummingbird project progressed, we forfeited our original wax model. In this new model you can see that we changed the pitch of the head, neck, and wings from the original wax seen in the previous illustration. The final model was carved in five separate, interlocking pieces to enable us to cast the various body parts in different precious metals.

Wax to Precious Metal Castings

Here, you can see the rough precious metal castings that the wax sculpture yielded. The main body of the hummingbird is cast in 18kt yellow gold. The wing, tips, and tail are in platinum. The final hummingbird was set with vivid yellow diamonds, black diamonds, rubies, and emeralds. This hummingbird was featured in national magazines and television shows, and toured some of the country’s premier museums. You can see the complete construction of this famous hummingbird in the "Making a Hummingbird" section under "Design" on this site.

Click to enlarge image

Directions

Jewelry Designs is the area’s leader in retail and manufacturing of fine diamond jewelry.
Jewelry Designs is located in Danbury, Connecticut in western Fairfield county bordering Westchester and Putnam counties on the New York state line.

Click here for directions.

Click here for store information.