Silver Drops Blog

An Exploration of Silver Jewelry Design and the Life of a Designer

Browsing Posts tagged cuttlebone casting

Introduction Now that the piece is cast it is tempting to hurry up and finish it.  With my first couple of cuttlebone casts I just tied a ribbon or a necklace right around the button and said the piece was finished.  Later on I realized that proper finishing is what makes a great piece “pop.” [...]

Introduction Now that the cuttlebone is sanded flat and the mold is dug out you are ready to cast the first step is preparing the silver. The second step is setting up the mold for casting. The third is heating and pouring the silver and then the last is removing the piece.  For a quick [...]

Introduction Cuttlebone casting is a wonderful and easy casting method.  If you are planning on making small pendants or parts, cuttlebone casting can be done in a small studio in an apartment.  Other methods of casting, such as lost wax and larger cuttlebone casts, require much more equipment and larger space and are not the [...]

Introduction Cutting designs in metal has always been a popular form of creating simple yet elegant jewelry pieces.  People often cut the shapes of countries, states, animals, and other items that have personal meaning.  An area that many metalworkers ignore is the metal behind stone settings, but this area is perfect for cutouts.  Some stones [...]

After buying a crucible for melting metal it needs to be prepped.  A crucible is a small porcelain dish that can withstand massive amount of heat so that you can melt metal in it.  Depending on the crucible and your intended use different kinds of prepping may be needed.  I am prepping my crucible to [...]