What have I got myself into?

[luke1990]

Hello everyone. I’m Luke from the UK & I’m just about to enter your world of jewellery making for the first time! I am a complete beginner & have been lurking the forum as I’ve found it an invaluable resource. You all seem like a very helpful bunch & I hope to get to know you better & eventually help contribute to the forum as I build my knowledge base.

I’ve been wanting to make my own jewellery for a while & have started acquiring tools to help me get off the ground. This leads me back to my thread title. What the hell have I got myself into? There are endless amounts of tools & machinery out there and I’m straying into uncomfortable levels of expenditure. I have read other posts & the best advice seems to be to get only the tools for the initial projects you intend to make, then grow from there. So I’ve thrown my huge list out and restarted.

I have thought about projects & I’ve decided to go the lost wax casting route. I intend to have wax’s of pendants with various patterns produced using 3d printing, have them cast in silver using a casting service then finish them myself by oxidising the recesses and polishing the rest to a high shine. From what I can gather I will need to learn the following skills:

- Cutting & grinding the sprues off the casted piece.
- Filing
- Cleaning up
- Polishing
- Patination

I would really appreciate your input on my new improved reduced tool list in respect to the above project.

- 3" Adjustable Saw Frame
- Vallorbe Saw Blades Grade 2/0, Bundle Of 12
- Vallorbe Saw Blades Grade 4, Bundle Of 12
- Vallorbe Saw Blades Grade 5/0, Bundle Of 12


- Half Round Pliers 130mm, Plain Pliers
- Flat Nose Pliers With Nylon Jaws, Cookson Value Range


- Wooden File Handle x 5
- Vallorbe 6"/150mm Flat File, Cut 2
- Vallorbe 6"/150mm Half Round File, Slim, Cut 0
- Set Of 6 Economy Needle Files, 16cm - All Cut 2
- Needle File Handle

Extras’s

- Bench Peg & Anvil
- Micromotor with radial discs and accessory kit
- Jewellers Rouge Bar, 500g, Pure Rouge
- JoolTool
- Various containers
- Glass Bowls

I thought the JoolTool looked really gimmicky when I first saw it. However I have seen a lot of good reviews and members of this forum have said it was useful. Do I need it though? I do intend to do a lot when I get going.

Overall what do you guys think? Also anything I should know about health and safety. I intend to work in my garage & wear protective goggles & also a face mask. Would it be an idea to get a ventilation unit?

Cheers guys.

[caroleallen]

Hi Luke and welcome. I think to start with the micromotor will probably do most of the things the Jooltool will do. The Jooltool is useful for grinding and polishing but it's not essential when you're starting out and probably have plenty of time to do things slowly Having said that, it gets used all the time in my studio as we have to work fast and it certainly speeds things up.

[luke1990]

Hi Carol. I'll get myself a micromotor and work on that first then. Thanks for the advice.

[Dennis]

Welcome to the forum Luke.
Lists are invidious and I guarantee that some of your items will appear in a car boot sale in a year or so. So first of all start slimming down your list and only buy what you really need to get started, even if that causes delays while you order more things.

I note that you have added a bench peg (bench pin) as an afterthought, but unless you are one of those beginners who think they can walk around the room while sawing and filing, the bench peg is an absolute number one essential. A basic clamp-on one is cheap enough, but you might soon want something more sophisticated such as the Benchmate System.

Secondly You have listed rouge as your only polishing compound, but It is meant only for final finishing and right mucky stuff it is. So if you put key words such as 'compounds' or 'polishing' into our search box top right, you will see what our members prefer. you might decide to go modern and buy the Menzerna range.

I could go on, but that's enough of holding forth by me. Dennis.

[Stacey]

Hi Luke,

I'm a beginner too, probably will be for many years.

Have you worked with metal before? It's a bit different to want to start out by tackling lost wax casting, very ambitious.
However, if you are already comfortable piercing, soldering and learning to finish a piece by hand then it sounds like a lovely place to start making jewellery.

[luke1990]

Hello Dennis. Would the value bench peg & anvil from cooksons be OK to start off with?

I'll get looking on the compounds.

Thanks.

[luke1990]

Hi Luke,

I'm a beginner too, probably will be for many years.

Have you worked with metal before? It's a bit different to want to start out by tackling lost wax casting, very ambitious.
However, if you are already comfortable piercing, soldering and learning to finish a piece by hand then it sounds like a lovely place to start making jewellery.

Hi Stacey,

I'm a complete newbie & haven't worked with metals before. I wouldn't be doing the actual casting process myself. I intend to send off wax's that I've created using CAD software & have them cast by the pro's. I would then do the finishing on the piece I received back.

[Dennis]

Yes it'll be fine. Dennis.

[Nick martin]

Hi Luke,

I'd echo what Dennis has said. Bench peg is essential, as are a number of files, mops for your micro motor / pendant motor, saw blades, borax, soldering block ( or charcoal block ) burrs, and the list goes on.

I started by thinking of a few designs I wanted to make, and then worked out what tools I needed to accomplish them.

Set yourself a budget, and try to stick to it. If you can't manage it, then perhaps scale back your initial design ideas.

I'd say that going down the lost wax route is far too ambitious to begin with. I'd suggest starting with the basics such as filing, polishing, soldering, and casting using cuttlefish and then delft clay. They may seem really basic methods but you'd be surprised at what you can do with them, and the small but important skills you'll pick up along the way.

Guess I'm saying that it would be wise to learn the basic jewellery skills first from the ground up otherwise in my opinion, you'll encounter loads of problems later on who you're attempting to finish your items.

Even learning how different metals behave under heat, when melting, their changing colours, annealing etc are all vital skills to learn.

I regularly ask questions on here and am still on a perpetual learning curve. I genuinely believe you can never stop learning in this game but it's both highly addictive and enjoyable all the same!

Nick


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[luke1990]

Hi Luke,

I'd echo what Dennis has said. Bench peg is essential, as are a number of files, mops for your micro motor / pendant motor, saw blades, borax, soldering block ( or charcoal block ) burrs, and the list goes on.

I started by thinking of a few designs I wanted to make, and then worked out what tools I needed to accomplish them.

Set yourself a budget, and try to stick to it. If you can't manage it, then perhaps scale back your initial design ideas.

I'd say that going down the lost wax route is far too ambitious to begin with. I'd suggest starting with the basics such as filing, polishing, soldering, and casting using cuttlefish and then delft clay. They may seem really basic methods but you'd be surprised at what you can do with them, and the small but important skills you'll pick up along the way.

Guess I'm saying that it would be wise to learn the basic jewellery skills first from the ground up otherwise in my opinion, you'll encounter loads of problems later on who you're attempting to finish your items.

Even learning how different metals behave under heat, when melting, their changing colours, annealing etc are all vital skills to learn.

I regularly ask questions on here and am still on a perpetual learning curve. I genuinely believe you can never stop learning in this game but it's both highly addictive and enjoyable all the same!

Nick


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Hello Nick,

Thanks for the advice. Could you clarify what you meant by being too ambitious? I wouldn't be doing the actual lost casting myself.

I read that 3D printed wax's that have been lost wax cast can produce an excellent surface finish. Am I mistaken?

[CJ57]

Hi Luke welcome from me too
I would agree that it would be really helpful to get very basic bench skills under your belt and with those you can then turn your hand to anything. Sawing, filing, soldering, finishing, these are skills you would need before you had anything cast even by someone else. It's useful to get a feel for the tools you are going to use, how metal works, playing about with finishes, so it's always suggested that you start off working in copper and then build up to precious metals when you are confident.

[Dennis]

I can see nothing wrong with Luke's idea, even though it seems counter-intuitive. He will simply be a designer and finisher: jewellery skills like all the others.

The weak link in his ambitions is finding a suitable caster. From what I have read of failed and porous castings and an unprofessional attitude, some of them don't deserve the title. So:

Find a suitable caster, http://www.thegoldsmiths.co.uk/library/technical-library/technical-portal/?cat=11301&subcat=11321
Make moulds for duplicates if necessary, learn ancillary skills such as adding findings,
Get a good reference book and go to a general beginners' class for background knowledge. Dennis.

[Patstone]

Yes I agree with Dennis, I am a sort of novice too, went to an evening class at a local college three years ago, and more of a traditionalist, but beginners classes will give you a basic knowledge, even down to finishing a piece. On this forum you will learn most of the rest of what you need to know, because someone has done it before.

[caroleallen]

I'd have to agree. Casting's all very well, but there's usually a lot of finishing needed. Get some basic skills under your belt first. It's so much more satisfying to know that you've made something from scratch, and a lot of the stuff that I get cast has been made in the traditional way first.

[luke1990]

Thank you everyone for all the advice. I'll do more research, adjust some ideas and get moving.

[Nick martin]

Just train yourself in the basics and fundamentals Luke, then you'll have the knowledge to go forward.

Nick

[Vos]

I'll just add that a little evening class can be worth it's weight in gold (s'cuse the pun). It not only gives you the basics, but gives you chance to play with all the tools. This helps get a feel for not just how you work, but what tools work best for you. It certainly gave me an insight into which tools I could 'scrimp' on, and which were worth spending good money on. Just having access to a workshop for 6 weeks was a brilliant start for me.

And don't think it'll not move quick enough for you. If you're an avid self teacher and reader you'll soon be way ahead. I see a craft like this much as driving a car. Learn bad habits in the beginning they're much harder to un-learn. Better to get taught the correct way to do things, then ignore them if you choose.

Whatever you choose, good luck on your path :)


Vos