Casting.....

[Dragonsmagic]

Hello all,

I have a pendant that I need a lot of and rather than making each one from scratch my hubby suggested I look into having a cast made....
Does anybody have any advice on this subject, where do I get one done and the cost??

Ta x

[Dennis]

I have used West 1 Castings, 24 Hatton Garden EC1N 8BQ, west1castings@aol.com. This was for a dragon brooch I carved in wax and it cost £10 including silver about a year ago.Ask them for a quote including multiple replication. Also consider makig a mould and using silver clay or the Delft Clay process (Sutton Tools,Birmingham). Hope this starts you off, Dennis.

[phatphil]

i like Delft clay it works real well

[lorraineflee]

i like Delft clay it works real well

Cooksons do the Delft clay kit too!!!
Lorraine

[swageblock]

Dragonsmagic
I have a pendant that I need a lot of and rather than making each one from scratch my hubby suggested I look into having a cast made....
Does anybody have any advice on this subject, where do I get one done and the cost??

Hi
What is the master made from & how many are required?
A wax master can be cast to give a silver model which can be dressed,sprued and put in a mould from which multiples of waxes can be produced.
Preferably make your master in silver And sprue it yourself,then get the casting Co to make a mould and produce waxes from that.
You will have to pay for the mould making[£12 to £20]then you`ll be charged a casting fee per item plus the cost of the metal.
be warned;some firms leave long sprues on the castings which adds to the metal cost.I`ve seen 18ct earrings weighing 0.5gm with 1.5gm of sprue left on.
I work for a company that does lost wax casting in silver and gold and centrifugal casting in pewter and tin.I AM NOT TOUTING FOR BUSSINESS but if you need any technical info I try and help

[swageblock]

or even business.Wheres the spell czech when u need it

[isabellabrown]

I make very fine quality miniature furniture for collectors around the world and have got to the point where I need to start making ormolu mounts for them. Some pieces can have anything up to 40 or 50 different castings that might only be used once so having my masters rubbered and cast is going to be very expensive.
I've tried Delft clay casting in silver which has worked very well to a point but it doesn't pick up the very fine detail I'd like. When you consider the castings could be as small as 2mm with very high.

[Dennis]

Dear Isabella,
Could you please explain ormolu mounts, or post a picture? Also rephrase your last sentence. There might be a jewellery answer, if I could just understand the question. Yours sincerely Thickie.

[ps_bond]

Interesting. Courtesy of google - Ormolu - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
So, essentially amalgam gilded bronze twiddly bits on furniture.

[Dennis]

Yes Peter, I have tried to consider the "2mm castings with very high", but why would you want 40 or fifty differnt fiddly bits for miniatures? And if you really need them a caster can be left to get on with it, surely? See 28. 2. 2010 above