Casting Houses.

[Lucie]

Hi everyone. I wasn't quite sure where to post this, but just in case it's of interest to anyone:

My regular caster (Just castings) has gone on holiday for the whole of August. They are usually really good and I have no issues with them.
Unfortunately, before they went, I sent a batch of beads to to be cast. The machine failed & all my waxes were lost (as well as the waxes belonging to everybody else).

This has never happened before.

Frighteningly, after speaking to all of other casters mentioned here, the general consensus seems to be that this is not actually uncommon
Some casters such as Niagara Falls, actually state on their website that they "strongly recommend that a silicone rubber mould is made of the wax before casting".

I have a customer waiting for this order and I have a 6 week turn around, so I made up a whole batch of waxes in a bit of a panic and sent them off as follows:
(all casters had received my waxes by 1pm on Tuesday).

Merrels: I sent 4 waxes.
Received a phone call on Wednesday to say that one wax had been destroyed whilst casting.
3 beads arrived back with me on Friday.
2 had cracks over an unrepairable / detailed section. One bead out of the 4 sent was perfect.

Weston Beamor: 1 wax sent for a cold silicone mould to be made & then cast.
The bead arrived back to me on Saturday. There was no visible shrinkage and no loss of detail - no difference at all from beads
that have been cast directly.

This was a huge relief and takes a lot of the stress out of the process, but at £18.40 + vat for the mould to be made, it probably wouldn't be viable for most silver orders.

Jewellery Casting Scotland: I sent 4 waxes.
All 4 beads arrived back with me on Saturday in perfect condition

Sprue's from all casters were nice & neat and they were all really friendly and patient.
Weston Beamor are the only company that will not "finish", but the cast was good & it wouldn't have been necessary anyway.

I have not yet tried out Niagara Falls or Nexgen - I'll wait until I have the energy

Hopefully, this is useful to someone? x

[Gemsetterchris]

You'll have to add Hean studio to your list to test out, I sure they'll be competent enough.

[caroleallen]

That's very interesting. I use Nexgen and Niagara Falls. I've never had a problem with either, though Niagara Falls have the edge on speed.

[Lucie]

I think I'm gradually working my way through every caster in the country. I suppose it never hurts to have a few back ups, so I'll add Hean Studio to my list.
I generally need my pieces turned around in no longer than 10 days max - ideally a week.
At the moment, Jewellery casting Scotland have the edge for me.