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Thread: Casting dented and with balls on?

  1. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gemsetterchris View Post
    The shortcut is piercing them out. You can waste more time & money faffing about trying to be clever, rather than learn a simple fundamental task.

    Sounds like some need to drop the "making" bit from their job description :what:
    I did say it would be ~my~ short cut for mass production. A basic die for that would be a few quid and it would take about 10 seconds to bang one out.

    And like lots of people on here, this isn't my job, mr snitty, so I have no need to worry about my job description

    Quote Originally Posted by Anna Wales View Post
    Going slightly off tack but saw work doesn't seem to be very high on the list of taught things though.I talk to lots of people at shows who all seem to have been on a jewellery course and when they see my display with saw,blades etc all have said the same thing.They only tried sawing for a couple of minutes,broke all the blades and that was that, not doing it again.To me the saw is the most important tool I have.
    and yes, my piercing skills are appalling. I will keep on trying and at some point I'll get the time and money together to at least do a course because books and videos don't work for me. At least not in terms of handling a saw. I am improving though. I can cut straightish lines through 1.7mm thick up to 7mm long now.

  2. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by Anna Wales View Post
    Going slightly off tack but saw work doesn't seem to be very high on the list of taught things though.I talk to lots of people at shows who all seem to have been on a jewellery course and when they see my display with saw,blades etc all have said the same thing.They only tried sawing for a couple of minutes,broke all the blades and that was that, not doing it again.

    Really?! No wonder there is so much crap about, no-one can be bothered to learn to use basic tools.
    Wether It's your job or hobby is irrelevant..
    Last edited by Gemsetterchris; 06-11-2014 at 08:49 PM.

  3. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by medusa View Post
    I did say it would be ~my~ short cut for mass production. A basic die for that would be a few quid and it would take about 10 seconds to bang one out.
    I think there's an issue around what techniques are appropriate at what level.

    If you're doing one or two items, then a purist approach is appropriate. You've presumably got the opportunity for the time and materials to be paid for; with the more expensive materials, the time is... Immaterial. Or more so.
    Short runs, it depends on the final value again. It may be appropriate to hand fabricate everything, but there may be a suitable point to look at alternative tooling.
    Longer runs, almost certainly alternative tooling - or contract the work out to somewhere where labour is cheap. James' regalia might fit into this category, with custom flypress tooling?
    All out mass-production - hand fabrication takes a back seat and industrial processes do the bulk of the work; setup costs are very high but the cost is spread across thousands of pieces.

    Horses for courses. I prefer the first category, but will venture into the second for more cost-effective approaches.
    Conversely, adopting mass-production techniques for very short runs is not the greatest match in general.

    Caveat, caveat, exclusion etc. - there is no one-size-fits-all-scenarios.
    Last edited by ps_bond; 06-11-2014 at 08:50 PM.

  4. #24
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    Personally, I'd rather my jewellery came from my own studio than from a sweatshop in India. There are just not enough hours in the day to hand pierce everything so I resort to having pieces cut out by laser or cast. Over the next few weeks I expect to sell somewhere in the region of 1000 pieces. Doesn't mean I can't use a saw (I also have 5) but I do like to sleep sometimes!

  5. #25
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    Quote Originally Posted by caroleallen View Post
    Personally, I'd rather my jewellery came from my own studio...
    Likewise. Hence my sometimes insane approach on sole authorship

  6. #26
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    Talking about saw frames, someone on another forum asked how many I had, so I sorted out my collection and took this photo, just for fun.

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	377 Jim's saw frames.jpg 
Views:	35 
Size:	98.8 KB 
ID:	6910

    So you can see that I have done a lot of piercing in my time.

    James

  7. #27
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    Blimey James, I thought 5 was a lot!

  8. #28
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    As already said the balls are due to air trapped in the investment when investing the items they may of been sprued too 'flat' and holding air under also poor vacuuming would cause this souldnt really happen. As also said it can be difficult to make large flat peices with injected wax you need someone who will take the time to set the injector up properly If not, I would just make the shapes slightly thicker to allow for finishing than you can sand them flat. I would have a word with the caster about the hole and see if you can resolve the problems though.

  9. #29
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    [QUOTE=medusa;73172] , this isn't my job, mr snitty,QUOTE]

    Never my intention to be Mr Snitty , just trying to point out a fact.

    Obviously the likes of Carole need a different approach for mass amounts...I`m just abit concerned about the lack of basic tool skills.
    I can make a cake with a packet mix but it doesn`t make me a potential chef.

    I`ll have to play Mr ignorant abit more.

  10. #30
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    We all have different approaches to the way we make jewellery. I don't think you need to be concerned for anyone else. My studio is full of labour saving gadgets but it also has the basics like saws, files, hammers etc etc. We're all striving to be better jewellers. If we weren't, we wouldn't be on here asking questions and learning from those with more experience. The thing I like about making jewellery is that as long as I live, there will always be more to learn. I guess that's the same for everyone.

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