Sterling jewelry production.

The production of sterling silver jewelry is a long and fascinating process. Balls of pure silver and copper, an unattractive and dirty piece of stone and a lump of wax are the raw materials in this process.

The transformation into a beautiful  piece of jewelry does not become apparent until almost at the very end of this process.

 Hand cutting masters.

Firstly a piece of hard wax is used to make a master. A skilled craftsman can cut any shape or design from this simple lump of wax.

Using various tools the wax is cut and filed until it takes the shape of final design.

 These craftsmen can produce  astounding reproductions from a picture or merely a handsketch.

The Thai jewelry workers are extremely skilled at filling the rubber mould with wax. Modern machines help them these days but it still takes experience and know how to gauge exactly how much wax to pump inot the mould in order that the wax make the shape of thew finished piece of jewelry. The machine injects molten wax at high pressure into the mould when the worker applies the mould to the nipple. The mould is then pulled from the nipple precisely when the wax has filled the empty mould. The wax then cools and the mould is opened to all the wax to be removed. The mould is then used again for the next piece of wax.

This process is repeated until there are enough wax moulds prepared to make up a wax tree. The rule of thumb is enough wax must be made in order that we can cast 500 grams of sterling silver. The skilled Thai workers have an algorithm which they use to calculate how much wax will be needed to produce a silver caste of the required amount. Qualtiy control is of paramount importance. The wax moulds should be made to the highest standard in order to produce high quality silver jewelry as if it has to be repaired and improved later in the process it can affect the efficiency of the production process.