Late last month I got some castings back from another casting house I tried- made a pair of earrings today with one pair!
The above earrings look great; and quick to make- I soldered on an earwire, cleaned up and oxidized the earrings, cleaned them again to remove the oxidation from the cast granules, then set the stones- amazing Ethiopian opals. My problem is that I want to set opals in everything... I think the other pair I have of these will contain labradorites instead. Most people like those. We'll see. I built up a collection of calibrated stones for these castings, and I have to use up some of them that ARE NOT opals!
Here's how they looked- the top pieces are the originals, the bottom pieces are back from the caster (with sprue removed) and the middle set was after I cleaned them up a bit. I like that the originals came back usable. The last originals I got back from another casting house were not- they had a layer of silicone that I couldn't even burn off. I can make my originals into pendants!
I still have some bezels to make in order to make the other style of earrings. But I am looking forward to having them be quick, and having a sudden burst in inventory, especially with the holiday season coming up! I may have to order more!
Are these Argentium or regular sterling?
ReplyDeleteThey look lovely and I agree the opals are a bit delicious!
ReplyDeleteFantastic Dana! You won't believe this but I woke up thinking about you and your granulation/casting this morning! Really! And here you are. . . I was ruminating about casting and granulation and BlueFuse. I was wondering if you use BlueFuse and if so, how you like it.
ReplyDeleteThanks all! The original model was Argentium.. Victoria- with Argentium you don't have to use BlueFuse! You use diluted flux and heat. Argentium has a window where it exists in a bit of a 'gel' state before melting- it's very forgiving. These were cast in sterling silver, though. Glad you're thinking about me, Victoria!! LOL
ReplyDeleteThis article is very helpful! Awesome way to make my day better! Thank you
ReplyDeleteCasting Studios