QuestionDear Thomas,
My question may seem strange but I am looking for a company that would melt my pure gold ingots and bullion and cast them into simple pieces of jewelry, ie. bracelets, simple link necklaces? What might be a reasonable price charged by the jewelry maker for this process?
Warmest Regards,
Ken
AnswerKen, thanks for the question. Actually, this is a more complicated question than it might appear.
What you need are three specialties: 1)Design and model maker 2)casting company 3)assembler and finisher
One complication is in #3. For instance, a bracelet or simple link necklace would need to be of the heavier sort to justify production by casting. Reasonably, casting is the only reasonable approach since doing this work otherwise is generally on a quite large scale and certainly not suitable for using metals supplied outside the normal for small runs.
With casting, a necklace or bracelet or whatever which has more than one part is cast of individual parts. These parts are then finished well enough to be assembled into a unit, such as a bracelet. Then, all must be finished and made ready for sale or wear. The process does involve a lot.
Simple is not the problem. The problem is assembly with necklaces and similar items with multiple units composing the whole.
Items such as pendants, rings and other single piece items will be much more applicable in your situation. This would of necessity be done by a jeweler who will do limited production runs. The large manufacturer is out of the picture. The local jeweler who does custom work is likely out if quantity is needed. Still, you definitely need to check the local custom jewelers since some will have access to ready made wax patterns which will lower price significantly and reduce the work to casting and finishing.
Otherwise, it will be difficult to find a company to do the work. They will need the waxes supplied for casting and will do the casting. You might have to find someone else to finish the work and make it ready to wear.
I suggest you find a copy of Jewelry Artist, previously The Lapidary Journal. In there are ads for casting houses and suppliers of wax patterns. Contact some of these businesses and ask of they can also refer you to someone for other needs, such as asking the casting house if they know where to get wax models or ask the wax model supplier who might do the casting for you.
Here is a link to the magazine mentioned (well, web site for the mag at least): (copy and paste) www.lapidaryjournal.com
As for prices, I would be foolish to even suggest prices without knowing the nature of designs, if casting models are available and if assembly is needed. Also, is finishing of an easier sort or complicated? Yes, too many variables prevent even a guess at cost to do the work.
I hope this answer will assist you in some way, Ken.
God Bless and Peace. Thomas. August 25, 2008 7:40pm
