Jewellery Making- Precious Stones in Cast Rings

Create sculptural rings studded with dazzling precious gemstones! Combine wax working and stone setting methods to produce a set of rings cast in your choice of copper, brass, bronze, white bronze and silver - beginners welcome!
All materials included in the course fee.

Description

Expanding on the Lost Wax Cast Rings class, students in this course get to add precious gemstones to their cast jewellery process!
Experiment and create sculptural cast metal rings set with beautiful stones in a variety of colours.
This beginner friendly jewellery class is also fun and engaging for returning students to diversify their skills and set stones in new ways.
Students will learn to work with a range of jeweller waxes, including hard wax, modelling wax, sheet wax, melting wax and more to create wax 'masters', setting stones in wax, as well as turning raw metal casts into shining ready-to-wear jewellery.
Students choose their favourite wax masters to be cast professionally outside of class time, transforming the designs into their choice of metals, and are returned to students to polish and finish their casts in class.

The course fee includes a range of small precious gemstones, casting 2 rings in either copper, brass, yellow bronze, white bronze, and 2 rings cast in Sterling Silver.

The bold, organic forms and textures of the lost wax processes offer a wide range of creative possibilities beyond the scope of fabrication methods alone (soldering metal sheet and wire). Setting faceted stones in wax offers a simpler and more experimental way of adding stones to jewellery compared to fabrication settings.

All materials are included in the course fee. Please bring pen and paper and your reading glasses (if you use these) and wear clothing and footwear suitable for a workshop environment.

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

Design and create unique sculptural ring designs

Carve hard jeweller’s wax ring master designs to fit a chosen finger size for casting

Sculpt soft jeweller’s wax master design to fit a chosen finger size for casting

Combine hard and soft jeweller’s wax to create unique designs ready for casting

Set faceted gemstones in wax for ‘cast-in-place’ setting methods

File, sand and polish metal casts into finished jewellery

Note: Courses need a minimum number to go ahead so if we don't have enough enrolments a few days before the start date, we have to cancel. We'll let you know by email so please check yours regularly. If you need to cancel your registration, here are our terms and conditions: "What You Need to Know".