Jewellery making: carving, casting and finishing

About this course

The course explores how jewellery designs move from initial wax models through casting and final finishing. Participants develop designs for wax carving, experiment with texture and decorative surfaces, and examine lost-wax casting alongside delft-clay and cuttlefish techniques. The course also covers recycling silver, estimating casting costs and the relevance of casting multiples to commercial production. Teaching combines short demonstrations, explanations and technical tasks, with time devoted to adding components such as jumprings and earwires, correcting imperfections, and finishing and polishing completed pieces.

What you'll learn

• Prepare designs that are suitable for wax carving.
• Carve jewellery forms in wax.
• Estimate casting costs before sending a design for casting.
• Explain how casting multiples relate to commercial jewellery production.
• Reproduce an item using cuttlefish bone or delft clay casting.
• Finish and polish jewellery pieces to a professional standard.

Is this course right for you?

This course is intended for intermediate jewellery makers developing beyond fundamental techniques. The source identifies experience in measuring, marking, piercing, filing and finishing as relevant preparation. Sessions combine individual technical tasks with short group discussions and show-and-tell activities.

• Includes short group discussions and show-and-tell at the end of each class.
• Technical tasks follow demonstrations and instructions.

Before you go

• Participants may bring scrap silver and a small object or jewellery piece to reproduce in delft clay or cuttlefish.
• A sketchbook or notebook is requested for documenting ideas and course learning.
• Open footwear should not be worn in the workshop; appropriate footwear and sensible clothing are requested.