Greetings everyone.

I am here to learn. Therefore may I ask a technical question.

I have designed a jewelry piece to be cast from wax carving.

Now my problem is that its sillouete is rather complicated for a piece that is 70 mm in height.



as you can see it has very detailed and intricated outline.

I thought about having it laser cut in a wax sheet 5~6 mm thick (pardon my English) and then I would be able to do the carving to achieve the result below.



Therefore, once the sillouete was laser cut - is it feasible at this thickness? - I could start carving both the bedding for the onyx and the stylized crysanthemum leaves.

I have emailed this company but they didn't even bother to answer.

The issue is that this is part of a larger project and I'm more of a designer than a carver, although I humbly know I can do the rest.

Would appreciate any inputs, considering that I have very little spare time and know that trying to do it manually would be a disaster.

Thank you all

Hi Antonio. If you don't get any response from castinghouse I may have some other idea.

Thanks Jim.

I've already emailed you. I'm more on the conceptual side of things rather than a carver which I would love to be, but time does not allow

Obrigado

I can't see the pictures you posted with your outline, Antonio, I know that a lot of folks use cnc machines to carve very fine computer drawn designs in 3d. I don't know to much about them but I know that you need to generate paths for the cnc machine, probably with a program like autocad.

Lol hey what do you know your pictures poped up. This is almost real size, very easy to cut this out with a piercing saw and a wax blade, 6mm slab of greenwax would be really nice.
What I do with patterns way smaller then this is, print it up from my computer, then use an exacto blade (with handle ) to cut the pattern out in paper.
Then polish the wax blank to a reasonable shine, then stick the paper pattern to the wax with a softer wax (like beeswax) by first rubbing the soft wax on the hard wax to transfer a thin tacky layer, press the pattern on rub down with something hard and smooth.
Next I trace the pattern onto the greenwax with a needle and then remove the pattern and wipe off the beeswax. this should leave a visible scratch outlining the paper pattern. You could use watercolor paint to make the line show up better.

Best luck.

Sam.

CNC would be the easiest (for me) and most precise way to go but it's pretty easy to transfer designs onto wax. I used to use a spray adhesive and just glue a copy of the design on and cut it out with a jewelers saw, you can trace it like Sam suggested or if printed in a laser printer, you can transfer the toner from the paper to the wax with oil of wintergreen, rub it on the back and then carefully peel off. You can buy it at any pharmacy.

That technique must smell very good!

Hi Sam, and Harryman and Janel,

That was what I thought about. I could figure out the process, but my problems are:
1- very little free time.
2- some urgency in getting it done
3- trying to have it done without a failure. One slip and it would be another try.

This project is unfinished because I could not have the time for it. This was five years ago.
Anyway it's being taken care of

I was able to convert the files into Auto CAD files.

Here's another detail of the bedding to house the onyx stone:



So I figure the laser CNC company will understand it pretty well if I further add that the stylized chrisanthemum leaves should appear like this Lalique dragonfly wings



Thank you all for the great inputs.

Hi Antonio, can you make all the different parts one by one in gold and sold the wold after ?

Bonjour Sergio,

The name... êtes vous Portugais ou Brésilien?

I think it would be showing the welding as it would be extremely difficult and I am more of a designer of sorts than a jeweler. It is to be made in silver, not gold

I know how fulfilling it would be to make something with your own hands, but that would require a full time dedication to one single discipline. I prefer to remain in the conceptual realm although making sure it is feasible.

Thank you.

Bonjour Antonio. I'm french. You could make one part of your jewel and after, you sold the rest, i think it's a good way to do your jewel.

Bonjour Serge,

It is most kind of you. Merci beaucoup.
It is not for sale purposes
A good friend is taking care of helping me with a CNC laser company.

Bless you anyway

Hi antonio, i hope we can see your jewel when it will be finished. Thank you and good luck for the rest

Salut Serge,

I will most certainly share the project with you all.
There are two variations, reason why it must be done in laser.



and



serving two different purposes.

Man I wish I could use the laser printer idea, there are extreme limitations on my method, I am always looking for better more precise ways of transferring a pattern to wax, wax is really pesky that way not to much actually sticks to it.
Today I tried printing to some tissue paper and sticking that to the wax with some tacky wax then tracing with an exacto knife trough the tissue. Worked out ok so far. Does that method work with photo copies to?

Sam.

Would a little well aimed heat help the ink to transfer and to stick?

Sam,

You should try the spray adhesive, I used to use 3M, but any should work, it sticks real well, easy to peel off and if you want to remove any excess glue, just a wipe with acetone will take it right off. I've used paper and clear, plastic overhead transparency sheets. You can print them in a laser printer or draw on them by hand, flip them over and you have a matching, mirror image. Cut through them with a jewelers saw or transfer with pin pricks, they're a little tough to scribe through with a knife.

Janel,

I don't know what temp toner powder melts at, but who knows, it might work. Carving wax melts pretty high @250F so maybe an iron might do the trick.

Man I wish I could use the laser printer idea, there are extreme limitations on my method, I am always looking for better more precise ways of transferring a pattern to wax, wax is really pesky that way not to much actually sticks to it.



Myself.

I use clear contact adhesive to glue a photo copy to the wax, and then when it's dry, I use a scalpel blade and prick through the paper and into the wax. But it still is a mission.