Silversmithing Projects
Tons of photos below.
These pieces we all designed and made in a 10 week period for ME298: Silversmithing. This class is taught by two Stanford Alums, Sara and Mandy who now run Redstart design in S.F. All pieces were made using the lost wax technique of casting. The steps involved are pictured above. First starting with conceptual designs in sketches or paper (farthest of the left), you then move to carving in machinable wax (the blue wax). This wax can then either be directly invested or molded and then have multiple copies produced (the copies are the pink wax). Investment involves pouring plaster around the wax piece and then burning the wax out. This hollow "negative" is then filled with whatever molten metal you wish the part to be cast in. We had the capability to cast silver, shikudo (copper and gold), and bronze. The above piece was cast in silver as several parts and then soldered together.
A series of hexagons that were injection molded and cast individually then soldered together in a tesselated pattern.
This swooping ring design was carved from one piece of wax and the invested in silver before undergoing 10 hours of sanding and buffing.
Pretentious or not I had always wanted a wax seal of my own so for this class I decided to finally make one. The die pattern with my initials was carved out of machinable wax on a CNC and then turned down to the correct diameter on a lathe. This was then invested in shikudo and then press-fit on to the walnut handle which was turned down on a wood lathe.
This bronze pinecone was hand carved from 7 pieces and then assembled as one piece in wax. The whole pinecone was then invested and then finished with a dark patina and some sanding.