Blushing Pink Mold For Tetra Rings

I finally got a rubber mold made for my Tetra rings. Here it is in it's nice blushing color of non-shrink rubber.

I did try to do molds myself some time ago in school  and could never really get a nice working one. I think it's an art to cut rubber molds correctly. This one is actually a pretty simple ring shape and not that hard to cut. In comparison some molds I got for my Mermaid rings are awesome with all those undercuts and multi-part pieces. Nowadays I send my masters out to get a professional cut mold. Those work so much better when I do the wax injection. It also saves me from all those bloody cuts in my fingers from the cutting scalpel. If any one cares and want to try it out on their own, here is a pretty good description on how to make molds.

Here the master model and some wax copies from the mold with the injection and casting sprues on them. The master has to be larger than the final intended ring and setting to allow for shrinkage. This pink rubber has less shrinkage that normal rubber (about 2% vs. 8%) but also during the casting  there is shrinkage from the wax to the final cast metal.

This mold will help me to speed up the Tetra ring making for the 10 mm stones. I still have to adjust the settings slightly for some of the stones. There are always slight differences in the trillion shaped stones I got. Some stones have a bit rounder sides or rounded or pointy tips or even deeper or shallower cuts. But adjusting the setting is so much faster after having the main shape already there. Then all else I do is sizing the band in wax correctly and send it out to the caster. I try to avoid sizing and soldering in metal and usually cast every ring to the intended ring size.

Here are a few new Amethyst colors I recently got in darker shades. For the smaller stones and fancy cuts I will still have to hand carve each ring separately and cant use the wax models from the mold.

bye, bye green beauty!

Sometimes it is not easy to be a jeweler. I get so attached to some of the jewels I create. It is hard to let go and send them off to their new destination. Last weekend I fell in love with this green ring. It has a large one-of-a-kind chrome green quartz set in the Rock in Paw design.

When creating a ring I stare at it for hours, trying to imagine the final look. And once it is all finished, I am so proud of this new little character that will hopefully make it's new owner happy.

Pale Blue Chalcedony Ring

Some days when business is slow and I feel in the mood of dreaming about new designs, I take out my box with those gems stones I bought probably 3 to 5 years ago. It feels like going through a treasure box you found at the attic of your parents house. Most stones in there are small; sapphires in different shades, garnets, some rubies, lots of citrines, topazes etc. These days I am more into large stones that make a statement.

Here I found one stone that I did not even knew I had. A beautiful pale blue Chalcedony cabochon measuring 14 mm by 24 mm.  So sleek and modern looking. I played a bit around and designed a ring thats very simple, clean and seamless. Below is a photo of the wax model that will be cast in sterling silver. I might flush set some small blue sapphires or diamonds on the sides of the setting but I am not sure about this yet. I will see how it looks when it is cast in silver. Maybe it will just stay clean with those architectural simple lines, no sparkly add-on needed.

Fancy Cuts

I finally got around to play with some fancy cut gem stones that I had in my treasure box. I designed two one-of-a-kind rings in wax and I can't wait to see them all finished in metal.

The first ring has a triangular fancy shaped tourmaline cabochon that has a incredible blood red color. I found this stone last week at my stone supplier in Downtown LA when I was searching for Morganite stones for a commissioned ring. Anyways this stone really caught my eye and I had to buy it. The tourmaline is 14 mm by 10 mm. I so love tourmalines especially when they have some natural inclusions. The variety of tourmaline colors and it's brilliance are just adorable.

Those asymmetrical lines were just perfect for a very dynamic design that is somewhat based on my Tetra ring collection.  I am not sure yet what metal I will cast this in. This would look so great in a warm yellow gold. But 14kt will be so had to set the stone in and 18kt is probably out of my reach.


The second ring is pretty similar. Here I used a faceted fancy shaped pink sapphire.

This stone I acquired years ago just waiting to find the right design for it. It is 11 mm by 5.5 mm and a bit smaller than the stones I typically use for my ring designs. To give it volume I shaped the sides of the setting in an angle to the stone. Let's see how that works once it is cast in metal.

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