A jewelry maker I follow seems to be a real person with a reasonable product line for an independent maker (as opposed to all the fake artisans on social media with websites full of marked up temu jewelry) but there is one item that stands out to me. They have a collection of these storybook rings, about 6 different designs, and they say they are “hand carved” with “no molds” in sterling silver. To me, this does not look like engraving and “no molds” must mean it’s not cast, and it has that telltale horizontal lines of a laser engraving or 3d-printed wax. I hate to make unkind assumptions so what do you, more experienced, people think?
The maker is US-based and selling these for about $60 or $45 on sale.
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Could they be made from a die? Take a look at Kevin Potter’s website for some ideas. This ring shows up on a Shein website and ETSY.…Rob
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As someone who carves wax a lot- I don’t think this looks hand-carved at all. I’m not inclined to give benefit of doubt to what shows here, but I guess it’s possible that the reason they say there are no molds, is because they are printing and casting each one to order.
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Can you post a link to the seller? I’d be interested in having a look.
Do a search on Alice in Wonderland themed rings and you will find them…Rob
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Good thinking jtopolski! Individually 3/D printed models makes a lot of sense.
https://thewickedgriffin.com/product-category/rings/
She is also on Etsy, and while I have seen her photos of this ring on aliexpress, those listings’ customer review images show something of far lower quality so I do think they are stealing those images from her. Basically I’m hung up on the phrase “hand carved” in one of her ads.
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Thanks for sharing the site. I think it’s telling that there is a lot of footage of her casting, but I didn’t find any of her wax carving. My guess is she prints them and does the casting herself.
Well, whatever the actual process, to proclaim that each one is hand carved in silver is ….um…(how to say it nicely ?)…marketing hyperbole , (or more assertively) aka hogwash 
Could they be made from some type of PMC or silver clay?…Rob
It looks like it was stamped. Then an old process called Niello was done. That is my opinion. If it is, it is a dangerous process with mercury. I could be totally wrong, but looking at it, it looks exactly like the few pieces I’ve held in the past.
They are being sold for less than $50. I can’t imagine that there much out of the ordinary going on with these pieces. At that price range, and the current price of silver, they might not even be sterling silver. Just my thoughts…Rob
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FWIW, there’s no mercury in niello. It is an amalgam of silver, copper, lead, and sulfur.
I think you may be conflating niello with fire gilding, which is done with an amalgam of gold and mercury.
As to these pieces, the blackening in the recesses is simply done with one of the commercial black patination products.
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Hi,
thinking…
”hand carved” could refer to carving in wax…
and “no mold” could mean each item is individually carved in wax and lost wax cast from that wax…no master made…no mold made.
julie