The pendant has mini-wire forms all through the pierced "Hand" design, and this weighs only.3 grams in wax..So try this experiment in a hand wax carving exercise! Cad is great for replicating such designs as stated, it is supreme! This process saves time and money and can be modified right on the screen.
How about carving the original, casting it in silver and then making
a rubber mold, casting 3 identical pieces. No need for a cad that
way.
Many years ago, about 45 to be exact, I saw a model-maker made a silver charm, it took him 3-4 days to execute the pattern. On his bench he had well over 18 files, imagine 24 hours to make one simple charm
He must have been the slowest carver in the world. My sweetie Tim
can carve a very fine wax in the time it takes to get a CAD file
made.
However this is not a man vs machine issue. For some it is, but for
us not so much. CAD does have it’s place and can be very useful
especially for mass manufacturing. I encourage my students to learn
CAD. However…
Our clients want hand made by old school artisans. They don’t go to
the GAP or Nordstom for clothes. They don’t buy “Brands” like
Tiffany. They want custom old world work and they are willing to pay
for it. Thank God there are rich people out there with good taste.
Every day we pray that the rich will get good taste and the folks
with good taste will get rich. So far it’s working.
Have fun and make lots of jewelry.
Jo Haemer
timothywgreen.com
However this is not a man vs machine issue.
For some it is, but forus not so much. CAD does have it’s place and
can be very usefulespecially for mass manufacturing.To me, the
biggest problem with CAD jewelry is the stuff that’s made by
non-jewelers. So you end up with basket rings encrusted with micro
pave. Enough with the little diamond set into the undergallery under
the center stone, OK? JCK and the stream of flyers weget in the mail
are just full of them, and they’re all just the same, in essence.Last
month I carved a wax for a matching wedding ring - thr= ee rounds
across the center and a couple of tapered baguettes at a certain
angle. Certainly it COULD be done on computer, but it would take all
day just to measure it properly and get the angles and such. Not just
a wedding ring, a mate to an existing ring. Also last month I had a
wedding ring with shared-prong one pointers to match an engagement
ring, ten.20’s set into two rows of five, and just the other day was
a size 2 eternity ring in rose gold. ALL of those I had done by
computer, because they are precision, mechanical work. Yes, I could
absolutely make them all myself.
At this point in my career I would liken that to whacking your head
against a brick wall. Man says, “Doc, it hurts when I do this.” Doc
says, “So stop doing it.” ;} Use your tools for what your tools are
good for and life will be hunky-dory.
How about carving the original, casting it in silver and then making a rubber mold, casting 3 identical pieces. No need for a cad that way.
Absolutely nothing wrong with that, however resizing a CAD model is
pretty easy to do, and faster.
CAD/CAM is a rapid manufacturing process compared to creating
something by hand.
Depends what you want to do, and what you want to achieve e.g. make
one in a day or make hundreds in a day.
Did an exercise the other day, drafting out a cone setting template,
and doing the same thing with a computer. It takes roughly about 10
minutes to draft out a cone by hand (it’s quite relaxing to do), and
less than 5 to create a cone printed onto a sticky label. Cut out the
cone from some sterling, bend it up, solder, true it up in a cone
plate, file out the claws… ta-da.
The nice thing about the computer created template, is that once it’s
been created, it can be modified very quickly. Mind you it’s very
relaxing to sit down and hand draft a cone template 
Regards Charles A.
I make all sorts of charms, netsukes, doodads and whatevers, but I
don’t really like wax carving. I make models out of Primo-sculpy,
cook these, and make a mold of the Primo-sculpy with Sorta-clear 18.
I pour wax into the mold with wax melted in a aluminum soda pop can.
I don’t use a wax injector. The secret is to attach two sprues to the
model; one a sprue and one as an air vent. Don’t use Kato polyclay
because it contains sulfur and won’t set in a silicon mold. This
low-tech method works. I don’t need a wax injector or a rubber mold
maker. I do use a vacuum debubbilizer to take bubbles out of the
Sorta-Clear. I’ve seen many students struggle with soft wax that
never quite achieves a smooth surface or hard wax that doesn’t do 3-D
deer or rabbits very well. With Primo-Sculpy, I can make a model in
about a day or two. If you have questions, email me.
Sally
Nothing wrong with that, I use plasticene (a synthetic clay) for
large models when I want to get the creative juices flowing, you can
get a fair amount of detail into it, nothing really fine mind you.
Then there’s Mold-a-wax, which is also very hands on, and hardens a
bit more than plasticene.
Then I make an RTV, then pour a high definition gravity pour wax
into that. The RTV rubbers I use, have anti-corrosives in the mix so
they last a loooooong time.
It doesn’t really matter what method you use to create the wax, at
the end of the day it’s whatever works for you.
Regards Charles A.
Hi Maggie, my name is Julian.
http://www.ganoksin.com/gnkurl/z4
I’m working as wax carver, but i have to learn a lot, than i know. I
have website,can see my works: Can you tell me about my education
what is nessesary to read, or work on. Before strating wax carving,
used to be bench jeweller.
Hello Julian - My name is Margie
From what I see in your wax examples you have a head start… nice
work. What else do you want to know about wax carving? Do you do 3-D
pieces?
Margie
mmwaxmodels.com
Yulian,
Your work is beautiful! You could teach us!
John
Holy smokes (American slang for wow!) If you carved the pieces on
the web site, you are doing amazing work. When will you be teaching
in the USA? Betsy
Hello Margie! I was asking, because want to learn more about 3-D
pieces exactly. I make 3-D pieces, but something missing-i know that
have to read and work more. Can you give me advice what literature i
have to read,or on what i have to work more, so the pieces to look
better.Sorry about my english, and for the mistake with your name.
Best, Julian