Retaining the family jewels

During a discussion at the orchid dinner in Tucson I was encouraged
by my fellow orchdians at my table to share this story with the
world, hopefully it will give hope to those who have lost things and
wish to have a keepsake or momento of the past. What I am about to
disclose to all has been a private matter that only a few close
friends have been privy to. A few years ago a friend suffered a
tragic loss and after some serious discusion I agreed to help him.
Sam as I will call him was diagnosed with testicular cancer yep
thats right the big C. Sam as most young men had developed an
attachment to his stuff and didnt want to be with out them. After
some experimenting I came up with a way that would allow Sam to
retain his testicles, not in the traditional location or in the
flesh but in gleeming eighteen carat gold.

After sams surgery and after all the tests were performed the
doctors put them in a jar full of formeldhyde and returned them to
their owner who in turn intrusted the family jewels to me they
looked like road kill but after some carefull triming and patching
back together with toothpicks they were good to go I dunked them in
the wax pot to seal them and then I sprued only one up that way if
somthing went wrong in the casting I still had a 2nd chance didnt
want to put all the balls in one basket so to speak I burned it out
real slow kinda like a slow cooker I didnt want to have it explode
from the moisture and stuff. I know that any one who has read this
far can take the rest of the story so bear with me. I ran the
furnace up to 1500 and let it stay their for about twenty four hours
then befor casting I gently tapped the side of the flask to remove
any ash. The casting came out perfect as did ball number two after
soldering on a couple of heavey jump rings they were good to go he
wears them on a chain around his neck And will proudly display them
for all to see. Ps he already had a couple of children so we joked
about who will inherit the family jewels.

Sincerely Kevin

I know what you are all thinking what did it smell like? I have no
idea I put the furnace outside and stayed away from the shop that
day. I still get the willys just talking about it but he is a good
friend and is still alive and doing well.

Actually, Kevin, my curiosity went not to the oldfactory burnout
products, but to the issue of weight. Are these things dramatically
smaller “out of the sack?” My first guess would be that a solid
casting in 18K as you describe would cost a small fortune and be
heavy as a doorknocker.

Lee Einer
Dos Manos Jewelry
http://www.dosmanosjewelry.com

Sheesh. And they thought I was weird, demanding my gallstone after
surgery.

Tas
http://www.earthlywealth.com/

Kevin, I can only hope that I may someday know someone who has the
balls to be as good a friend to me as you are to “Sam.”

James in SoFl

Actually, Kevin, my curiosity went not to the oldfactory burnout
products, but to the issue of weight. Are these things
dramatically smaller "out of the sack?" 

They were very heavy but it is hard to put price on somthing so
priceless they cost about 2000 dollars when gold was at 300 an ounce
I didnt charge anything other than the metal cost I imagine that
there was some shrinkage in the casting and the necesary triming
helped reduce the weight . I cant believe I posted this but if it
gives anyone a laugh or a smile it will be worth it I know my friend
has milked it for all its worth so to speak.

Kevin

Forgive me as I add an ironic note into this rather unseemly
discussion.

The surgical removal of the “family jewels” is actually termed an
ORCHIDectomy.

Pam Chott
www.songofthephoenix.com

I cant believe I posted this but if it gives anyone a laugh or a
smile it will be worth it I know my friend has milked it for all
its worth so to speak. 

Thanks for sharing, Kevin.

What better anecdote for the “orchid” newsgroup, after all :wink:

Lee Einer
Dos Manos Jewelry
http://www.dosmanosjewelry.com

The surgical removal of the “family jewels” is actually termed an
ORCHIDectomy.

Pam,

Perhaps now that we have this new fact, maybe Sumner Silverman will
be inspired to carve some new style ORCHID pins.

Joel

Joel Schwalb
@Joel_Schwalb

I was pleased to be one of the people sitting at Kevins table when
he told the family jewels story. And was one of the people egging
him on to post it to the forum. I could not come up with a more
bizzare story from my own experiences. Can you?

In reply to Lee who comented that it would cost a small fortune in
18k gold. Maybe your equipment is just alot bigger than mine. But it
doesn’t appear that it would be overly expensive. I suppose cost is
relative. Maybe Kevin can give us further info about how much gold
it took and what Sam paid for his jewels.

John Wade
Wade Deigns

Hey John good to hear from you, Sams balls cost him about 2000
dollars to cast and we fudged a little on the karat on the last one
due to the cost but i am sure it is higher than fourteen each one
weighed about 120 grams some of them was missing due to the lab
keeping the tumors I was trying to be vague but everyone wants the
details, thats ok because i am probably the only one in the world to
have ever done this No I dont have pictures of before and after just
the ones permanently burned into my memoy thats all I need We thought
it would be funny if I sent his HMO the bill for preservation of his
masculinity.

Sincerely Kevin

Just wanted to say thanks to Kevin for having the balls to post that
story. It’s given me a lot of laughs in a rough month.

Thanks!
Elaine

Elaine Luther
Metalsmith, Certified PMC Instructor

Hard to Find Tools for Metal Clay

Just wanted to say thanks to Kevin for having the balls to post
that story. It's given me a lot of laughs in a rough month. 

I hope your month gets better because it is not over yet my friend
who has the golden orbes has a great perspective on life after this
event he told me no matter how bad things get they can always be
much worse he shared a room with a guy who had inoperable tumors and
the guy told him that he would gladly trade his disease for my
friends.

Good luck Kevin