Wedding bands

for a friend, i need to make two gold celtic wedding bands. i
have made several of them from silver, but haven’t been so
seccessful of having the design completely encircle the band. how
do you sprue that sort of ring? and what is the right way to
construct the design? i have been carving it into plaster, and
then pressing a soft piece of wax on it so the design is
transfered to the wax and make it from there. is there any other
way?

and for the gold, he has many gold/platinum rings that can be
melted down. except that wouldn’t be good, would it? someone he
talked to said it had to be rifined first. as stated in a
previous post, would i be able to trade them in for casting
grain, and were would i be able to do that?

-albert.

for a look at some Celtic Jewelry try this great page
http:www.quantumweb.com/daoud/index.html

for a friend, i need to make two gold celtic wedding bands. i
have made several of them from silver, but haven't been so
seccessful of having the design completely encircle the band.
how do you sprue that sort of ring?

sprue to the side at 2 or more points or to the inside same way

and what is the right way to construct the design?

There’s several books on Celtic design available at bookstores
or the library. It’s a fairly complex subject, I suggest you
research it.

i have been carving it into plaster, and
then pressing a soft piece of wax on it so the design is
transfered to the wax and make it from there.  is there any
other way?  

I have made several celtic designs by engraving metal molds
(great for intense detail) and have hand carved wax as well (I
use a microscope, have to to get the details)

and for the gold, he has many gold/platinum rings that can be
melted down.  except that wouldn't be good, would it? someone he
talked to said it had to be rifined first.  as stated in a
previous post, would i be able to trade them in for casting
grain, and were would i be able to do that?

I still remelt many customer’s old rings, it usually works for
casting IF you grind out all the impurities such as solder etc,
and stick to one karat and color (don’t mix).

Why don’t you melt the platinum and roll it out into a strip and
chase the Celtic design into it. Then make a channel ring and
solder the platinum strip into it, might look cool! Several of
the guys I’ve worked with (from S.E.Asia) are incredibly good at
chasing and use it instead of engraving. They make their chasing
tools from old needle files.

Good Luck, you bit off a big chunk…

         Jeffrey Everett

Handmade 18K, 22K, and platinum gemstone fine jewelry.
Diamond setting, rubber/metal molds, casting, lapidary
Die and mold engraving, plastic patterns for casting.
Cad jewelry design, cad/cam milling scroll filigree…
P O Box 2057 Fairfield IA 52556 515-469-6250