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Custom designer jewelry by Robert and Debra Shinn

Sandcast Ankh - continued

Step 22 Sprue button. After a few minutes, the metal still visible in the pour hole will cool and lose its red color; be careful as it is still very hot! Note that the molten silver does not burn the spruce wood as long as it does not remain on it, simply flowing over it. The scorch marks are from the torch flames after many uses.
Step 23 Open the flask. Open the flask. Metal should have filled all the impressions. The large piece of metal left in the sprue serves a purpose; as the metal cools, the thickest part shrinks the most as molten metal from its center fills voids forming in the other parts that are thinner. We isolate this deforming process to the part we will cut off anyhow.
Step 24 Remove the casting. Using a pair of tweezers, preferably with insulated handles, pull the casting out of the sand. Some sand will stick to it; seldom will a mold be good enough for more than a single use. Silver wires will project out from it where the vent lines filled. Remove the sand from the frame; most can be reused, but some that touched the melted silver may be too hard to deal with any more.
Step 25 Clean the casting. Wash off the casting; grains of sand have no business around a jeweler's bench. Here we compare the casting (left) with the acrylic model (right). The vent wires will be removed, but the long straight sprue will be left to make a pendant loop.
Step 26 File and polish. Remove the sprue button and wires with heavy pliers. File the edges. Bend the sprue into a loop and solder onto the back. Polish, first with tripoli, then rouge. Wash and dry again. Finished!

Disclaimer: All techniques described are performered by professionals in a professional workshop. These techniques work well for us; we do not warrant them for anyone else. We cannot be responsible for anyone's property, profit, or safety. If you wish to make beautiful objects, pictures and text are no substitute for a good class.