Cuttlefish Casting

You want me to what!!

In this technological world its always good to have a basic down to earth technique up you sleeve and cuttlefish casting is a good example of this. This method is great for producing basic 3 dimensional shapes as long as you don't mind a bit of filing up and finishing. As you can see from the job sheet I have been asked to produce 2 rose gold balls, from scrap links supplied by the customer, to terminate a torq bangle which I have already made.

Dry Bones!

As luck would have it my father has just given me a large bag of cuttlefish bones which he picked up on a trip to Jersey. They are still wet so they will need a few days on the radiator or in the sun to fully dry out. Cuttlefish bones can be picked up from many beaches in the UK, from jewellery supplies retailers like us www.gouldsjewellers.co.uk and even petshops.

As you can see i've knocked up a few of these before. Now for the melting and pouring of the gold!

As you can see the cast piece is quite rough with large sprues and flow lines so now for the trimming up and finishing.

And thats it !