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The lost wax jewelry casting process usually starts with a master model of the piece to be
recreated.
A rubber molding material is used to create a flexible mold of the master model. A fluid
wax is injected into the rubber mold to create the original piece. Once cooled, the wax
piece - a pattern - is removed from the rubber mold.
Wax patterns are attached to a wax pole - commonly called a “sprue”. The wax patterns
and sprue will eventually create the void in the castable mold that will fill with molten
metal. The complete wax assembly of patterns and sprue is referred to as a “tree”. Each
tree may contain a short sprue with a few wax patterns or dozens of patterns around a
single sprue.
After preparing the trees, you place the sprue onto a rubber base and secure a cylindrical
metal flask around the tree. Then you can prepare a plaster like material, called
investment, to form a slurry. The slurry is poured insied the flasks, around the trees. Once
the slurry has hardened, the rubber sprue base is removed and the mold is ready for the
wax removal process. The flask is placed into an oven and, with a controlled heating cycle,
the investment mold is cured and the wax is completely melted from the mold. A hollow
void is left inits place, which replicates the wax tree in complete detail.
Molten metal is poured into the sprue opening, filling the void and recreating the original
wax tree with a metal replica. Once cooled, the investment can be cleaned from the metal
in a water bath. The jewelry pieces can then be cut from the metal sprue and finished to
complete your desired cast piece.
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