Hand Crafted Gems, Custom designed castings, One of a kind every time!

I have always had a passion for creating, building and designing in the world around me, recently venturing into casting and faceting and learning all the complexities it entails. Most of the items designed here are better understood as expressions of art rather than the standard jewelry you may find in a store. I have yet to repeat a design and enjoy the uniqueness each piece brings. Generally custom/hand designed items with semi-precious stones are found in engagement rings, reaching a high price just for the design step. The unique value you will find here combined with end material make a valuable combination. All Items are pure sterling silver, and gemstones are always selected for their durability and beauty. 

Lets go through a journey of the creation process! 

First you must select a rock to cut an shape. This one is a synthetic clear sapphire. Sapphires come in all colors and have a good amount of refraction, which is what gives you all the colors glairing from the gemstone. They have a high hardness ensuring their luster will last ages. This particular sapphire was 125 ct and took 25 hours to cut!

Once the basic shape is cut away with a diamond plate you can switch to a finer grit and begin cutting all the facets. This cut will contain over 250 facets

Now that the facets have been cut it is time to begin polishing them. this is done in progressive steps up to 50k diamond grit. Sapphires can only be cut with diamond due to their extreme hardness!

The rock is held to the machine by wax, when the cutting process is finished on the pavilion (the pointy side) the wax is melted and transferred to another holder to cut the front side

After polishing and cleaning you can finally see the result of your work! One of the attractive qualities of the larger cuts are the intricate patterns you cant see in smaller gemstones. A nice star pattern is easily observed in this one

Once a rock is cut a design is created around it. This particular design is for a orange zircon gemstone (not cubic zirconia!). Zircon is a natural stone, more rare than diamond, with a high refractory rate that also comes in many colors! 

The design is 3d printed, cleaned, tested for fitment prepared for casting!

A wax tree is prepared. Each item is attached to a central wax stick and the entire "tree" will be covered in a high temperature plaster which is then baked in an oven at high temperature to melt the wax and models leaving a void the shape of your castings.

After all materials have been cooked out, silver is poured into the void and allowed to cool.

After cutting them off the tree and cleaning they are ready to be polished and stones set!