Keeping luxury affordable: WHAT IS JEWELLERY CASTING?

Can luxury & affordability co-exist?

Luxury jewellery is often seen as incompatible with affordability — but while handmade pieces (even without diamonds) can be expensive, mass-produced alternatives definitely lack the artistry and personal touch.

So- what is jewellery casting & why does it matter? 

Casting is a process I regularly use at Black Octopus, and it’s been key in making my handmade jewellery more accessible without compromising on quality.

Some castings on my bench

I’ll explain how it works, who uses it, and why it’s helped bridge the gap between luxury and affordability. Also - if you’ve ever wondered how such intricate and organic designs are made from metal - this should answer some questions.

THE basics

Casting is a jewellery making technique where molten metal (such as gold, silver, or platinum) is poured into a mould to form it’s shape.

I use two methods:

SAND-CASTING 

It's one of the oldest methods of jewellery production, dating back to ancient civilisations and is still commonly used today.

LOST-WAX CASTING

Another ancient technique where a wax model is melted away to create a mould for the molten metal.

Silver geometric stacking ring casts

All casting methods require a ‘master’ piece. Usually made of metal, wax, or organic materials like shells or bones, they're the starting point to create the mould.

Using Sand Casting To Create Jewellery

Sand casting is ideal for small-scale production and is often used to create things like rings, pendants, or links from a master copy.

A special, compactable sand (think kinetic sand) is packed into two halves of a metal ring. The master is pressed into one half, then removed, leaving a 3D impression when both halves are rejoined. This forms your mould by creating a central cavity in the compacted sand. Using a blowtorch, the metal is melted and poured into an opening, which (hopefully) flows through a channel to fill the mould and form the cast piece.

A successful sand cast of a facet ring

UNVEILING MAGIC…OR A MOLTEN MESS

Opening the mould is a lot like opening Christmas presents, sometimes it’s absolute joy but it can also be a big disappointment when the metal hasn’t flowed all the way.

If all went to plan the cast is removed from the sand. It’ll have a ‘sprue’ which needs to be removed (the rest of the metal from where the channel met the mould), and if you don’t want the organic sand-blasted look for your finished piece then it needs a fair bit of cleaning up too before the all important final polish.

A cast ring with ‘sprue’ attached

The Pros and Cons Of sand casting IN JEWELLERY

PROS

• It’s low cost

• Your master stays in-tact

• You can get a really nice organic texture

• You can reuse all but the most burnt sand & re-melt any metal– so there’s little to no waste

CONS

• There’s a LOT that can go wrong. It’s part skill part luck as to whether things go to plan

• If you’re after a smooth finish it’s not the one

• It’s not great for intricate designs

• Although usually quicker than making items individually, it’s still time consuming re-creating the sand mould every time, and the clean up job can be long

Lost Wax Casting - HOW it compares

Unlike sand-casting this method allows multiple pieces can be cast at once.  Wax masters are attached to a central pole to form a ‘tree’, then covered in a mould material (usually a mixture of plaster and silica). Once heated the wax melts away, leaving a cavity into which molten metal can flow to create your finished cast pieces.

PROS

• Multiple pieces can be cast at once

• It allows for a more intricate level of detail (much more so than sand-casting) and has a smoother finish

• You can use the same mould to cast in any metal (so easily being able to create the same piece in both silver and gold for example)

CONS

• The wax master is melted away so can’t be reused (hence the name ‘lost wax’)

•  It needs more specialist materials, furnaces and space than someone like me has in their studio

• It’s more expensive

How Does Casting Happen at Black Octopus jewellery?

I use lost wax casting far more than sand casting at the moment, but you might have guessed that I haven’t got a furnace tucked under my bench.  Luckily for me there are lots of commercial casting companies who will do the job for you. 

I use a fantastic company called JEWELCAST who are based in the Birmingham Jewellery quarter.

how it works

• I make an original piece like a pendant or a ring which would be too expensive to make by hand each time

• I send it to Jewelcast, who make a cold mould and save it for future use

• Using this mould they create multiple wax models via wax injection

• These wax models are attached to a ‘tree’ and cast into a mould- into which molten silver (or gold) is poured

What DO I DO?

I mainly create my original pieces in silver, abut plan to start experimenting with wax more soon. 

When I get the raw cast pieces back from Jewelcast, I remove the sprues, then finish and polish them to become their final form.

What DOn’t I DO?

While CAD design and 3D printing wax models are common today, I don’t use these methods. No judgment to those who do—I simply prefer my originals to be handmade.

THE BIG QUESTION: Is Cast Jewellery Truly Handmade?

This is a much-debated topic.

Some argue that casting reduces the ‘handmade’ status. However, castings alone aren’t wearable jewellery—they require skilled hands to finish. Casting methods date back as far as 4000 BC, and commercial casting has been common since WWII, so this isn’t just about modern technology changing the handmade landscape.

My view: if the original design is handmade and the cast pieces are finished by hand, it’s fair to call the jewellery handmade. Whether you agree or not, casting certainly helps keep jewellery affordable and accessible—and without it, many beautiful pieces would be far more expensive.

For me, working with a commercial casting company lets me scale my designs which maintains quality and affordability, whilst still creating beautiful jewellery to last a lifetime.   

JEWELLERY CASTING AND SUSTAINABILITY

Importantly, casting plays a key role in making jewellery more sustainable. The silver I use in sand casting often comes from melted-down offcuts and scrap, reducing the need for new raw materials. On a larger scale, commercial casting encourages metal recycling—any leftover metal from the process is melted and reused for future designs.

It’s a win-win: casting helps create a more sustainable future for the jewellery industry while keeping luxury affordable and accessible.

ready to invest in some affordable, sustainable jewellery?

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