Metal Studio Jewelry
Custom Jewelry Project
Custom Jewelry Project
A stunning project came into the shop this month. One of our customers approached us asking to craft a men's gold bangle in the shape of a dragon. He wanted the piece to be a large show piece that could not be missed. Boom jumped at the opportunity to make a bangle that was a bold statement for its owner and knowing that it would be cast from gold was extra exciting for her. 
The original concept for the bangle was to have it wrap the wrist multiple times. The original design was modified slightly to make the bangle less cumbersome for day to day wear. The finalized design was a bangle with two dragons with a head on each end and the tail of the dragon worked into the bangle in the middle.
With a piece of this size a wax mold is first made as the wax is easier to work than gold. The gold is then melted down and a reverse rubber mold is made from the wax. The molten gold is poured into the mold.
The gold dragon is born. When it first comes out of the mold all of the routing channels for the gold are cast in solid gold. These will be clipped out and reused for other jewelry projects. Then each point where the routings were attached is ground down and reshape to the specifications of the original was mold so that the dragon has a polished and finalized final shape.
The final shape of the dragon. A final polish will be added to the dragon at this stage. In this case a rougher matte polish will be used.
Stay tuned for the finalized piece. More photos will be coming very soon.