Recently I tried sandcasting a stone in place again. I use CZ stones. You can get them in a range of colors and they seem to hold up pretty well in most of the casting experiments I have done. The ones I lost, I broke out and replaced - setting them like a flush set stone. Here are some photos and videos from the process. And the finished results.
The stone is placed in the sand where you want it to be.
I melt down all my filing and scrap sterling silver. Nothing goes to waste in my studio.
Molten silver is poured in the flask - this is my favorite part. The moment you open this will either be a wonderful surprise or fail. but even in the failing moments I learn something. I use all of those good and bad pours to get better with my casting.
You can see the CZ stone peeking out on the top left of the ring. Now it's time to clean this beauty up!
I use my jewelers saw to trim off the excess and then files to start smoothing the lines out.
After I get all the sides, top and insides smooth I start adding details. On this ring I engrave a little ivy design on both sides.
I use a sharpie pen and draw the design I want on the piece and then I use my Dremel with a burr bit to do this engraving.
These bits are great for removing metal or engraving. I've done a lot with this style of burr.
I cut the button off at the end. I leave it thru a lot of the clean up process just because it gives me extra to hold on to while filing, etc.
Finished Ring. :)
