Studio Vlog #10 | Casting Stones in Place | Cleaning Castings | Stone Setting 

Your workspace is becoming more and more charming. I'm also creating my space. I retired (police officer) and returned to the job that my late father had taught me in the past. Cutting precious stones (tourmalines, aquamarine, emeralds). Hugs here from Brazil.

Rio grande does embossing of all sorts of packaging!

You are doing an amazing job as self taught jeweler. I don’t using a casting method. We only use wire and sheet to fabricate our metals. In the beginning I would get ingots that didn’t cool evenly and that so annoying. So I use a Oxy-propane torch, ceramic crucibles and a flat wire ingot mold. A jeweler friend of mine taught me to use a little more of a reducing flame and when you think it’s hot and liquids, count 20 seconds longer and then pour. It’s made all the difference in world. Just a little more heat makes everything flow so much more evenly. So impressed by your work. You really are a talented jeweler. My wife and love your channel and your music choices are great. Keep rocking.

Hi! Thank you so much - I love to look at your videos about casting and how you find your way. I don’t cast my own things, so it is so interesting! I want to try to give something back, so I wrote the following, hope there is something that you can use. I was just going to suggest to put some Thermoloc between the shanks in the turquoise ring, but I saw later in the video that you have thought of getting it. It will be a real game changer for you I think (it was for me). And it is reusable so the cost will “spread out”. I have not seen you using the silicone polishing wheels and “sticks” like the Eves sold by Rio Grande (for example - tried to put a link, but YT would’nt take it) I absolutely cannot do without the black “stick” that you screw on to a metal pin yourself. Often you can just buy the ones you need. If I have a small surface that I like really shiny - these are perfect! And there is also a version that are 13-14 mm that is stuck to the metal pin, but in Europe at least, they are harder to find. Depending of what kind of tumbler you have - I have a rotary tumbler with a mix of sticks, balls and “Saturnus balls” - you can polish with the black, and blue and just tumble. I also use the 3M radial bristle discs, but I think they are better it I have a pattern. The 3M radial bristle discs are also available for bench machines. I bought my machine really cheap from an old dental lab. About getting rid of the investment in the small pattern recesses - would just a normal steel hand brush do the job? Greetings from Sweden!

You're a wonderful teacher. Thank you for sharing your talent. 😊

You can try using the ring mandrel to help you set the stone or one of those adjustable wood inside ring holders might work as well. Those pours are looking great! Take care and thanks for sharing!

thank you for your tips, they are so helpful. love following your journey

Nice Vlog. I would really like to see you prep and cast an inplace gem piece. Thanks for your time and effort.

Keep the videos coming!! 💯

SUPER!!!!!!!

Thanks for taking us on your journey. Do you make all your rings to order or do you make stock in advance for your web site listings ? If you make rings in advance how do you know what sizes to stock, what are the most common sizes requested ? I am making set opals to sell at the markets and I don’t want to stress the settings by resizing finished rings, because I am new to this I’m unsure what sizes to stock when first starting out. Love from Australia ❤

also some tips i have seen from other people when casting stones in place is they use a pressure washer to quickly get rid of the investment. But good job so far. Looks like you beat me on getting the Wax Injector haha

Beautiful! ❤ Get yourself some ultrasonic cleaner that will make your investment cleaning sooo much easier, It will clean all the little details so easily! ✨

Hi, have you tried a higher flask temp? I find casting really small things like findings and highly detailed waxes/prints at a higher metal temperature and with rings,pendants I cast lower. I cast metal between 980-1010 and flask between 450-500 I do a lot of resin casting along with wax and I always use a 36% ratio investment. have you tried lowering your water with investment powder? You’ll have a stronger investment? Weigh out your investment then multiply it by 0.36 then your answer is the amount of water to use. Stronger investment will help with surface quality and help with expansion, if any. You don’t need to take any advise at all, we all have different results even if we have the exact same equipment and same materials. It all works different for each one of us. Your doing a great job, keep it up.

Congratulations!! Great job. I am a new beginner too. Any suggestions on the type of stones you use? Are they precious or semi precious stones? I also started waxing my rings but I would like to know if I could keep my stones inside the wax and have them cast as you show in your video. It is save? Thank you 🙏 for any advice you can suggest. You are doing great 👍

Would warm water help with removing the investment after it’s cooled? Great video very helpful as always

Hello! Thanks for another great video! What size blade do you use to cut off the sprue? I keep breaking mine!

Hey from Israel! :) Thank you for all your videos! I love them! I have a question about your melting furnace. I'm also starting my journey in casting (yay!) and was wondering if there is a minimum amount of metal that I can put in the furnace. I want to start with casting very small items, totaling only a couple of grams, but I'm unsure if it's okay to melt such a small amount of metal in the furnace. I would appreciate your input if you can assist. :)

Everything turned out awesome! What brand investment do you use and how did you figure out how much to use?

How long do you keep things in the pickle pot? also you are great, keep it up, I'm just starting out and I am learning lots from your vlogs. BIG thanks

Beautiful 😍 😘 😍 😘 😍

@3:01

Hey! Which radial discs do you use? (The colours) I can’t get them to create a shine like sandpaper rolls!

What’s that little printer you’re using for the labels? It’s so tiny

Those came out awesome😮... do you or maybe anyone lurking comments have any tips or guide to how much investment to use when mixing?

I love you

Hi , underful