What do jewelers do with a "wax" ?

[beau13]

I''ve never had a custom ring made..until now..and I am anxious to see the wax. What exactly do they do with this wax mould? How do they get the gold to look exactly like the wax? What happens if you don''t like the wax..do they have to create another one from scratch..is this quite the ordeal? Thanks

 

[Rhea]

I do a bit of silversmithing so I can tell you what I do with a wax. The wax is used to cast, by surrounding the wax, with another substance like plaster. Then the wax is melted away and silver is shot up in the plaster mould. The silver comes out very rough and dull with a little knob where the silver was put into the plaster. The wax has long melted away. It's all done in this funny machine beyond the wax so it's hard to explain.

I'm not sure if it's done the same way as working with silver, but I can't imagine why not. The waxes are great fun to play with!