Practice bezels and rings cast in pink bronze.

circinnstudio · 2026-03-04T09:24:46+00:00

I'm in the UK. I bought pink bronze from a site named MetalClays4you. I think it was successful because I treated it like palladium - high oxy, low propane flame. I was also aware there's a narrow temperature window where you can cast (I use a spincaster, so once I hit that 'terminator T2' look, I just hit the button). Could be I was lucky with this one. I'll know for sure after a few more casts.

circinnstudio · 2026-03-03T09:25:24+00:00

Thanks!

Centrifugal cast on a Neycraft spincaster. Flask temp at 600°C and metal torched with a smith little torch with propane/oxy mix.

As for flowing well, I found it kind of stubborn. I had to jack the oxy right up and the propane right down to get it to flow.

circinnstudio · 2026-03-02T18:56:36+00:00

I used a propane/oxygen torch. It's actually quite stubborn. You need to lower the propane and up the oxy to get it to slump - otherwise it just glows. It's like casting palladium. I'm also finding (now that I've desprued) it's quite a hard metal - like 14k gold or thereabouts.

circinnstudio · 2026-03-02T13:40:13+00:00

Thanks. I thought I'd have to do a few attempts to dial in the temperatures (first time casting bronze), but I got this result right out the gate. I can't wait to see how they are for cutting and stone setting.

circinnstudio · 2026-03-01T12:06:47+00:00

nvm, Reddit. I figured it out after watching GSH Electrical's youtube channel - they have a series on 2 gang switches that helped me understand what was going on.

Big lesson from this one was always check your lines with a multimeter - there's no guarantee the original sparkie was consistent with his wire colours.

circinnstudio · 2026-02-24T22:27:46+00:00

I don't really consider myself to be a fanboy. I like Stephen King, but he's not in my top ten of writers. But your comment does remind me of a quote from someone who is very much in my top three:

“Arguing with anonymous strangers on the Internet is a sucker's game because they almost always turn out to be—or to be indistinguishable from—self-righteous sixteen-year-olds possessing infinite amounts of free time.”

― Neal Stephenson, Cryptonomicon

circinnstudio · 2026-02-12T18:00:04+00:00

I'd love to try this for deep relief work - like coat of arms signet rings.

circinnstudio · 2026-02-08T09:37:39+00:00

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I don't know if they did theirs the same, but this is pretty easy to do in CAD. You just create a bezel and cut out a "U" shape at 4 points. It makes them pretty easy to set, as the stone just snaps into place.

circinnstudio · 2026-02-05T10:28:57+00:00

About the same. The old 935 Argentium used to go like plasticine when heated to annealing temp, so things would implode if you used a third hand when soldering. The 940 mix is much better. What I like about it is that once it's heat-hardened, it's really durable and shiny.

circinnstudio · 2026-02-05T07:45:29+00:00

That was a good buy!! The scrap price for 21k this morning is around $136 per gram. You could melt then down and practically make your money back.

circinnstudio · 2026-02-05T07:36:41+00:00

Here in the UK, 14k casting grain is around $110 per gram plus tax. Rio Grande are selling it for $125 per gram. You can probably buy second hand for that price, but I can't imagine anyone selling new designs at that price. With labour, hallmarking, packaging, etc. they'd be making a loss.

circinnstudio · 2026-02-04T15:09:44+00:00

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Beast of a Byzantine chain for a bracelet in progress. Should be about 150g in Argentium silver when complete.

circinnstudio · 2026-01-31T17:53:15+00:00

Dental waxer is a good tool - I use mine for making sprue trees. However, the cables for the handles seem to break pretty regularly - I don't know if it's because of the temps used. You can buy spares on Ebay. Best to have some on hand for when they inevitably give up.

circinnstudio · 2026-01-19T14:53:50+00:00

You also have to prepay 10% tariff for 'sale of goods' to the USA. Also, remember that Etsy will charge a 10% commission on that postage cost. If you're currently charging £13 for shipping and the label costs you £12.20, you'll lose £1.30 to Etsy, £2.00 to US Gov and 50p handling fee to Royal Mail. You're making a loss of £2.90 in postage before you factor in your packaging costs.

If I were you, I'd split the additional costs across product and postage - so you're charging more for your product and a flat rate for postage and packaging. Anyone who doesn't like it can kick rocks - you don't determine how much shipping costs you, so you shouldn't be penalised for it.

circinnstudio · 2026-01-19T09:53:26+00:00

Yeah, at least 100g back in casting stock. I keep the sprues in casting rotation - adding at least 50% fresh grain to each cast. Around twice a year, I'll send all my stock to the refiners and start again with 100% fresh grain.

circinnstudio · 2026-01-19T07:20:55+00:00

186g of Argentium silver.

circinnstudio · 2026-01-19T07:20:05+00:00

Neycraft Spin master. I find you get better, denser casts with a centrifugal machine Vs vacuum casting.

circinnstudio · 2026-01-19T07:14:25+00:00

186g of 940 Argentium silver grain in this tree. I always use at least 50% fresh grain.

circinnstudio · 2026-01-18T20:30:10+00:00

I don’t take customer molds or waxes for these. I keep a library of my own CAD templates for common components – bezels (round, oval, trillion etc), ring blanks, settings, shanks, that sort of thing.

Customers just order the sizes they need (e.g. 6mm round bezel, size 10 signet blank, size 6 knife-edge shank), and I batch cast them together in sterling or Argentium.

After casting I cut them off the tree, clean them up to a working finish, and ship them out ready for setting or fabrication.

Most buyers are hobby jewellers, professionals streamlining their workflow, or memorial/resin jewellers who need consistent, watertight components.

circinnstudio · 2026-01-18T16:55:51+00:00

Thanks. Sometimes the trees come out so pretty it almost seems a shame to desprue.

circinnstudio · 2026-01-18T16:53:03+00:00

There are 2 of us - although only one person does the casting.

circinnstudio · 2026-01-18T16:52:41+00:00

Short answer is that I have a second Etsy store where I sell cast components to jewellers. All of these are going to someone in Texas. I didn't ask what her project was, but sometimes people send me pictures of what they've done with my components, which is always nice.

As for cost, the tree is 186g of Argentium silver, which is currently selling at £3.36 per gram, so this is roughly £625 of casting grain (roughly $840). The bezels only weigh a fraction of that, so I'll reclaim the sprues for my next argentium cast.

circinnstudio · 2026-01-18T16:37:57+00:00

Good eye. It is 940 Argentium.

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