HOW JEWELRY IS MADE

First, metals may be worked in several ways. The earliest method was probably simply to hammer the metal into the desired shape and thickness. Handmade jewelry today may still be hammered, shaped by hand, and perhaps polished.

Casting jewelry is more common. A mold is made of an origin design, after which molten metal is poured into the mold and z lowed to harden. Casting permits mass production of an origin piece of jewelry. Another method of casting, and one that is used today for about 60 percent of all karat-gold jewelry, is what is called lost-wax cas ing.

The method was developed by the ancient Egyptians but w; lost during the Dark Ages. Benvenuto Cellini, the Renaissance gold smith, rediscovered the process, although after his death it was again lost for about four hundred years. Ironically, various primitive people (at least by Western standards) such as the Incas also probably us the process.

The method is basically this: a rubber mold is made of the model, with several wax copies being made from the mold. The copies are affixed to a rod-shaped base or "tree," which is this placed in plaster of paris. The solid mass of plaster of paris is allow( to harden and then is fired in an oven, during which time the w; melts and is "lost."

What is left is the plaster mold containing the design of the item being duplicated. Molten metal is forced into the mold. After the metal has hardened, the mold is broken away, and The copies are cut from the tree, ready to be finished and polished.