From Wax to Metal: Inside My Sculptural Jewelry Process
When you encounter a finished piece of jewelry, you see its form, surface, stones, and relationship to the body. What remains less visible is the series of choices, techniques, and transformations that brought it to life.
Jewelry can be made through many processes. Two of the most central to my work are casting and fabrication. Understanding the difference offers a glimpse into how a piece develops and how these methods come together within a single design.
What Is the Difference Between Casting and Fabrication?
Casting begins with a model, often carved or sculpted in wax. The wax is used to create a mold and is then replaced by molten metal. The finished metal preserves the contours, textures, and gestures of the original sculpture.
Fabrication begins directly with metal. Sheet, wire, tubing, and other solid forms are cut, bent, hammered, shaped, and joined to construct a piece.
Neither approach is better than the other. They simply offer different possibilities. Casting translates a sculpted form into metal, while fabrication allows me to build upon that form and continue to adapt it to meet the body.
Why I Begin With Wax
My background and instincts are rooted in sculpture. I carve my models by hand because touch is an essential part of how I think and work. I do not always begin with a fully resolved object in mind. Carving, building, and reshaping the wax helps me discover the form as it develops.
Wax gives me the freedom to follow a curve, exaggerate a volume, or explore an unexpected transition before encountering the resistance of solid metal.
CAD modeling and 3D printing have expanded the possibilities available to jewelers and sculptors, and I remain curious about where these technologies may lead. Every maker finds a different path to the finished object. Mine begins with direct contact between my hands and the material.
How Casting and Fabrication Work Together
Once a wax sculpture feels resolved, it can be translated into metal through casting, but casting is rarely the final step. I may cut and reshape the cast form, solder sections together, fabricate a stone setting, or construct a hinge or clasp.
This is where the sculpture becomes jewelry. Casting preserves the movement and character of the original form, while fabrication refines its construction so it can sit comfortably, move naturally, and remain secure on the body.
Creating Lightweight Forms Through Electroforming
Because I approach jewelry as sculpture, my process is not limited to casting and fabrication. Wax can also become the starting point for electroforming, a technique at the heart of many of my largest forms.
Rather than producing a solid cast object, electroforming gradually deposits metal around a sculpted form to create a hollow shell. This allows me to build generous, voluptuous shapes with a bold visual presence while keeping the finished jewelry remarkably lightweight.
The balance between volume and wearability has become an important part of my visual language. Whether a piece is cast, fabricated, electroformed, or created through a combination of techniques, each process offers a different way to carry the original gesture of the sculpture into metal.
The Hand Behind the Finished Form
I intentionally leave traces of tooling and texture visible in my work. These marks are not incidental. They give the surface dimension, catch and break the light, and bring movement and expression to the form.
Rather than polish away every trace of the process, I preserve these marks as a record of the making and as evidence that each piece passed through my hands and received my full attention. To me, this is part of the beauty of handmade jewelry: the finished object carries both the form I imagined and the history of the hand that shaped it.