Inspired by History, Made for Today
Our Process
The first stage is to select a design, most often based on an historical piece. Many of our designs come from artifacts in the National Museum in Dublin; sometimes we also travel around the country looking at stone carvings such as those of the Newgrange-Knowth megalithic complex or pieces from early churches.
Stephan carves the basic design. This is usually done in carving wax, but sometimes he uses antler or bone to reproduce a specific historical effect.
If the original is made in wax, John casts it by the lost wax method: the wax is put into a can of plaster, then heated overnight in the kiln so that the wax melts out, leaving a perfect negative. John then melts and pours the silver, which is forced into the impression by the spinning arm of a simple centrifugal caster. When the plaster is broken away, we have a silver original.
Stephan cleans and polishes it, and may do some shaping and detail work with a dremmel or graving tool in the silver at this stage. John then makes the final mold from the original. If the design was carved in antler or bone, the heat of the molding process destroys it, leaving only the mold. In either case, we are now able to reproduce the design in wax.
Stephan does any soldering that may be required (earring loops or studs, fittings for penannular brooches, bezels for pieces with stones, and so forth).
The piece is then cleaned and polished.
We then go over each piece carefully to make sure it is up to our standards.
Stephan then finishes the piece with a light polishing cloth to bring the silver or gold to its highest sheen, and it is ready to be packed and sent.
