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There are as many
facets to an individual design as there are in the finest of gems.
Broestl & Wallis' custom designed jewelry gives you pieces that bring
out your distinct taste.
"Most people want a unique custom designed look that they won't see in
any other jewelry case," Jeff Broestl says.
Often, the work also is targeted at updating a favorite old piece of
jewelry.
For example, the ring illustrated here is a wedding ring which had
sentimental value. The customer wanted to give the original ring a more
contemporary feeling and dress it up.
Broestl & Wallis added more width with a more sculptured look by
designing gold rings on each side of the original diamond ring, as seen
in the sketches.
To help customers visualize the jewelry, Dan Jeff make several pencil
sketches to show the different possibilities. For this particular
wedding ring, Dan made three sketches, the first step to focusing the
client's ideas into shape.
While sketching the design, the customer also can see various loose
stones and how they'll look in the setting.
"We want to make buying jewelry fun without any pressure," Broestl says.
"We take time to do sketches, waxes and then the final piece." |
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After the pencil
sketches focus the client's ideas onto paper, the wax mold stage brings
them to life.
Jeff Broestl or Dan Wallis create the wax model according to the chosen
sketch.
The client tries on the wax model to see how the thickness feels around
the fingers or the design looks with other rings on the hand. For the
ring illustrated here, Dan and Jeff wanted this pair of waxes to hug the
customer's wedding ring tightly and look like an integral part of it.
"Depending on how it feels, we can make necessary alterations," Dan
says. "Once they see the model, it takes the guesswork away."
To make a mold, the jewelers start with a block of wax and drill a hole
in the middle. Then they start whittling away, like a woodcarver, until
pared down to the rough proportions. Now they can get in closer for the
fine detail work, using some of the same tools as a dentist.
This process, which usually takes about an hour, stops short of
perfection because it is easier to detail the actual gold than wax.
"Time is money and the wax model is primarily to convey the design to
the customer and give us a starting point where everyone sees the same
thing," Dan says. |
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The final
step in the custom design process casts what was once your dream into an
individualized piece of jewelry.
For instance, the owner of this wedding ring had a clear vision of how
to enhance it when she same to Broestl & Wallis. It was up to them to
give it life through a three-pronged design process that includes
sketches, wax molds and casting.
Once she approved the wax mold, the Lost Wax Casting process began. "Of
the designer series, this is the longest part of the process, taking
about 12 hours," says Dan Wallis.
It includes the following steps:
- wax is invested in a compound
(similar to Plaster of Paris) with a vent hole that allows wax to seep
out, leaving an empty cavity and passageway
- gold is injected into the remaining
empty cavity
- similar to the process a dentist
uses in making crowns, gold is melted in a crucible to liquid form,
then centrifugally forced into the empty cavity
- the gold, which has attained a
temperature of about 1,700 degrees, is then immersed in cool water
- the Plaster of Paris-like compound
breaks away leaving a rough casting
- the gold is finished and buffed to
produce luster
- stones are set (if any).
"Our goal with every piece is to work closely with clients to
accurately shape their vision into a statement that will last
forever," says Jeff Broestl. "We manufacture dreams."
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