Information on making opal inlay start to finish. From how a opal inlay wax is carved to inlaying the opal.
On this page you will find information and pictures showing what goes into making an opal inlay ring, from carving and scribing a wax for opal inlay to casting it into gold; from cutting the opal inlay to fit into the gold inlay channels to finishing and polishing the opal. This is my method for making opal inlay; there are several ways to achieve the same desired affect, I prefer doing it by hand. Pictured below is a block of wax, typical of what I start with when hand carving an opal inlay ring. Some people use lathes When work with wax blocks. The first step is to make sure proportions are all square with the block. I use a file and scribe to get everything even and then I drill a hole for the finger.
After the hole is drilled to the desired size inlay ring, the block is scribed to the desired thickness. It is important to make sure the inlay channel is thick enough for the opal to fit at least 3mm to 4mm into the gold. This will ensure that there is plenty of opal in the inlay, which is important for durability; the biggest major problems I see in my opal inlay repairs is very thin opal put into inlay jewelry, which is usually due to the gold channel being made to shallow. If done correctly, inlay is the safest way to set opal. If the hole in the ring is perfectly round and the same size on both sides, the scribing will be even on both sides.
Here is an example of a round inlay wax ( NOTE: the opal inlay design will be set in the circle at the top of the block) If the block's proportions are correct, the scribe can be used to line the round inlay stone perfectly on top of the finger. If not, the inlay stone may lean to one side of the finger or the other. Here is the finished opal inlay ring from the wax block pictured above.
After the inlay wax ring is reduced down to the marks made with a scribe, I mark my inlay, then cut them out and finish the wax inlay ring for casting. There is much more to this step than is shown on these pages.
Here the ring is sprued up on a sprue base. It will be inserted into a round flask, invested and burned out in a burn-out oven or kiln. This will leave an impression of the inlay fish ring in a plaster of peris-like material called investment. The gold will be poured into the cavity left by the wax, which has melted out.
After melting the white gold, the inlay ring is cleaned up, the sprue is cut off and the ring is pre-polished. Opal can now be selected for the inlay ring.
This is one of the hardest and most time consuming parts of making opal inlay, other than carving the inlay ring wax. When cutting and fitting the opal inlay, each piece must be marked so it won't be placed in the wrong inlay. This ring had 18 pieces, so it was more difficult than most. This is where the cost of Material and labor come in. look at the prices of opal inlay with one or two pieces of opal. The outcome of opal inlay is fantastic if the pieces of opal are carefully cut and fit neatly into place. Below is a picture of an opal cutting machine. The machine sprays water on the diamond wheels to keep the opal cool and insure smooth cutting. It has six wheels and one polishing pad. The steps are 80 grit, 220 grit, 600 grit, 1200 grit, 3,000 grit, 14,000 grit, The opal cutting machine has a polishing pad on the end of the machine for 50,000 and 100,000 diamond slurry.
Here are the rewards of hard work and close attention to detail. The finished opal inlay is a one of a kind hand-made ring that can be cherished by its wearer. There are many more techniques, tricks and procedures that I did not include here, but this page should provide a good overview for those unfamiliar with opal inlay. Go to GALLERY 1. orGALLERY 2..
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