Silver Charms never seem to go out of style. Perhaps that is why this category has expanded to dominate our product line.They are fun, collectible and timeless. By now, most of our clients know how our Bali products are made by hand by extremely skilled silversmiths schooled in an ancient tradition of metal work. Some of you might not realize that our Thai Silver Charms, though cast instead of hand fabricated, are also very labor intensive and require both technical and artistic skill to execute effectively.
The lost wax casting process begins with a hand drawn sketch, usually made by Leah in our office. The sketch is emailed to Bangkok where a wax master model is hand carved using the drawing as a guide. A rubber mold is made from the model, then filled with wax repeatedly to create “Patterns”. The wax patterns are attached to a wax base to form a “Tree” with dozens of patterns on it. This tree is placed in a flask and covered with a plaster-like material called investment. Next,the flask is baked in an oven and the wax melts away, leaving an exact impression of the tree. Molten silver is then poured into the mold and allowed to cool. After the investment is washed away with water, individual charms are clipped from the silver tree. They are trimmed, filed and polished by hand.
See a beautiful Slideshow of the entire silver casting process!
Wax Trees
Clipping Cast Silver Charms
