The Process of Making My Jewelry by Sheila McKee Silversmith, Jewelry Designer

First, I choose a stone from my vast collection.

Then hours are spent forming the original design in wax to encase the stone.

Many hours are spent in designing the piece.

A steel flask is placed over the wax design and sealed.

A liquid compound, called investment, is poured into the flask with the wax design inside.

The investment is pressurized to get all the bubbles out.

After the investment hardens, the flask is placed in an oven and fired for 7 hours to melt the wax away, leaving an impression where the melted silver will flow.

The sterling silver is then placed in a crucible and melted into a liquid form.

A torch is used to melt the silver in the crucible.

A centrifugal force machine is used to force the melted silver up into the mold.

The hot flask, with silver inside, is placed in cold water and the investment is melted away leaving the silver piece.

This is how the piece looks right after firing.

The piece is placed in a hot pickling solution to bring out the sterling silver.

It is then placed in a tumbler with stainless steel beads and tumbled over night.

The piece begins to look shiny after tumbling. Now hours are spent polishing the piece.

Finally, the chosen stone is secured in the art piece. The Finished Piece