Turning a Fingerprint into Jewellery - The Process
If you are curious of how you can turn a fingerprint into a piece of jewellery then you have come to the right place! In this blog I will walk you through the steps from when I receive your imprinted wax to the finished piece.
The process used to turn your precious fingerprint into a piece of jewellery, for example a fingerprint necklace, is called lost wax casting.
Once you have made the imprint in the wax and I receive it the first step is the clean up the wax and remove any slight marks, imperfections or major cracks, however this is always secondary to preserving the print that you have created. If there are any major defects or issues with the print I will always contact you and make sure you are happy to move forward with the process. If you choose to redo the imprint this can be arranged at a small additional fee to cover postage etc.
Next I will work to clean up the back of the necklace and ensure there is a clean and smooth finish.
In this example I am talking about a fingerprint necklace so in this instant I would then create the bale in wax for the pendant and attach this to the wax print. This is done using a special heat pen that I gently use to melt the print and the bale together (without melting the whole piece!!). This would also be the point where I would attach the shank if this was a fingerprint ring.
Once dry and I am happy with the finish on the wax its then time for casting. Recycled silver or 9ct gold grain is melted and poured into a mould that holds the wax fingerprint. I have to get the sterling silver to a temperature of around 890 degrees celsius for it to be molten and the 9ct gold to around 980 degrees. Once the molten metal hits the print the wax melts and the molten metal takes its place, filling the void left by the wax. This process creates an exact replica of your wax fingerprint necklace and gives you an exact copy of the print that you captured in the wax.
Once cooled the fingerprint pendant then has to be de-sprued (cutting off the extra bit of metal that isn’t needed). Then its time to file off any remaining excess metal and then take the time to file and sand the back and sides of the fingerprint necklace to remove any minor scratches and tool marks. The fingerprint pendant comes with a high shine finish as standard, but if you would prefer it to be matt, with more of a satin finish, this can be achieved with a special polishing motor piece (it kind of resembles a medieval torture device!).
The final step is for me to package up your fingerprint necklace in one of my fully recyclable boxes and pop it in the post to you.
Hopefully this has provided a bit of an overview of the process involved, you can find videos and more examples of fingerprint necklaces and the other the pieces I have made over of my Instagram page (@hollihanajewellery).
As always if you have any questions I would love to hear from you and would be happy to answer any questions.
I would love to make you a fingerprint necklace and look forward to hearing from you!