Interdisciplinary. Community. Advocacy. Humor.
The Association for Contemporary Jewellery is devoted to the promotion, representation, understanding and development of contemporary jewellery in the United Kingdom and abroad.
Website: http://www.acj.org.uk/
Location: UK
Members: 67
Latest Activity: Oct 11, 2020
is devoted to the promotion, representation, understanding and development of contemporary jewellery in the United Kingdom and abroad.
Founded as a membership association in 1997 and registered as a Limited Company in 2006, it recognises a need to foster discussion, debate and critical review and interaction amongst its members. To this end we organise conferences, lectures, seminars, workshops and an annual general meeting for our members. Our regular newsletter, findings, features reviews, information, comment, book offers and discounts and is of benefit to both our members and the wider public. We also produce a monthly e-bulletin featuring news and opportunities.
We welcome as members practising jewellers, associated designers and crafts people, educators, students, gallery owners and retailers, museum curators, critics and collectors - indeed, anyone with an interest in contemporary jewellery.
The Association for Contemporary Jewellery
PO Box 37807 London SE23 1XJ United Kingdom
Telephone: + 00 44 (0)20 8291 4201
Fax: + 00 44 (0)20 8291 4452
Email: enquiries@acj.org.uk
WHAT WE DO
• promote greater understanding of contemporary jewellery
• support jewellers’ creative and professional development
• develop audiences for this lively field of contemporary craft and design
Started by Rebecca Skeels Oct 11, 2020. 0 Replies 1 Like
Dear All Members, Followers and Likers of our Network pages.We are currently streamlining our pages at the moment and have found that fewer people are now following and using twitter and crafthaus to find out about jewellery events, exhibitions, opportunities, seeing new work and generally chatting about jewellery.If you use these, please head over to our other pages on other platforms: -Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Association.Contemporary.Jewellery/Linkedin Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/3628898/Linkedin Business page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/association-for-contemporary-jewellery-limitedInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/acj.org.uk/and of course, our main website…Continue
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http://ccskills.org.uk/careers/advice/article/casting-technician?ut...
Casting Technician
Casting involves pouring molten metal into a mould and allowing it to solidify. Casting technicians work with a range of metals to produce jewellery pieces.
Casting can be used to make a whole piece of jewellery or component parts. Photo: Holts Academy
What do casting technicians do?
Casting involves pouring molten metal into a mould and allowing it to solidify. Casting can be used to make a whole piece of jewellery or component parts.
Casting can be used to make a whole piece of jewellery or component parts.
The technique allows the same piece to be made over and over again exactly the same, but casting can also be used to make one-off pieces.
Casting technicians work with a variety of metals, including gold, silver, platinum, palladium and titanium and pewter.
Casting can be used to make jewellery in:
individual hand-made studio pieces
batch production
large-scale commercial volume production.
Casting can also be used to make jewellery parts for repairs.
What is the job like?
‘Lost wax’ is the most commonly-used method, particularly for bulk production. There are several stages:
making a rubber mould from a master pattern
injecting wax into the mould which, when cooled, makes a perfect copy of the original pattern
repeating the wax injection to create multiple waxes
joining several waxes round a central core to form a ‘tree’
embedding the waxes into the ‘investment slurry’ in a flask
firing the flask in a kiln so the rubber burns away, forming a cavity
pouring molten metal into the cavity left by the wax.
After this the jewellery pieces are cut from the tree and finished by cleaning and polishing.
Casts can be made from CAD (computer-aided designs) or hand-drawn designs. Where CAD is used, 'rapid prototyping' technology can be used to make sample pieces.
Models for casting can also be made in resin, metal or clay. 3D scanning allows the use of almost any physical object as a model for casting.
Casting technicians usually work for a jewellery manufacturing company. In a company, they may spend all their time on casting work.
In a smaller jewellery company, someone who works as a casting technician may do other jewellery work. They might make or repair pieces of jewellery, using bench jewellery techniques and skills.
How do I become a casting technician?
An employer may expect you to have other jewellery skills, such as stone setting.
If you are involved in all stages of the casting process, from model making to finishing, you need to:
be creative and good with your hands to produce hand-carved wax models
have good IT skills to use CAD/CAM
have some knowledge of metals
work very accurately, as you are dealing with precious metals
have high standards of workmanship.
What qualifications and training do I need?
There are apprenticeships in casting, leading to a Level 2 qualification. It is possible to go onto an advanced apprenticeship, at Level 3 or 4.
You will need good GCSEs, including maths and science subjects, for these apprenticeships.
There is also a Level 3 Diploma in casting technology.
Bradford College offers courses in casting technology,
Price Review 2015
Our customers recently provided valuable feedback on our hallmarking pricing structure. Following the response, we are pleased to introduce the simplest pricing method in UK Hallmarking to date!
Included in each unit price are:
• Application of a standard hallmark on any precious metal and by any method of marking (punch or laser)
• Application of a sponsor’s mark
• The cost of handling each article if wrapped in an individual bag (previously given an individual handing charge)
The new approach offers some real benefits, including:
• Simplified pricing will ensure charges are easier to calculate
• Laser marks, which had a significantly higher price previously, are now included in the unit price.
• Unlike our competitors, we will continue to apply the traditional fineness symbol and date letter at no extra cost
Our new price list will begin on 1 April 2015 and can be viewed here. http://www.thegoldsmiths.co.uk/media/4416073/2015standardpricelist.pdf
If you have any questions, please email Steve Collins: steve.collins@assayofficelondon.co.uk
and ACJ will be there too!
As many of you will be aware, we are holding our next FREE student event in spring 2015 at Goldsmiths' Hall, London.
Following our first event last year, we took on board your feedback and made some amendments:
"Make your Mark" will be held over two days on Friday 17 to Saturday 18 April for students who are unable to attend on a weekday.
There will be more access to the popular talks from celebrity guest speakers, ensuring a greater number of students will be able to take advantage of their knowledge and experience.
We will once again offer a free registration package to students who have not yet registered with us.
We have a wide variety of exhibitors confirmed to help students in their future careers, including: diamond cutters, polishers, enamellers, hand engravers, tool suppliers, recruitment agencies and much more!
We can now also confirm that Theo Fennell will be returning for a second year with new guest speaker Michael Wainwright, Managing Director of Boodles.
If you are a tutor and have not yet confirmed your interest, please get in touch asap. Email:events@assayofficelondon.co.uk. If you are a student, please speak to your tutor to book your place.
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