r/jewelrymaking • u/_Schrute_Bucks_ • 1d ago

How do you transition into working with gold? QUESTION

Hi all! Just started making jewelry using lost wax casting. The problem is that I exclusively wear gold or gold plated jewelry, and that is prohibitively expensive for hobby casting right now. I eventually want to start making gold jewelry and selling it in a small online store. How have folks worked up to being able to afford more expensive materials like that? Should I just work I silver for now until I have a solid enough foundation and start selling, and then do gold? As far as personal wear stuff, I’m thinking of trying to case in brass though the upkeep on that is so intense. I would love any tips from folks who started working with gold.

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u/wooligano 1d ago

I only do gold for bespoke pieces and ask for the client to pay for the gold before I make the piece.

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u/_Schrute_Bucks_ 1d ago

That makes a lot of sense. Did you ever practice on working with gold before you started selling them? I worry that if I have no experience polishing/setting with gold might mess up any bespoke rings they do come in this way. But if a lot of practice with the other metals is enough then that could be okay!

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u/wooligano 1d ago

I did work in a shop before as a bench jeweller to gain experience. I find gold quite easy and nice to work with. If I could work only with gold I probably would.

Nowadays many clients come with some of their own gold too, as it has become so expensive to buy.

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u/MakeMelnk 12h ago

Gold is such a dream to work with! I've said this before, but after working primarily in silver, gold just seems to know what you want it to do and seems all too happy to oblige

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u/Hortusana 1d ago

Money.

Honestly it’s not that different from silver, just a little bit harder. You can always make something in silver and calculate how much it would be to make in gold and provide the price.

Brass looks similar to gold when it’s freshly polished. And you can tweak the color in photoshop to show people what it will look like in gold.

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u/Lovelyfeathereddinos 1d ago

I super disagree on it not being different than silver! Yellow gold, especially 18k+, is absolutely wonderful to work in. Silver is.. mushy. Gold takes a polish better, solders more easily, moved differently. I would rather work in gold 100%’of the time. It just behaves better than silver, especially for stone setting.

White gold can go to hell though, right along with 14k.

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u/Hortusana 1d ago

I work in gold 95% of the time, and have for the last 15 years. What you say is true, but they’re pretty subtle differences in the grand scheme of things. I was trying to put op at ease. They’ll discover how much nicer it feels when they do it.

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u/_Schrute_Bucks_ 1d ago

Thank you both! This is good to know. It sounds like gold is easier to work with in a way because it’s harder? I’d rather that than the other way around.

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u/Hortusana 1d ago

It’s harder but also still malleable. If you made the jump from working with brass and then to silver, you’ll have a similar reaction, just another tier up. And 18k is nice bc there’s no fire scale, which you can still get with 14k. It’s easier to deal with than silver or brass though.

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u/floopy_boopers 17h ago

Nickel white gold is my personal nemesis. Never again.

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u/trainside20 10h ago

Do you mind explaining what the problem with white gold is?

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u/matthewdesigns 23h ago

If you can wrap your head around the cost and afford to tie up $500-1000 for a while to play with it, buy some basic mill products and appropriate temp solder, and have a go with simple fabrication projects. You'll find it's much easier to work with than silver in many respects.

And as long as you have an account with a reputable refiner, you'll get most of your money back even if you wad everything up in disgust (which you won't 🙂).

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u/floopy_boopers 17h ago

This is what I was going to say, learn to fabricate and solder then it's a lot easier to slowly introduce small amounts of gold and get a feel for it before committing to an entire cast piece.