Lost-wax castingsometimes called by the French name of cire perdue (from the Latin cera perdida) is the process by which a metal (such as silver, gold, brass or bronze) sculpture is cast from an artist ’s sculpture. Intricate works can be achieved by this method, primarily depending on the carver’s skills. In industrial uses, the modern process is called investment casting. An ancient practice, the process today varies from foundry to foundry, but the steps which are usually used in casting small bronze sculptures in a modern bronze foundry are generally quite standardized.

Other names for the process include “lost mould,” which recognizes that other materials besides wax can be used, including tallow, resin, tar, and textile; and “waste wax process” or “waste mould casting”, because the mould is destroyed to unveil the cast item. Other methods of casting include open casting, bivalve mould, and piece mould. Lost-wax casting was widespread in Europe until 18th century, when a piece-mold process came to predominate.

Info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost-wax_casting

Step #1: MOLD MAKING

- Oilcloth Cutting: We use a special oilcloth that we call “castaldo rojo” “red castaldo” and we cut 8 equal squares and we put 4 of them in each side. Then whe put on the mold talc because it helps to doesn´t stick the piece.

When we have finished we leave in to vulcanizer machine 30, 45, 1 hour depending on the size of the mold at a temperature of 2750 degrees celsius.

Step 2: INJECTION

The mold with talc is prepared to inject the wax.  It is left to dry some seconds and the oilcloths are separated  through some pins that are inserted when begins to inject.  The piece formed in wax leaves and subsequently is retouched so that remain well fact the piece.  The wax piece is ready to be wooded.

Step 3: WE FORM A TREE

We prepare like a trunk tree with a wax stick call jito. They are carried out grooves along the Jito, that subsequently, the pieces formed of wax will be embedded it.  Approximately, for a tree are 100 pieces, if they are small pieces.  The tool that is utilized for the retouch and put on the wax pieces into the jito him, is called pirógrafo.  The height of a tree is maximum of 13 centimeters.

It remains list for the following step: bottled it.

Step 4: BOTTLE IT

The tree with a cylinder is covered with we called “Cubilete”.  The dust that is utilized him is called “Investimento”.  It is weighed depending on the size of the cup with a 40% of water. And the formula is [Pi x (r2)2 x h].

We put the mixture in an extractor of air, it is placed to remove bubbles of the mixture for 7 minutes.

Pours itself in the “cubilete” the mixture of the investimento.  Again it is left some 3 minutes to remove the excess of bubbles inside the cilinder.  It is left to rest for 2 hours so that harden and have the form of gypsum.

Step 5: WATER BATH

We place the ”cubiletes” and the hard investimento into a pot.                                                                                                                      Water is poured into the pot, so the steam melts the wax in it.
So will be only the pot with the hard investimento but with tree form inside, which will then be discharged with silver

Step 6: GAS OVEN

It is especially used to de-waxing and drying the moisture completely leaving the water bath process

Step 8:  ELECTRIC GAS

The cylinder carries the oven to make harder the investimento, so the cylinder it´s getting red hot and then do this we pour the .925 sterling silver.

Step # 8 and 9: EMPTIED OF THE SILVER AND SPUN

To be able to empty the silver law 0,925 has to melt to a temperature of 1,200 oC.

Subsequently the cylinder is placed in a plots call Vacu that is a plots of extractor of air and permit that the silver penetrate to all the mold of the “investimento”.

It is left to chill, submerges in a container with water and all the investimento is lost leaving alone the tree with the silver pieces already formed.

Step

Mexico is popular for several reasons, and one of them is its silver, particularly the works made with it. These works come mostly from a town that hasn’t changed that much in the past half millennium when compared with most other places. This wonderful town is Taxco.

Taxco has been churning out silver art like mad year after year, more and more, to supply what the market has been demanding: more of its wonderful creations. These creations range from a small pendant, almost weightless, up to a big, hefty silver statue. These statues will be the focus of my writing today.

They haven’t been very common lately, because of how much metal they require. Silver becoming more and more expensive over the years, economy being a bit more tough on buyers, these large pieces became less and less afforded by many.

Originally, they were made of solid silver, as well as some complimentary metal, particularly copper to give a color accent or contrast, for example. Silver can also be oxidized using acid, which turns it quite dark, which later is polished and buffed in parts to turn it back to its shiny silver color. This alone gives enough effect to pieces that they don’t require another metal at all. It’s up to the artist.

The technique used would be similar to that used when casting bronze pieces: have the forms and pour the hot silver into them to assume the shape. Like I said above, though, this requires a lot of metal for a silver statue. In order to make these works require less metal, but still have the important presence that they were known for, another technique started to become popular: electroforming.

You may be familiar with electroplating. This is a technique to cover a piece with another metal using electricity. This cover, the plating, is very thin, just enough to resist normal wear, and is plenty to make the piece look as if it were made of the covering metal, not the one the piece is made of. This is what makes silver plated pieces less expensive than the solid silver ones in jewelry.

Electroforming is similar, only the plating is about six times thicker, making it more resistant and valuable. This allows one to have a wonderful statue, at a fraction of what it’d cost if it were all solid silver and, to be honest, the inside of the statue is not visible so many don’t like having to pay for all that extra precious metal which doesn’t add to the art or looks of the piece. It is a good trade off which most buyers are happy with and so are the manufacturers.

So, now you know. If you want a silver statue that isn’t as expensive as a solid silver one would be, get electroformed ones.

Silver figurines or statues made fully of sterling silver would be very heavy, as well as very expensive, because of the huge amount of precious metal required to manufacture them.

Our pieces are made following a brilliant method of creating a large artistic piece, without the excessive cost it would naturally have if is was made as a normal statue or figurine and using exclusively silver to make the entire piece. This process is called electroforming.

Formerly only given industrial uses such as making metal pieces for machines, today this process has been transported to the artistic realm, giving us the opportunity to enjoy the possession of a beautiful and unique piece which is made of .999 silver, (higher content of silver than Sterling), without having to pay prohibitive prices.

First, the Artist conceives his piece and then crafts it using some material such as plasticine or clay, which is then made into a mold of resin or gypsum. This mold is taken and filled with a similar substance which, when dry, will render a model of the statue in a now solid material.

This preliminary statue is used to manufacture by a similar procedure, a silicon mold which is then injected with a fine resin specially made for this. Once the resin statue inside the silicon mold is dry and hard, it is taken out of the mold and talented artisans retouch it so that all the details are just right.

Once the piece is ready, it is submerged in an electrolysis tub where the piece will be first covered with a metallic copper layer and following that, left for 10 to 12 hours to become gradually coated with a layer of .999 quality silver. This layer is about six times as thick as normal silver plating and the piece will stay in the silver tub until the layer has achieved 15% of the piece’s weight in .999 silver.

Once that is achieved, the piece is taken out of the tub and chemically oxidized to acquire a black patina, then a through polishing process follows.

To complete the process, the piece is then protected by completely covering it with a clear coat of special lacquer. This coat prevents tarnishing, which is inevitable with silver, so… no need to polish, as this step ensures the  piece’s finish will last!

You can now enjoy the beauty and prestige of fine silver statues without having to pay an arm and a leg for them, and we have a vast variety of silver statues manufactured this way, as in Taxco we are fortunate to have the best silver artisans in the whole world. It is even said that there is an artist in every Taxco born person, which is not exactly so, but we are definitely close!

Hello and welcome again! Did you read the previous post? If not, you may want to do so, as well as the one before. They both have each a picture of a vista of our beautiful international capital of silver: Taxco, Mexico.

By the way, the picture in our last post was taken just outside our shop and offices at Tavira Mexican Silver, downtown Taxco, and it shows a nice view of Cuauhtemoc Street, with the magnificent Church of Santa Prisca y San Sebastian in the back. This church was built in the 1700′s and I will be covering its origins and history with a lot of detail in a future post

As promised, I will give you some tips to make sure that you are getting what you are paying for, and nothing else. After all, these things, particularly the large ones (like silver statues) are heavier and cost more, and you wouldn’t want anything less than what you are paying for!

.925 silver hallmark

When you buy jewelry, you want .925 quality, also called sterling silver. In that case the piece MUST be stamped in the back or in a not-so-obvious spot (so as to not spoil the beauty of the piece), as proof of its quality. The stamp can either be “.925”, or a small eagle head, or say “sterling”. The above is required by law to make sure the buyers do get what they are paying for. If it does not have one of the above marks or stamps, it is not sterling silver.

You can also find beautiful jewelry which is not sterling (or .925), and it is real nice, too, only you should be aware of the fact that it is not sterling silver and it will either be made of alpaca (also known as nickel silver or German silver) in which case it should be stamped “alpaca”. The jewelry could even be made of copper or another metal, and then electroplated -covered- with a very thin layer of silver, in which case it should be stamped “plateado”.

In other words, each piece must be marked depending on what material was used in its manufacturing and, of course, if sterling silver is inexpensive in Taxco, alpaca or silver plated pieces will be even less expensive.

When buying holloware, you should be aware of the fact that, with international silver prices so high nowadays, it is most likely you will only find silver plated -plateado- pieces, and not pieces that are made 100% of sterling silver. It is in this case when you most want to make sure you know what you are buying, as holloware is costly, since it takes a lot of metal, artisan work and time to make the beautiful pieces, whether made of silver or another metal. You can find sterling silver holloware, but it is rare.

Now, when talking of the manufacturing of the beautiful ornate silver art pieces, like silver statues or silver figurines, their making  follows a pretty peculiar and interesting procedure, which I will go into in our next post.

You are going to enjoy it, as I hope you did this one!

Again, WELCOME and thanks a lot for visiting our Blog!

To continue with the illustration on our wonderful town, Taxco is a Nahuatl (ancient Aztec language) name meaning “ball game”, an Aztec ritual game (more on this in a post coming soon) which was played before the Spaniards conquered this part of America. The apendix “de Alarcon” is in behalf of the famous play writer Juan Ruiz de Alarcon, who was born in a house located not far from the wonderful baroque Church Santa Prisca y San Sebastián, which stands magnificently in the zocalo (square) of Taxco.

Santa Prisca and San Sebastian church receives thousands upon thousands of visitors every year, who travel all the way from their homes to our Taxco to admire it, as well as to see the incredible variety of sterling silver items and silver jewelry shops, and of course: shop!

For decades, Taxco has been the place if one is looking for silver statues, silver figurines and silver holloware, as well as any other item made in sterling silver, such as jewelry of all styles and designs imaginable, for any and all occasions, ages and tastes.

People from all over the world come here to shop for wholesale silver jewelry, to go back to their places and resell it, whether in their own silver jewelry shops, or even to resell to other resellers, as there is no place in the world where you can find fine, hand crafted, high quality silver art in the form of either sterling silver statues, silver figurines, and silver jewelry, as you do here. The low prices you find in Taxco are also unique, since everything is manufactured locally.

Even if nowadays the once famous silver mines of Taxco, which once gave the ancient Spaniard gentleman Don Jose de la Borda the riches with which to build Santa Prisca church during the Colony, are now extinct and only copper and other metals for industrial uses are extracted now, Taxco remains the best and least expensive source for any kind of silver gift you may be searching for.

I strongly recommend you give it a try and I assure you, you will not be disappointed.

In a future post I will provide some useful tips regarding making sure you are getting the real thing (this is, authentic sterling silver) when you buy silver statues, jewelry or any other silver items in Taxco (or anywhere else).

Welcome to our Blog, where you will be able to find useful information regarding our beautiful Mexican town: Taxco de Alarcon, famous for its locally manufactured silver art.

Taxco was built up in the mountains of Sierra Madre Occidental (which runs all along the Pacific coast of Mexico) in the state of Guerrero. Famous Acapulco is located in this same state, but about four hours southwest of Taxco, right in the Pacific coast.

Acapulco is famous for its beaches and exciting night life, but it does not have the charm of Taxco, which is located two and a half hours from Mexico City and an hour and a half from the city of Cuernavaca, (state of Morelos) which also has well preserved colonial buildings worth visiting, but does not have the spirit of an old Spanish town, nor the uniqueness of being the International Capital of Silver Art and Jewelry.

In Taxco, most of the population makes its living by either designing, manufacturing or selling all kinds of sterling silver art objects, which go from a simple pair of silver stud earrings to give a little girl, to a superb silver and amethyst baroque set, composed of necklace, bracelet and earrings, suited for a Royal Princess or at least a top fashion model!

In Taxco you can find from the smallest  silver jewelry piece in the world to a magnificent silver statue or silver figurine, perfect to be presented as a fine gift to an executive, as well as a silver wedding gift or just to make the difference and stand apart from all the rest for the magnificence of your choice.

These silver statues, by the way, are made in a wide variety of shapes, that go from traditional Mexican silver statues to figurines shaped as fruits, modern art silver statues, and many other beautiful, original, contemporary or traditional shapes. It is delightful to look at them and appreciate the artists’ genius, essentially present in each one of these silver art pieces. Some of these designs are so exquisite that they have actually won prices in the International Silver Fair Contest, which takes place in Taxco every year.

In any case, believe me: you are sure to be satisfied and happy with your choices if you shop for your Mexican silver art in Taxco, without any doubt!