Metals & making
Casting porosity: telling gas, shrinkage and investment apart
How to recognise the main kinds of porosity in jewellery castings, what usually causes each, and the checks and changes that prevent them.
6 Oct 2026
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Guides and interactive explainers on gemstones, diamonds, metals and making jewellery, written for people in the trade and checked against named sources.
Metals & making
Metals & making
Casting weight: calculating the metal from wax or resin
The one formula behind every casting weight chart, worked examples for gold, silver and platinum, and how much to add for sprues and the button.
5 Oct 2026
Metals & making
CAD and 3D printing: from first file to finished casting
How digital design and 3D printing fit into making jewellery today, what the software and printers do, and how to work with a caster from your first file.
5 Oct 2026
Metals & making
Gold karats: fineness, marks and alloys by country
What 9K, 14K, 18K, 22K and Thai 96.5% gold really contain, which fineness marks each market expects, and why colour and alloy matter as much as karat.
5 Oct 2026
Metals & making
Ring sizes: converting US, UK, EU and Japan
Why the same finger has four different sizes, how to convert between them without mistakes, and what to agree with your customer before production.
5 Oct 2026
Metals & making
Briefing a manufacturer: what to send and agree before production
What a workshop needs from you before it can quote, sample and produce, and the questions to settle in writing so your first collection arrives as you imagined it.
5 Oct 2026