I used to run a jewelry manufacturing business in the late ’80s and owned all the equipment needed for casting, but nowadays I don’t use it much due to lack of time. I recently got a 3D printer and have made many models with it. Having this technology back in my jewelry-making days would have simplified a lot of processes.

One key task in my old business was making rubber molds for wax casting. This involved wrapping sheets of unvulcanized rubber around a metal object—like a ring or a chess piece—to copy it in metal. The rubber was then heated in a press to vulcanize, or cure it. After the rubber hardened, I would cut the mold open, remove the metal object, and be left with a cavity to inject wax into.

This initial setup took some time, but once the mold was ready, I could produce thousands of copies from it. The process involved filling the mold with a special wax to create a model, which was then attached to a rubber base and encased in a metal flask with a type of plaster known as investment. This assembly went into an oven to burn out the wax, leaving a cavity where molten metal was injected to form the final jewelry piece. Rubber molds are especially good for capturing detailed designs.

Today, 3D printing offers new possibilities for creating these designs more efficiently, providing a significant advantage to modern jewelers.