Lost Wax Casting

(Jewelry Process — Providence, Rhode Island)

Most pieces at RA HA Jewelry begin as wax.

It’s a soft material, responsive to pressure, where small movements carry. A surface can be sharpened or softened with very little force. The form develops slowly, through adjustment rather than precision.

There’s no separation between design and making — the piece is shaped directly by hand.

From wax to metal

Once the form is complete, it is cast.

The wax model is encased in a mold. When heated, the wax melts away, leaving a hollow space. Molten metal is then poured into that space, taking on the exact shape of the original carving.

When the mold is removed, what remains is a direct translation of the wax — every edge, shift, and surface carried into metal.

The wax disappears entirely. The form remains.

Why this process matters

Lost wax casting allows the final piece to retain the presence of how it was made.

Small irregularities are not corrected or standardized. They become part of the object — subtle evidence of the hand.

This is what gives the work its character.

Rather than being imposed onto the material, the form emerges through it.

A slower way of working

Because the process is direct, it resists speed.

Forms are adjusted gradually. Proportions are felt rather than measured. Decisions are made in sequence, each one responding to the last.

The result is not a perfect surface, but a resolved one.

In the studio

At RA HA Jewelry, this process is used across:

• sculptural sterling silver pieces
• custom and heirloom jewelry
• wedding bands made to order
• private wax carving sessions and workshops

Each piece begins the same way — as a carved form, shaped by hand, then translated into metal.

A final note

Lost wax casting is often described as a technique.

In practice, it functions more as a way of thinking — a way of working that allows the final object to carry the decisions made along the way.

What remains is not just the form, but the process held within it.

(Handmade jewelry in Providence, Rhode Island)