What are the production phases and how long it takes to produce each item?
The production start with making the master model, generally from wax – and making the mold with RTV silicon. With the mold ready, the composite is mixed de-aired and under vacuum conditions individually hand poured to the form. The cured composite is transferred to the finishing tables where any and all imperfections are corrected with classical jeweler’s tools. This initial process: Model – mold – de-airing, casting and finishing takes considerable time and the skilful hands of the trade craftsman. The composite, polyester, glass fiber, and calcium carbonate are non conductive plastic that can not be electroplated; hence a process is required to overcome this deficit – the item(s) are first immersed in an electro less copper bath, where minimum current is applied not to burn of the very delicate initial layer of copper. This two step processing takes about 40-50 minutes to accomplish. Them comes the “regular” copper bath where the metal layer is reinforced again for about 30 minutes
