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Manufacturing
Since 1885...
| View movie of the jewelry-making process at Murray's (For more movies, scroll down.)
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The manufacturing processes that Murrays uses guarantees the highest quality jewelry available along with a personal touch.
Quality manufacturing now and into the new millenium...
As
Murray's Jewelers approaches its 120th year, it is a considerably
different business then its origin, and it continues to evolve and
adapt to changes in the market, a necessity for businesses in this
modern age. The current focus of Murray's is small-scale, high quality
custom manufacturing of jewelry. To help educate our customers about
our business, here is a summary of the custom jewelry manufacturing
process that we use.
| Molten gold is poured into a flask, where it will take the shape of the jewelry that was designed in wax and then harden.
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The first section of the process is the Lost Wax process of jewelry
design and casting. After the design of an item has been created either
on paper or in the jewelers imagination, it is built in wax. The
waxcrafting is similar to sculpting, except that it is done at a very
small scale and uses somewhat different tools. Typically, a small tool
is heated, then used to scoop up wax and place it on a mandrel or an
already existing wax pattern. Once the wax item is complete it is
placed in a
flask and a type of plaster is poured around it.
A vacuum is then used
to pull the air out of the liquid plaster before it hardens, making the
plaster as hard as possible and the cavity where the wax is as clean as
possible. Once the plaster has hardened the flask is placed in a
furnace, which serves two purposes. The heat of the furnace melts the
wax out of the plaster form, leaving a cavity shaped exactly like the
jewelry, and it heats the plaster so that there is less temperature
shock when the molten gold is poured into it. Once the flask is hot
enough, it is placed on a vacuum, the gold is melted in a crucible with
a torch, and then the gold is poured into the cavity. The vacuum helps
to pull the gold into every part of the cavity; without it, the gold
solidifies so quickly that the cavity would not be filled. After the
gold has cooled for several minutes the flask is submerged in cool
water.
| Final
polishing of the jewelry, after the setting of stones is finished, is
necessary to give the items their brilliance and shine.
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The
temperature shock from the water breaks apart the plaster and the
jewelry simply drifts out of the flask. At this point, the goldsmithing
portion of the process begins. The jewelry is cleaned and goes through
polishing. Both manual and motorized tools are used during polishing,
which is not completed until after the stone setting is finished. The
jewels are set into the jewelry with delicate tools and steady hands.
Often, new heads have to be custom made to fit with Murray's unique new
designs. Once setting is finished, polishing continues on the jewelry
with tripoly and rouge until the piece is ready for our showroom. It
takes approximately one to two weeks for an item to be completed from
the time the designer first begins to build the wax pattern.
Movies:
|  | "Quest for Diamonds"
High bandwidth
| "Quest for Diamonds"
Low bandwidth
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|  | Murray's Jewelery-making process
High bandwidth
| Murray's Jewelery-making process
Low bandwidth
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