Author: Jewel Envy

Chapter 3 – Item 12. Why does my chain keep breaking?

Chains take a lot of abuse from daily wear. They rub against your skin, clothes, other accessories and are frequently pulled. Even gentle pressure affects their strength. Depending on current styles, chains may be sold that are actually too fine for everyday wear.

They may even be made from gold or platinum, but if they break frequently, they are experiencing a heavier use than what was intended in their manufacture. This is information few jewellery stores selling fine chains are going to share as they make money from repairs and replacement orders.

Here is what to look for in a precious metal chain:

If the chain is really thin, it is not meant for everyday wear. It cannot hold a lot of weight, i.e. a large or heavy pendant, and will most likely break over time.

To determine the quality of costume chains, examine the links. If they are not soldered shut, meaning there is a break in the links, they can easily be pulled apart. This is more of a concern for small to fine chains than larger thicker diameter link chains.

Small chains that have links less than 1mm in thickness are most secure when there is no break in them. Chains made from stainless steel or titanium are quite strong, but it is still important to make sure they cannot slip out from each other at the point where links have a break in them.

Some chains have what is called a break away jump ring on at least one side of the claps. Do not confuse this with poor craftsmanship as this is considered a safety precaution. In the event a chain becomes caught on something, the unsoldered jump ring will allow the chain to break away first before the wearer can be choked.

’20 Tips on maintaining our Jewellery’, Gillian E. Batcher, 2013

Over time settings can wear away. Rubbing occurs with normal wear and if you are not careful you can lose a stone when a claw setting has worn thin or completely worn off.

If you have expensive stones or lots of little stones you need to pay attention to your settings.

The first thing you can do is learn to hear a loose stone by tapping the stone with your nail and listening for clicking or jingling sounds. If the stone is loose you will be able to hear it move when you tap it.

This is a good first line of defense for checking your stones and their settings.

Next, look at the metal holding the stones in place in your jewellery. If it is a claw setting look at the balls on top of the claws holding the stone. There should be at lease .5mm thickness of metal on each claw. If the claws look completely flat or if the ball is missing, it needs to be re-tipped. If your stone is set in a bezel, (a rim of metal around the top of the stone) look for racks in the metal around the stone. A bezel setting is the strongest setting and will show less wear than other types of settings.

Finally, make sure all your settings are fully touching your stones and have no sharp edges. A good rule is the nylon test. Run a nylon stocking across the setting and if it snags anywhere, it needs some work by your local goldsmith.

’20 Tips on maintaining our Jewellery’, Gillian E. Batcher, 2013

Our one-day enameling workshop saw a golden ticket win! Purchase anything from Jewel Envy (jewellery, classes) and you are eligible to draw for a prize. Only one more golden ticket remains and one week left to enter!

Sterling silver and anodized niobium earrings by Minseo Whee.

View other pieces by Minseo Whee below.

Some of the amazing goldsmiths at Jewel Envy have come together in a group exhibition at Carnegie Gallery in Dundas, ON. With diverse cultural backgrounds, artistic training, and individual practices, they have come together to collectively explore movement as a concept interpreted through the forms created in functional jewellery. The Shape of Movement invites viewers to consider the physical and metaphorical forms movement can take from the distinct points of view of each maker.

If you have an opportunity and are in the Dundas area, you should take a moment to check out these incredible pieces. The exhibition runs until November 8th, 2026.

Many use the terms goldsmith and silversmith interchangeably, but they actually have different definitions.

You might think that someone who only works with gold is called a goldsmith and that someone who works only with silver is called a silversmith, but these labels have more to do with the function or purpose of the objects rather than the materials themselves. Even if a maker primarily works with sterling silver, if they are making small wearable adornments, they are considered a goldsmith.

The title of “goldsmith” refers to those who design and make jewellery with precious metals and semiprecious or precious gemstones. Goldsmiths are often skilled in both hand fabrication (filing, sawing, soldering, forging, polishing) and casting. The term jeweller can also be used interchangeably for goldsmiths.

Silversmith refers to those who design and make sculptural metal work and/or vessels such as bowls and chalices. Silversmiths are trained using the same techniques as goldsmiths, but the primary difference here is scale and wearability. Silversmiths can work in precious (gold, silver) and non-precious metals (copper, brass).

In honour of our 8 week casting class beginning on October 16 I thought I’d demystify the process of lost wax casting. Dating back over 6000 years, lost wax casting has remained a common method for fabricating beautiful pieces of jewellery to this day.

To start, a piece of jewellery has to be carved out of wax. There are several different kinds of wax with varying levels of flexibility or hardness. When selecting which wax to use, it is important to be mindful of the piece and the level of detail you’re hoping to accomplish. Don’t be afraid to test them out and find one that you’re most comfortable with. Carving can be accomplished with a variety of tools including, files, old dental tools, wax melting pens, etc.

After carving, a sprue or wax channel is attached to the finished carving which will allow the molten metal to flow through the entirety of the piece when casting (we’re getting there). The sprue is then attached to a wax button which will sit on the bottom of a steel flask.

The wax carving portion is now complete and something called investing begins. Investing is the process of encasing the wax carving in a plaster or ceramic slurry. This is done inside a steel flask and if done correctly, with all of the air bubbles vacuumed out, it will create a perfect mold of the carved wax piece.

Once the investment has had some time to sit and settle, the next step is to move on to the burnout process. The flask is moved to a kiln to to be heated for several hours while the carved wax melts away leaving behind a hollow cavity for molten metal to be poured into.

With space for the molten metal to flow, a metal of your choosing is heated in a crucible and poured into the flask (through the button recess) with the help of a vacuum or centrifuge.

Casting is complete and the piece can now be devested or finished. The flask is cooled in water and the plaster is broken away to reveal your wax carving made of metal! The sprues are removed and the final piece is finished into whatever it had been imagined to be.

It takes some time but the results are worth it. If this is something you think you’d be interested in trying yourself, be sure to check out our class schedule to see when the next casting class is coming up (Oct 16). Can’t make that one? There’s always another around the corner. Happy casting!

The Basics of Jewellery Cleaning, cont’d.

A different set of rules applies to caring for costume jewellery and they really start with “if it isn’t broken, don’t try to fix it”. Costume jewellery is put together using a variety of commercial techniques that include spot soldering, welding, casting, gluing, and plating. When costume jewellery breaks it cannot usually be repaired to look the same as before as a goldsmith cannot use the same procedure for soldering on softer metals as they are often toxic. Soft solder can be used in some cases, but it is never a permanent solution. The piece is most often fixed with a glue or cement, but it is only a matter of time before the piece will break again.

Costume jewellery is not made to last in most cases and is intended for disposal once it has broken. Inventive jewellery can often redesign a piece or come up with ingenious ways to reattach parts, but you must be willing to let go at a certain point or expense.

A goldsmith will do their best to save your sentimental pieces but as they were not only made in a way that allows for many traditional repairs, some pieces will have to be let go while others may be salvageable. Consider having your goldsmith remake a design in materials that can last over time and that can be repaired as part of their natural cycle of wear and use.

’20 Tips on maintaining our Jewellery’, Gillian E. Batcher, 2013