Make a large silver chain necklace

Although wearing silver chain necklaces is common for men, it is difficult to have choices in online stores when looking for a chain with large silver links.

For this reason, our customer turned to us to create a long necklace-type chain in silver, the length and type of links of which would be made specifically according to his needs (discover our online service for the creation of jewellery).

The features of this solid silver chain necklace are:

• a length of 69 centimetres
• 70 links of 15 x 10 mm
• Large lobster clasp closure
• final weight of 130 grams

Here we present all the steps that led us from the project on paper to the creation of this men’s necklace in the laboratory.

Flat view of the necklace composed of a wide link chain in solid silver

Looking at the neck of the long silver necklace for men, you can see the links assembled one by one and the regularity of the whole.

The design of the canal project

For this project we had a mesh shape to adhere to, a massive rendering requirement desired by our client, while limiting the weight of the necklace so it wouldn’t be too heavy to wear around the neck.

To reconcile all this, we used computer tools to model the links of the necklace and visualize the result by evaluating the final weight of the chain.

This image is a 3D visualization of the chain obtained after the CAD design of our necklace link. We can thus evaluate the weight of the silver, the number of links and the amount of work necessary to make the necklace.

Workshop production

Concretely, once the design of the nets had been frozen, we created resin nets using 3D printing with which we created a silicone mold.

Production of wax masters

This mold includes 4 mesh impressions and was used to make the 70 links needed for this necklace. We can see in the following photo the wax links (red in colour) that will be used to make the silver links of the chain.

View of this green resin master image made by 3D printing from the digital project model and the red waxes molded in our silicone mold.

Silver working

We use the red wax mesh to make a casting tree which we then use to make a refractory plaster mold. Once heated, this plaster lets the wax escape, leaving a cavity in the mold, imprinted with our wax mesh.

The molten liquid silver is then poured into the mold, allowing us to obtain the links of our necklace after cooling.

The networks are then cut, assembled together and finally re-welded. We therefore get our necklace in a condition where the silver is raw, as shown in these photos.

Finishes

The finishing work then consists of straightening each link and then polishing it to give the necklace its final appearance. As for the clasp, we used a 14mm lobster clasp, so quite large, but perfectly within the size of the links.

To compare our work with what is usually done in the sector for the mass production of silver chains using machinery, I invite you to watch this very informative video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9VshHnuVNo

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