What is lost wax casting in jewellery?
By Jared James · Last updated 21 May 2026
Definition
Lost wax casting, known by the French term cire-perdue, is one of the oldest metalworking techniques still used in fine jewellery today. A model of the piece is carved or sculpted in wax, then encased in a plaster or investment mould. The whole assembly is heated in a kiln, which burns the wax away and leaves a perfectly shaped cavity. Molten metal is then poured or spun into the empty cavity under pressure, and once cooled and removed, the raw cast piece is cleaned up and finished by hand. The process allows complex, intricate shapes that would be difficult to achieve by fabrication alone.
Frequently asked questions
- How old is the lost wax casting technique?
- Lost wax casting has been used for at least five thousand years, with some of the earliest known examples coming from the Indus Valley civilisation and ancient Egypt. Jewellers and sculptors have refined the process considerably, but the core principle of replacing wax with metal remains unchanged.
- What is the difference between lost wax casting and fabrication?
- Fabrication involves cutting, bending and soldering sheet metal and wire to build a piece by hand, while casting uses a mould to produce the form in one pour. Casting is efficient for repeating a design and for complex organic shapes, while fabrication gives very clean joins and is often used for geometric pieces.
- Can you cast any metal using the lost wax method?
- Most jewellery metals cast well using this method, including gold, silver, platinum and palladium. Each has its own ideal casting temperature and cooling behaviour, and some alloys require more care than others, but lost wax casting is versatile enough to suit the full range of fine jewellery metals.
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