The Lost Wax Art in Jewelry and Sculpture

Ancient Origins

Lost-wax casting is among the oldest metalworking arts in history, produced from an alchemy of wax, fire, and metal. Archaeologists have traced this technique back to the Indus Valley civilization, from around 4,000 BC, where a small cast amulet stands as one of the earliest known examples. Cultures worldwide discovered that an object first formed in wax could be transmuted into enduring metal. The lost-wax method can scale from micro-jewelry, coins, and weaponry to ceremonial objects, furniture, and sculpture. The art of lost-wax casting jewelry opened up a new design space, allowing airy latticework, spiraling forms, natural textures, and intricate details to be brought to life in metal.

Gold Ram's-head Amulet, circa 712–664 B.C., Egypt
Amethyst & Gold Lion's Head Pendant, circa 750 B.C., Egypt
Bronze Harness Ring, circa 1000-650 B.C., Luristan, Iran

What is the Lost Wax Casting Process?

While the technical steps have been modernized, the essence remains as ancient as it is transformative. The journey from wax to metal offers unique creative advantages at each stage. During casting, gravity and chemistry collaborate to capture what the artist carved.

It begins with a hand-carved or modeled design in wax. This wax can be shaped with incredible detail, texture, and dimension. Once the wax is complete, it is attached to a system of sprues (wax rods that become channels for metal to flow) and encased in a heat-resistant investment material – traditionally plaster or clay. After the investment hardens, the entire mold is heated in a kiln, causing the wax within to melt and drain away, hence the term “lost” wax. This leaves a hollow cavity in the exact shape of the artwork.

The Feast Cuff wax in different stages of carving.

Next, molten metal is poured or centrifuged into the mold. The liquid metal rushes in, filling every crevice before cooling and solidifying. Finally, the mold is quenched and broken apart to reveal the cast metal piece inside, which is then cleaned and finished by hand to remove evidence of the casting (sprue stubs, surface roughness) until the final form emerges. What began as a hand-carved soft wax sketch is now a work of metal – ready to be polished, textured, set with stones, or given patina as the design requires.

A lineup of wax trees with bracelet parts getting ready for the investment stage.

The unpredictability of the process highlights a deeper philosophy of lost-wax casting: there is beauty in the unique and imperfect. The intricacies of the wax, including any subtle variations or touch from the maker's hand, are captured in the final casting. A lost-wax cast jewel carries within it not only the form the artist imagined, but also the fingerprints of the process that captures artistry and nature in a way that makes these one-of-a-kind pieces cherished as wearable art.

My skilled casters get creative with their multi-part molds - here is Jenna demonstrating her beautiful "corkscrew" solution for the Banksia Lace Ring.

I fell in love with this process and launched my first collection, inspired by pods and flora, in 2015. The wax carvings distilled the breathtaking diversity of textures, forms, and imperfections found in nature. The delicate veins of a flower, the curve of a leaf, or the textural scale of a pod can all be faithfully preserved in the wax model and accurately inscribed in the final casting. The Banksia, Willow, Bell Pod, Leaves, and Callistemon series were among the first designs I explored.

Freshly cast Feast Cuffs. The bracelets will be cut off the metal tree and the rough sprues will be filed, sanded, and polished by hand.

Working in wax allows me to create jewelry more intuitively. In recent years, my carving has evolved in a more sculptural direction. The Slide, Mosaic, and Brutalist series explore organic architecture and forms that stand on their own as small sculptures when off the body. At its core, lost-wax casting is a process of translation, translating the artist’s idea, first into wax and then into metal. Carving and shaping the wax (an additive and subtractive process not unlike handbuilding in clay) allows me to create curves, hollows, textures, and details that would be almost impossible to fabricate in any other way. The Feast Cuff, Slide Ring, and Mosaic Hinge Bracelet each showcase this process beautifully.

Inspirational Works of Jewelry & Sculpture

I'm drawn to work that is organic, sculptural, bold in scale, visually impactful, tactile, and unusual. I’m inspired by work from the mid-20th century, particularly the Modernist and Brutalist architecture movements. Designers such as Pentti Sarpaneva, Matti J. Hyvärinen, Jorma Laine, and Hannu Ikonen from Finland, Guy Vidal and Robert Larin from Canada, Andrew Grima of London, and James Parker and John M. Morgan from the United States were pioneers of this style. Mexico also produced exceptional examples.

A finished Feast Cuff in yellow bronze with verdigris patina.

Independent artists around the world continue to push the boundaries of lost-wax casting in fresh, imaginative ways. Many value the technique for the organic, sculptural forms it allows them to achieve, forms that echo nature and feel almost grown rather than made. Two contemporary artists that I admire are Michelle Oka Doner and Ingrid Donat. They create jewelry, sculpture, furniture, and decorative objects, such as mirrors and tableware. Pieces like Oka Doner's "Eve #1" sculpture, "Radiant Disk with Ice Ring Bench", as well as Donat’s bronze cabinet, “Hommage à Klimt,” and "5 Elements" shelving unit, ignite my desire to continue exploring this beautiful process.

From ancient gold amulets to contemporary bronze candelabras, the lost-wax art has shown a unique ability to adapt and inspire offering creatives ultimate freedom of form, and a direct conduit from imagination to object. The soulful, time-honored craftsmanship of lost-wax casting remains unparalleled in its ability to translate nature’s beauty and the artist’s vision into enduring design objects.

Kirsten Muenster Jewelry

Inspired by the organic architecture of the natural world, I showcase lost-wax casting in a creative, nature-centric design philosophy. A delicate shell, seed pod, or twisting vine, ephemeral in reality, serves as inspiration for abstracted forms in gold, silver, and bronze. I carve, break apart, reassemble, hollow out, add, subtract, and transform the wax into unique sculptural compositions that don’t exist in nature, they are nature reimagined. Lost-wax casting embodies sculptural form, ethical craftsmanship, and nature-inspired design, the pillars of KMJ’s ethos. All jewelry is made in San Francisco.

“When I carve wax, the line between nature and abstraction fades. The finished bronze still holds that moment of contemplation.”

- Kirsten Muenster

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