Exercise in price points

by markmaxwell on March 25, 2010

I have been looking for ways to reduce the price points of some of my designs that I sell wholesale.  The majority of my current designs are constructed out of heavy 18k yellow gold.  While I love the look of heavier designs, the price points are making them a difficult sale.  I am exploring designs that will  reduce material and labor costs.  My first design is this lace sphere that will have a small amount of enamel and several 1mm diamonds set in it.

Lace shpere

Lace sphere

Since the sphere is hollow, I split the design in two so that the mill has access to all the undercuts.  I added some supports to the model and ran the first cutting pass on the mill with a 1mm ball cutter.

First pass lace sphere

First pass lace sphere

The second pass is done with a finer cutter that has a diamond shaped profile.

second pass lace sphere

second pass lace sphere

I am now connecting the two halves with a wax working tool.  I will post photos once its put together.

markmaxwell

markmaxwell

markmaxwell

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