St Justin Jewellery - Welcome

St Justin Jewellery
Each piece is Handcrafted in Penzance, Cornwall, UK.
St Justin Jewellery has a lifetime guarantee.

(See the bottom of the page, for more detailed information about our Jewellery)

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The venerable alloy of pewter is made of 92% tin, with copper and antimony to harden it and enhance casting.

During most of the 20th century the tin used to make pewter was mined in Cornwall, where majestic granite engine houses dominated the landscape. Today, sadly, Cornish tin mining is no more and the picturesque ruins of our past add to the romance and mystery of Kernow.

At St Justin the distinguished tradition of casting pewter and tin lives on. The result is jewellery and gifts of great beauty and craftmanship - objects of art to treasure forever.
Cornish bronze, made using recycled copper and Cornish tin is our most recent innovation and brings to prominence a bygone age, in which this metal changed people’s lives forever.

Each piece of St Justin jewellery and giftware is crafted by hand and eye in Cornwall, where the beautiful land was once home to the native Celts. Our ethos and designs are heavily influenced by our past and all things natural related to the earth and its elements.

The Metal
The venerable alloy of pewter is made of 92% tin, with copper and antimony to harden it. Our pewter ingots weigh about 1kg each - we take these heavy, awkward blocks of alloy, and turn them into delicate, intricate pieces of  jewellery.
Pewter will tarnish with age, developing a distinctive patina that many people find attractive. However the bright polish can be revived by rubbing the item with a polishing cloth, or, if necessary, using a polishing paste such as Autosol.

Designs
Each product idea starts as a sketch, from which we make more detailed drawings. A master pattern is then created using a combination of computer-aided  design and hand craftmanship - the concept is now in physical form ready to create a mould.
Sometimes the piece is not quite right or too heavy so we go back to the drawing board and start again.

Moulds
Two soft rubber discs are sandwiched together with the master patterns in between. The discs are then vulcanised (cured) at high temperature and pressure.  They are then able to withstand temperatures of around 300 degrees Celsius.
When cool the master patterns are removed and sprues (channels) are cut by hand into the mould to  create a system of feeds for molten metal to flow into the cavities that are left. It is important to vent the mould to assist in the release of entrapped air. This helps minimise porosity in the finished item.

Casting
The mould is spun in a centrifuge (between pressure plates) and molten pewter, at a temperature of around 280°C, is poured down a funnel into a central hole in the mould. The sprue system channels the metal outwards into the cavities where it cools for a few minutes and solidifies.
Whilst still hot the castings are broken off the sprues ready for the next process.

Fettling
Fettling is the term giving to filing, sanding and cleaning up the castings.
There is always a casting line around each item where the two mould halves meet. This is removed with files, linishing belts and high speed pencil burrs.
Items with many pierced areas are particularly difficult as the gaps are often small and inaccessible without very fine tools. We take pride in this part of the process as casting lines can become unsightly.

Cutting & Polishing
The castings are now put through a cutting process that uses a mild abrasive. This removes any surface imperfections. A mechanical process using ball bearings then smoothes the pewter and gives a good lustre finish. As pewter is quite soft, a highly polished finish is achieved by using a coarse polishing paste followed by a fine paste on the polishing mop. Gloves need to be worn, as the heat this process generates is quite intense!
The items then have a brief clean in an ultrasonic bath to remove  polishing residue. They are now ready for assembling, maybe painting or enamelling, and finally packing.