JSP Kulta leads the way in Finnish Jewellery design with Delcam’s ArtCAM JewelSmith

JSP Kulta Oy is a jewellery design and manufacturing company that has pioneered the use of CADCAM (computer-aided design & manufacturing) software for the creation of jewellery in Finland. Niko Pennanen, designer and owner, discusses the software he uses, Delcam's ArtCAM Jewelsmith, and explains how he created the flower girl pendant and its matching jewellery. End Quote

(1888PressRelease) April 29, 2009 - When we think back to our school days we can all remember the exciting teachers and the subjects they taught, and those lessons we found boring or didn't like. Had Niko Pennanen from the jewellers, JSP Kulta Oy in Finland not only been shown generic CAD (Computer-Aided Design) principals at school but how it could be applied to jewellery design he may have taken interest in the subject much earlier on.

Instead Niko's interest flared when he first came across Delcam's CADCAM (Computer-Aided Design & Manufacturing) software solution for the jewellery industry, ArtCAM JewelSmith, in 1996. Despite their being little CAD activity in Finland, JSP Kulta Oy was encouraged by the attractive look and feel of the software, its logical functions and a combination of both CAD and CAM. With this they took the next step to the cad world and bought ArtCAM JewelSmith and their first mill, 3 Axis Venture VPE 50 Venice.

With in-house facilities to cast and set their stones, JSP Kulta Oy manufacture and market a number of stock and customised pieces. A recent set of jewellery to stun their customers and resellers is the ''Flower girl'' pendant with matching earrings and bracelet. Niko said, 'When I created the ''Flower girl'' pendant it was to make a medallion that didn't look like one at first sight, until you looked closer and saw the image in it.'

For the pendant's focal point Niko used an imported photograph of a young girl and used this as a template to create the vectors (or lines) that he wanted to use in his design. 'What is very impressive about ArtCAM', said Niko, 'is how easily you can make reliefs from a photo, and add it to the pendant.' With the shape editing tools Niko then added height and depth to selected vectors to shape the girl's face.

ArtCAM's unique patent-pending relief layer system 'gave an easy way to edit the design', said Niko as he could build up the design on individual layers. Using the sculpting tools Niko then worked on smoothing out areas of the face and adding the diverse textures to create the hair and petals' tips.

Making use of ArtCAM's extensive relief library, Niko imported the flower shape into ArtCAM and scaled it down to size, to fit within a simple round outline vector. Whereas a dome shape had been added to the circle, the flower was set to the base height of the model, creating a flower-shaped recess where the sculpted face now appears.

To complete the pendant, loops for the attaching chain were created and using ArtCAM's back relief option, layers for the stamp and model number were made. Once happy with the design Niko then created the necessary vectors to profile (cut around) the pendant and added the tabs to hold the pendant in place whilst machining.

Choosing from a tool database of over 200 bits, he then created toolpaths for a 1.5mm flat conical tool to mill the raw design before passing a pyramid bit over the design, to take away the remainder of the material. Afterwards a silicone mould was made from the machined model so that resellers and potential customers could see the outcome of the new technology: milling an image to wax.

To complete the necklace and continuing on the flower theme, beautifully textured flower shapes were machined at the bottom of the each barrel setting, casing their 8mm round cabochons, so they could be seen through the gem.

Since purchasing ArtCAM, JSP Kulta have had 'many jewellers contact [them] to first make the master model and then; milling, casting, fixing the master and making the silicon mould before taking it to serial production. With ArtCAM we can rapidly create renders to show the customer. Now we also have daily demand for two or multi sided jobs thanks to ArtCAM's versatile toolpathing and multisided machining wizard. I no-longer have to say no to customised work… I can count on ArtCAM.'

To find out more about ArtCAM JewelSmith please go to:www.artcamjewelsmith.com or e-mail artcam ( @ ) delcam dot com.

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