Every ring I make follows the same path: digital sculpture to sterling silver. It sounds simple. It isn't. Here's how it actually works — every step, from the first shape on screen to the finished piece in your hand.
Step 1: Digital Sculpting in ZBrush
Every piece starts as a 3D model in ZBrush, a digital sculpting program originally built for film and game studios. It's the same tool used to create creatures in movies and characters in video games — except I'm using it to design jewelry.
ZBrush lets me sculpt organic forms that would be nearly impossible to achieve by hand. I can push and pull geometry at a level of detail that no file or soldering iron can match. The screaming faces on the bypass ring, the anatomical flow of the skulls wrapping the band — those forms exist because digital sculpting made them possible.
I'll typically spend days on a single design. The skull band went through dozens of iterations before the spacing, the flow between each skull, and the overall profile felt right. In ZBrush, I can rotate the piece in real time, check it from every angle, and make adjustments at a resolution measured in millions of polygons. It's sculpting without the physical constraints of clay or wax.
Step 2: Preparing the File for Printing
A ZBrush model isn't automatically ready for the physical world. The digital file needs to be optimized for 3D printing — wall thickness has to be uniform enough to cast properly, undercuts need to be manageable, and the geometry has to be watertight (no holes or gaps in the mesh).
This is the unglamorous part. I'll spend time checking cross-sections, making sure the band will be structurally sound at every point, and ensuring that the detail I sculpted digitally will actually survive the casting process. Some details that look incredible on screen are too fine to hold up in metal. Learning where that line is took a lot of failed casts.
Step 3: 3D Printing in Wax
Once the file is ready, it gets printed in castable wax — a special resin designed to burn out cleanly during casting. The printer builds the ring layer by layer, and what comes out is a precise physical copy of the digital model.
The wax print is fragile. It's also the moment where you first see whether what you designed on screen actually works as a physical object. Scale, proportion, how it feels on a finger — all of that becomes real for the first time at this stage.
Step 4: Lost Wax Casting
This is where a process that's thousands of years old meets the digital file. The wax print gets encased in a plaster-like material called investment, creating a mold. The mold goes into a kiln where the wax melts and burns away — lost wax — leaving a perfect negative cavity.
Molten sterling silver is then forced into that cavity, filling every detail the wax print captured. When the investment is broken away, what's left is a raw silver casting — the ring in its roughest form, but with all the sculpted detail intact.
Step 5: Finishing
A raw casting doesn't look like a finished ring. It has sprues (the channels where metal flowed in), rough surfaces, and investment residue. The finishing process involves cutting the sprues, grinding and sanding, and then polishing the piece to its final state.
For my work, finishing is about finding the right balance. I don't want a mirror polish on a skull ring — it would flatten the sculptural detail. Instead, I polish selectively: the high points catch light while the recessed areas retain depth and shadow. That contrast is what makes the anatomy read.
Step 6: Quality Check and Sizing
Every ring gets checked against the original digital model. Does the detail hold up? Is the band smooth on the inside? Does it sit correctly on the finger? Because each piece is cast individually from a fresh wax print, I can catch and address issues on a per-ring basis.
The ring gets sized, given a final inspection, and packaged. From the time you place your order to the time it ships, the entire process takes about 3 to 5 weeks — most of that is production time, because nothing is sitting on a shelf waiting to go.
Why This Process Matters
I could skip the explanation and just sell rings. But the process is the point. The reason an Ian's Objects ring looks the way it does — the organic geometry, the anatomical detail, the forms that wrap and flow instead of sitting flat — is because of this specific combination of digital tools and traditional metalworking.
It's not handmade in the traditional sense. It's not mass-produced either. It's something in between: digitally sculpted, individually cast, and finished by hand. Every piece goes through all six steps, every time.
If you want to see the process in action, follow @iansobjects on Instagram — that's where I post ZBrush turntables, casting videos, and behind-the-scenes content regularly.
All Ian's Objects rings are made to order in solid sterling silver. Browse the collection or get in touch with any questions.