Lost Wax Casting
Carving a design in wax, encasing it in plaster, melting the wax out and filling the cavity with metal.
The wax is destroyed in the process, which is where the name comes from. A rubber mould is usually taken first so the design can be repeated.
Casting makes identical pieces at scale, which is why almost all commercial jewellery is cast rather than fabricated by hand.
Hand fabrication, where metal is sawn, bent and soldered, produces crisper detail and denser metal, and costs more in labour.
When you are buying
Cast pieces can have tiny internal porosity that shows up as a pit when polished. Look at flat surfaces under good light before accepting a piece.
Solder
The alloy used to join two pieces of metal with heat. Every join in a piece of jewellery is a solder seam.
Annealing
Heating metal to soften it after working, so it can be bent further without cracking.
Karigar
The craftsman who actually makes the jewellery, usually working for the jeweller rather than for the customer.
Making Charges
What you pay for craftsmanship on top of the metal, charged either per gram or as a percentage.
Granulation
Tiny metal spheres fused to a surface to build texture and pattern, with no visible solder.