Sustainability of Plaster Mould for Indigenous Jewelry Production

Every day in modern society people interact with a lot of objects that are created through casting, which is an important technique used by designers, artists and are found in museums where they replace real items that are not readily available or too rare to put on display. The modern industry use various casting techniques to produce things such as toys, car parts, kitchen utensils, jewelry articles and ceramic wares. People around the world have utilized casting as a manufacturing process since 400 BC. The Mesopotamian utilized it to their advantage to cast copper and bronze. The casting process used today is similar to those used in ancient times except for the improvement in technology in terms of materials and techniques (Greer, 2009). In the modern world there is no place without a part or equipment produced by casting such as automotive industry, aerospace, agricultural implements, medical, sculptures and the building industry. Casting involves making a 'mould' or impression of model depending on the application intended and the complexity of the model (Ferreira, 2004). Moulds are divided into two categories depending on the materials used.