The "Home Gold Mining" craze is on the rise! Experts warn: Be careful not to lose your gold to "mining"→

March 28, many domestic jewelry brands reduced prices on gold accessories, approaching 1,400 yuan. At present, gold has turned into a new favorite of handcrafting, and many young people choose to “melt and craft at home.” Experts warn that aside from safety hazards, financial loss is the “pitfall” that home gold-crafting enthusiasts are most likely to encounter; gold loss caused by operational mistakes far exceeds expectations.

Young people love “at-home gold crafting”

Gold crafting is the process of turning gold into jewelry such as rings, bracelets, and necklaces through steps like melting, investing/molding, shaping, and polishing. Recently, this ancient craft has started to gain popularity again. On some social media platforms, the number of views for “at-home gold crafting” topics has exceeded 1.3 billion.

A gold-crafting instructor told reporters that the time required to make a piece of gold jewelry is basically between one and three hours, including steps such as melting, investing/molding, shaping, grinding, and polishing. For basic items, the labor fee per gram ranges from 10 to 40 yuan. For more complex items such as intangible-culture-heritage filigree work (bian si), the labor fee ranges from tens of yuan to over a hundred yuan.

Compared with the high brand premium and craft fees charged by jewelry stores, this more cost-effective and personalized way of consuming gold has attracted many young people.

“At-home gold crafting” goes viral

These risks and hidden issues should be noted

On social platforms, a quick search turns up many video tutorials about “at-home gold crafting.” Most of them share experiences of successful gold crafting, making people mistakenly believe that actual operation is not that complicated. However, the reporter found from a video posted by a blogger who deeply shared the gold-crafting process that, in fact, “at-home gold crafting” has strict steps.

A complete set of “at-home gold-crafting” tools can be easily bought on e-commerce platforms. Search for “gold-crafting kit” as keywords—some cost just over 100 yuan per set, while others cost about 200+ yuan.

E-commerce platforms sell “gold-crafting kits”

According to the tutorial blogger’s introduction, a basic tool set includes long-nose pliers, a toothbrush, a file, an agate knife, borax, a blowtorch, an electronic scale, scrap material, oil clay, and a king of oil clay, as well as some plaster molds, a gas canister, and a refractory board.

• First, lay a refractory board on a metal basin to prevent gold splatter and loss when pressing down the oil clay king;

• Assemble the blowtorch for melting gold. Remove the outer paper wrap from the gold-crafting mold, then heat it with the blowtorch;

• Press the oil clay king down vertically, steadily, and evenly, cool it for about ten seconds, then quickly clamp it out and place it into cold water.

Although the blogger published a very detailed video tutorial for gold crafting, there are also professional gold-crafters sharing on social platforms. Even if the steps in the video are replicated one-to-one, it may still fail.

A staff member at an offline gold-crafting shop in Beijing also told reporters that the number of people choosing “at-home gold crafting” is indeed increasing, but not many succeed. However, quite a few who fail later come to the shop to seek solutions.

Wang Chao, the director of the Gold and Jewelry Testing Center at the Ningbo Municipal Institute of Quality Inspection, believes that, from a theoretical perspective, at-home gold crafting is not completely impossible. People with a certain level of hands-on ability, after mastering the correct methods, may indeed be able to complete the making process. But for most people, uncertainties during the operation and factors related to the quality of the molds themselves will lead to corresponding problems.

Although at-home gold crafting is to some extent feasible, Wang Chao also points out the risk points during the process.

Wang Chao said, “Is the metal purity high or not is one risk point. If there are other easily volatilized metals mixed in the metal, when low-quality metal is heated—because it has a relatively low melting point—when the gold is melted, they may already turn into steam. For example, if there is mercury inside, it becomes mercury vapor. In an environment with poor ventilation, it is easy to get poisoned.”

Besides safety hazards, financial loss is the “pitfall” home gold-crafting enthusiasts are most likely to face. Gold loss caused by operational errors far exceeds expectations. Common mistakes include improper preparation of plaster molds leading to cracking of cast pieces, metal melting and fracture during welding, and so on. These mistakes can cause gold residue or loss, are difficult to recover, and ultimately have to be repaired by professionals—thereby increasing costs instead.

Wang Chao admitted that “at-home gold crafting” cannot be achieved just by following tutorials; it should be viewed rationally in terms of the possibilities and limitations of “at-home gold crafting.”

Source: China National Radio (CNR), China Voice of the Central Radio and Television Station, and CCTV Finance

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