26/05/2025
Hi Everyone, FYI this is a long read, but please - take the time to read it for me.
Over the past few weekends, I’ve been deep in code building something shiny and useful: our brand-new Black Arts Pricing Calculator. It’s designed to help you rapidly and accurately calculate casting prices and job totals. If you happen to break it or spot any weird behavior, I’d genuinely appreciate hearing about it so I can patch things up. This is part of a broader growth effort to give you access to 100% transparent pricing — something I believe doesn’t exist anywhere else in the trade. (And yes, I’ve looked.)
Since we began, we’ve never advertised. We’ve never played pricing games. And we haven’t raised our prices since 2021 — not through Covid, not through inflation, not during the energy crisis. This post is the only direct ask for work we’ve made. Word of mouth built this business, and I’m deeply grateful to those who continue to recommend us.
Instead, we’ve kept the studio steady, the work exceptional, and the quality consistent. Our mission has always been simple:
To provide a casting that can be readily finished by a member of the jewellery trade using basic tools and skills.
It’s what we guarantee, and what we deliver. Clean, bright, dense, and ductile models. No oversized sprues. No oxidised surfaces. No rushed or unskilled shortcuts. If — and this does happen, as casting is never 100% — there’s a problem and we can try again, we absolutely will.
We currently earn under £1 per casting on average after costs - this includes the metal fees. That means we’ve had to build a process that runs incredibly lean to stay profitable — and even then, we’re talking low single figures. But with just a bit more volume, we could operate comfortably above our fixed cost base without raising prices. That’s the goal: more work, not higher rates.
Every job is built around process — intelligent sprue systems, grouped flasks, and timing that balances practicality with consistency. We aim to give you castings that are ready to work, without a fight.
We’ve streamlined everything. We introduced automated job tracking (via Jotforms), reduced non-essential communications (not to be distant, but to stay focused), and built a quoting calculator that now handles 95% of requests — freeing us to do more, better, with fewer people. You all know if you call we will speak with you, if your call is missed we call back.
We’ve stayed transparent. While others hide pricing behind vague forms and "from/to" statements, we’ve led with a fully itemised price list — including being the first with size based casting fees, metals, moulds, surcharges — with nothing hidden.
Our pricing isn’t based on guesswork. It’s built on real systems. You’ll know exactly what you're paying for, with no surprises or nasty realisations after quoting your own clients.
And there’s more:
I've also just updated all the content on our website to shed more light on how we work and what we do — if you’ve not looked in a while, it’s worth a visit.
Of course, this level of service hasn’t come without cost. During Covid, we took on huge overheads to stay open — not just for ourselves, but for the trade. When major suppliers shut down, we became a metal supplier to the UK market. When other casters folded overnight, we picked up the slack.
We’ve trained most of the few new generation casters that now exist, but they are decades away from being experts. We’ve supported the trade quietly, consistently, and without compromise.
More recently, we’ve tightened again. We lost staff — and our margin went up. The core team — this family business — is now delivering better results than ever. Every casting passes through the hands of people who genuinely care.
But here’s the bottom line: we’re still only just above cost.
And now we face a choice:
Raise prices — or seek more work.
We don’t want to raise prices. We want to stay unbelievably competitive.
To do that, we need more jobs in the kiln.
If you’re sending production work elsewhere, I’d ask you to consider trying us. Black Arts often gets the tricky jobs — the ones others can’t or won’t do. But we’re also fast, predictable, cost-effective, and consistently high quality. If you’ve used us before, there’s a good chance we’re now better and cheaper than wherever you’re casting now.
And if you know anyone else who uses casting services — friends, colleagues, even other casters — we’d be genuinely grateful for a referral. We regularly cast for other casting houses when the work gets too difficult or uneconomical for them. We handle client-supplied metal, base metals, botanicals, and more.
And remember: we also offer electroplating in yellow and rose gold, giving your pieces that final finishing touch.
The kilns are ready. The systems are dialled. The studio is tuned. We’re ready to take more on.
If you’ve tried other casters — and been disappointed — we’d love to show you what you’re missing. Slower turnaround, higher prices, and patchy results are becoming common.
Here at Black Arts, we’re not just holding steady — we’re outperforming the field on knowledge, consistency, pricing, and finish.
Start Your Next Job
Thanks for reading — and for your continued support.
Jon blackartscasting.co.uk
