Stefano Reale Exclusively for JewelModel: On BlueCast, Castable Resins, and the Future of Jewelry Manufacturing

Affordable resin 3D printers have changed jewelry production, allowing small workshops to produce detailed patterns without investing in industrial equipment. Yet a successful print does not automatically become a successful metal casting. The material, cleaning process, investment, burnout schedule, and metal flow all matter.

This gap between printing and casting helped give rise to BlueCast, the Italian company specializing in castable resins for jewelry. Its range now includes X-One V2, X-Wax, and X-Wax Filigree, developed for different combinations of printability, burnout performance, and fine-detail work.

We spoke with BlueCast co-founder Stefano Reale about the company's origins, his partnership with CEO Ettore Bar, known as Gatto, the chemistry behind wax-rich printable materials, common casting mistakes, quality control, and what the team hopes to improve next.

The interview was conducted in Italian. The answers have been translated into English and lightly edited for clarity while preserving their original meaning. Technical performance statements about BlueCast products reflect Stefano's account.

From Architecture and Engineering to BlueCast

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> ""One coffee was enough for us to understand what we wanted to build.""

JewelModel: Before BlueCast, what were you doing in jewelry, casting, and 3D printing? What specific problem made you want to develop castable resins?

Stefano Reale: BlueCast grew out of two different backgrounds: mine and that of my business partner and CEO, Ettore Bar, whom everyone calls Gatto. My technical education was in architecture; his was in engineering.

I had been fascinated by 3D printing since university. That interest eventually led me to open a 3D-printing service before I became directly involved in jewelry manufacturing.

With the arrival of the first affordable SLA printers, such as the Form 1 and Form 1+, I noticed a very concrete need: a resin that could actually be cast reliably. I could print models for my customers, but I could not guarantee that any casting workshop would be able to turn those patterns into successful metal pieces.

While looking for manufacturers and innovators, I met Gatto almost by chance. He had already spent years exploring investment casting through a small Italian startup called BlueCat. We had a coffee, realized we had the same idea, and started BlueCast.

JewelModel: BlueCast refers to experience dating back to 2008, while the castable-resin project came later. How did that timeline unfold?

Stefano: In 2008, I bought my first 3D printer, an FDM Stratasys. Around the same time, Gatto began his research and development work on resins and SLA printers, primarily for jewelry.

BlueCast itself came later, when we recognized that there was room for a quality product in a market where demand was already waiting.

I still remember our first order. It came from French Guiana, and the parcel was sent back because of a formal mistake in the shipping documents. We still keep that very first bottle at the company.

Today, we ship around 70,000–80,000 bottles every year.

Our resellers have played a major part in that growth. Our first reseller was the German company Horbach. Its owner has become much more than a business contact; he is now a dear friend.

How the Resin Range Evolved

JewelModel: How did BlueCast move from the early resins to X-One and X-Wax? Was there one turning point that mattered most?

Stefano: At the beginning, our market was focused almost entirely on SLA printers like the Form 1 and 1+. Alongside castability, we always tried to distinguish our formulas by choosing ingredients that were as safe as possible for human health.

Then MSLA printers, also known as LCD printers, arrived. We had to reformulate our products to make them compatible, but we also wanted to follow what different customers actually needed.

Some markets need resins that are particularly easy to cast. Others need greater physical stability to print extremely thin objects, such as designs common in Turkey.

Changing printer technologies on one side, and different production requirements across markets on the other, pushed us to expand the catalog. The goal was to give each customer a material suited to their work.

Why X-One V2 Replaced the First Version

bluecast x one v2 resin

JewelModel: Why did you introduce X-One V2? What changed compared with the original X-One?

Stefano: X-One, following Original and X10, is one of our resins that does not require UV post-curing. Back in 2015, a resin that did not force users to spend hours on UV curing was a revolution.

We can say openly today that the transition from X-One V1 to V2 was driven by our decision to remove a pigment considered potentially carcinogenic.

The primary difference between the versions was therefore the color. During that transition, we also tried to improve V2's definition by recalibrating photoblockers and pigment levels.

X-Wax: Real Jewelry Wax in a Printable Resin

> ""Even a small workshop can now produce patterns comparable to those made on expensive wax printers.""

JewelModel: X-Wax contains more than 80% real casting wax. How did you make such a wax-rich material printable with LCD and DLP technology, and what does it change for casting?

Stefano: During UV crosslinking, a photoinitiator starts the reaction that turns oligomers and monomers from a liquid formulation into a solid polymer network. That process releases heat in a very small space.

The heat generated during polymerization causes the wax suspended in the material to melt and sinter together.

The advantage is fairly clear. Before X-Wax, no resin on the market, to our knowledge, contained what jewelers recognize as actual injection wax.

With X-Wax, even a small workshop can make patterns comparable to those produced by specialized wax printers costing USD 30,000, 40,000, or 50,000.

There is one obvious compromise: resin printing requires supports. But in terms of surface quality, I believe resin technology still has a substantial advantage over wax printers.

Temperature Sensitivity: The Price of High Wax Content

JewelModel: X-Wax can thicken or solidify when it gets cold. Is that unavoidable with such a high wax content? How should users manage it?

Stefano: For now, this behavior is unavoidable and characteristic of the material.

Fortunately, even affordable new printers increasingly include internal resin heaters. That is a useful feature for practically any printing material.

The resin bottle can also be warmed before use, for example with a heated ultrasonic bath, a baby-bottle warmer, a warm-water bath, or heating bands.

It is a small inconvenience you accept when you want to print with real wax.

I can assure you that Gatto is always working on new and innovative products, including materials that are easier to use.

Editor's note: Preheating methods and temperature limits must follow the current instructions for the specific BlueCast resin. Do not assume that the same heating procedure is suitable for every product or bottle volume.

X-One V2, X-Wax, or X-Wax Filigree?

JewelModel: If a jeweler is trying BlueCast for the first time, how should they choose between X-One V2, X-Wax, and X-Wax Filigree?

Stefano: Today, X-One V2 is the link between X-Wax and X-Wax Filigree. It can print thinner sections than X-Wax, but it cannot reach the same level of fine detail as X-Wax Filigree.

From a practical product-selection point of view, X-One is an almost all-purpose resin.

X-Wax is for people who want the strongest castability for classic and bulky patterns.

X-Wax Filigree is for people printing lightweight designs, Turkish-style jewelry, and filigree.

JewelModel: Why did X-Wax Filigree need a separate formulation? What is the smallest detail that is realistic for everyday jewelry production rather than a demonstration print?

Stefano: The amount of wax in X-Wax makes its patterns quite fragile and elastic, even while they are being printed. That is why it is not suitable for many Middle Eastern designs.

Technically, the printing limit depends on the printer's performance. The minimum thickness you can successfully cast depends on the casting equipment.

For very thin meshes and linked structures, it is possible to reach approximately 0.2–0.3 mm, provided the finished metal piece still has enough structural integrity.

A detail that can be printed is not necessarily a detail that can be cast.

Can a Printing Profile Really Be Ready to Use?

JewelModel: Jewelers use Anycubic, Phrozen, Elegoo, Prusa, and many other printers. How realistic is a ready-to-use resin profile, and which settings still matter?

Stefano: Providing ready-to-use profiles is exactly what we try to do, even though there are so many printer models, and more keep appearing.

The fundamental parameters are exposure time, lift speed, and the movement of the build platform.

In most cases, users can download and install the profile on their own computers. If they encounter difficulties, we are always ready to help.

Why Castings Fail: Look Beyond the Bottle

> ""Casting is not an art. It is a science.""

JewelModel: When a customer reports porosity, rough surfaces, or failed castings, how do you find out whether the problem lies in the resin, printing, washing, investment, burnout, or casting itself?

Stefano: Casting is not an art. It is a science.

First, we ask for technical information about the casting process and look for obvious mistakes. If that part is correct, we carefully examine how the printed patterns were washed.

If the washing process is also correct, we analyze how the metal flows through the mold.

Unfortunately, even when you bake a cake, you do not get exactly the same result 100% of the time.

If someone has been casting for twenty years and still thinks it is unnecessary to weigh the investment components, it is practically impossible to help them. They have missed something fundamental about the process.

Sometimes the operator has done everything correctly and the result is still poor because of the investment material itself. Investment can age quickly, especially in humid environments. An opened bag that has been sitting for months may be the source of casting defects.

Storing an Opened Bottle and Resin in the Vat

JewelModel: How should an opened castable resin be stored? Can you leave it in the printer vat, and how do you recognize a material that has deteriorated?

Stefano: Keep the resin in a dry location between 10 and 35 °C, preferably in its original bottle.

If it needs to stay in the vat for only a few days, that is possible, provided you keep it inside the printer or somewhere protected from all light.

Technically speaking, the ingredient in the formulation that deteriorates over time is the photoinitiator.

A damaged resin will not print properly. If it prints, but the casting result is poor, I would look for the problem elsewhere in the process.

Editor's note: The exact storage limits and shelf life should be checked against the current documentation for the specific resin. A successful print alone does not replace a production-quality casting test.

Fast Burnout or a Traditional Schedule?

JewelModel: BlueCast offers fast burnout cycles for some products. When would you use a faster cycle, and when would you choose a slower one?

Stefano: Much depends on the quality requirements for the finished object and the flask size.

Certain defects in brass, bronze, or silver, or on particular figurative pieces, may be more tolerable than a flaw in a white-gold ring holding a natural diamond worth 200,000.

Every customer has different requirements.

In most cases, a fast burnout cycle can be applied to flasks up to 100 mm.

X-Vest and the Changing Role of Investment Materials

JewelModel: Why did BlueCast develop its own investment, X-Vest? Do you see the company eventually supplying a complete digital investment-casting process?

Stefano: X-Vest was discussed at one of our latest internal meetings. We asked ourselves whether it still makes sense to produce it now that the newest resins perform so well.

Consumption has fallen, and a large share of current X-Vest customers actually use resins from other manufacturers.

We will most likely discontinue X-Vest production during 2027.

How Each Resin Batch Is Tested

JewelModel: Is it difficult to maintain consistent performance from batch to batch? How do you distinguish a real batch problem from a printer-configuration issue?

Stefano: It is not that difficult. We are dealing with chemistry and physics.

Checks on incoming raw materials are fundamental. In general, our raw-material purchases cover one or two years of production.

Post-production controls matter just as much. Every batch has its own spectral signature, recorded with an FTIR spectrometer. We then carry out additional physical and practical tests.

Each batch is printed and checked for weight and physical properties. And, of course, each batch is also cast.

What ""Safe"" Means When a Resin Is Still Liquid

JewelModel: BlueCast uses terms such as ""safe"" and ""monomer-free."" What precautions are still necessary when handling uncured resin?

Stefano: All resins are still chemical formulations. Direct contact can cause serious irritation to mucous membranes. They must be handled with great care by trained personnel.

Rooms where 3D printers are installed should always be well ventilated.

I especially want to raise awareness about the correct disposal of alcohol used to wash prints.

The used alcohol can be exposed to UV light to polymerize resin residues, then filtered. Depending on its condition, the liquid may be reused for an initial wash or taken to an appropriate waste-collection facility.

Editor's note: This is not a universal disposal procedure. Follow the applicable safety data sheet and local hazardous-waste rules. Never pour uncured resin or contaminated cleaning solvent down the drain.

Around 50 Resellers and a Changing Global Market

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JewelModel: Where can customers buy BlueCast officially, and which markets do you see growing in jewelry 3D printing?

Stefano: We have around 50 official resellers around the world. The official list is on our website, and we always recommend buying through that network.

We have encountered blatant counterfeits: bottles made to resemble ours but filled with cheap resins that were nowhere near the quality of our products. Contacting those responsible and demanding they stop was enough to resolve the situations quickly.

The market is very tight at the moment. I do not think any industrial company in any sector would deny how difficult the economic environment has become. Oil prices and inflation are obvious factors.

Nevertheless, I see China as a market with strong potential. I believe price is no longer always the main consideration there; product quality is increasingly important.

Why a High-Performance Castable Resin Costs More

JewelModel: Castable resins cost much more than general-purpose photopolymers. What makes a good casting resin expensive, and can the price fall substantially without compromising quality?

Stefano: Ours are probably among the more expensive resins on the market, and the reason is simple.

As a company policy, we reject ingredients that are carcinogenic or suspected of being carcinogenic, even in very small quantities. That dramatically narrows the range of materials we can use.

If we want to keep operating according to that social and ethical approach, I do not see much room for major price reductions.

But consider the actual cost of resin used for a standard ring: about 20, 30, or 50 euro cents. It is such a small part of the economics of a finished piece that it may not even appear as a separate cost line.

Three Common Mistakes When 3D Printing Jewelry Patterns for Casting

JewelModel: What mistakes do jewelers most often make when they start printing castable-resin patterns, and which myth would you most like to challenge?

Stefano: One mistake is assuming that every thickness or engraving that can be printed can automatically be cast. Investment materials and casting equipment impose very real technical limits.

Another common mistake is failing to follow the specified proportions when mixing investment.

A third is continuing to use a traditional wax-melting stage without accounting for the behavior of resin.

Temperatures around 150–200 °C can be harmful when used in that preliminary wax-removal process. The resin does not necessarily melt and drain as ordinary wax does. Instead, it can deform, crack the investment, or cause localized pyrolysis.

Some competitors should also stop playing with words and calling their products or machines ""Wax Printer"" or ""Wax for DLP Printer"" when the material is not actually wax.

Editor's note: Stefano is discussing a preliminary wax-melting operation, not saying that 150–200 °C must never occur in a properly specified resin burnout schedule. Follow the resin and investment manufacturers' validated instructions.

The X10 Experiment: Why Customization Did Not Win

> ""The market is much more willing to accept ready-to-use products than customizable ones.""

JewelModel: Was there an experiment or product that seemed promising but taught BlueCast an unexpected lesson?

Stefano: This answer might get me into an argument with Gatto!

Probably X10 for LCD printers was a mistake, or rather, the market did not understand it.

We designed it as a base resin that customers could customize for their own production needs. Additives could make it more rigid for filigree or more elastic for pre-setting stones.

The market, however, is much more willing to accept ready-to-use products than ones that need customization.

The Next Technical Challenge for BlueCast

JewelModel: What is BlueCast working on now? Is the priority cleaner burnout, finer details, easier printing, a higher wax percentage, or something else?

Stefano: A company that stops doing research and simply admires its past achievements is a dead company.

We pay close attention to new 3D-printing technologies so we can be among the first to develop suitable solutions.

As for increasing the wax percentage further, today that is physically impossible. We have reached what we believe is the practical limit for wax content and castability in this approach.

What we can improve is ease of printing and the development of more functional, versatile resins: materials that print many different types of patterns while delivering the same burnout performance.

That is where I see the next stage of our work.

From a Printable Pattern to a Reliable Casting Process

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BlueCast's story began with a problem familiar to jewelers: an attractive print is not yet a successful casting. The company's development has followed changes in printer technology, the demands of different jewelry markets, and the chemistry required to make patterns easier to cast.

Stefano's answers also underline a practical point. A resin cannot compensate for every error in washing, investment mixing, burnout, or metal flow. Better materials matter, but repeatable jewelry production requires control of the entire process.

For BlueCast, the next challenge is not simply to add another product to the shelf. It is to make a wider range of jewelry designs easier to print and cast consistently.

Interview by JewelModel.

Explore BlueCast's official website, its product range, and its official reseller network."