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krymson-sky In reply to Captaingreenshoes [2009-01-29 05:04:13 +0000 UTC]

oh, and what I just explained was just the casting part. After that you have to clean it up...saw off the sprew, file it up, sand it, buff it and such. Clean up can take quite a long time sometimes, but it gets easier with practice.

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Captaingreenshoes In reply to krymson-sky [2009-01-30 01:50:15 +0000 UTC]

Wow.... That's exciting! yah, definitely something i won't try on my own, especially because i wanna keep my skin and limbs a bit longer. But that's awesome none the less. I did take a Jewelry I last semester at Towson University. More of a metal-smithing class but we really didn't get into casting at all. But i am well aware of clean up. and it is a painstakingly long process. But thank you ever so much for your extensive response. Perhaps someday i can perform some metal casting myself. Good luck with your work. And again, beautiful Thunderbird necklace. I for some reason am especially fond of the clasps. gorgeous.

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krymson-sky In reply to Captaingreenshoes [2009-01-30 21:34:08 +0000 UTC]

Thankyou! Well, hope you can try casting; it's really quite a bit of fun...at least for me after I got used to the equipment. I'd like to take some more metals classes. I'd say your best bet to start casting is to find a college or university with a metals department. /shrug.

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krymson-sky In reply to Captaingreenshoes [2009-01-29 05:01:57 +0000 UTC]

Well...

It's lost wax method, which means I first carved/shaped this piece out of wax. There are different kinds of waxes depending on what you want to make and what works best. Then you make a wax sprew, which will act as a funnel for the molten metal to go through.

Once your wax piece is done, then you have to put it in investment. This would be easier to explain with a drawing...but anyway...
Investment kind of feels like plaster...we secure the wax onto a rubber piece that secures onto the flask, fill the flask with investment. Once the investment is dry, we take off the rubber cap. Then the flask (with your wax and investment inside) is ready to be fired in a kiln.

I'm not sure how hot or what temperatures, but the burn out takes a few hours or so. The kiln burns out all of the wax, leaving an empty hole where it was.

With the flask still hot out of the kiln, you next have to use a centripetal force caster, or a vacuum caster (but I have only used centripetal force casting). The hot flask is put into a sling with tongs...there is a crucible that lines up with the funnel/hole of your flask. We wind up the arm of the caster, and secure it with a pin. You've measured out the right weight/amount of metal, and you melt it in the crucible...when the metal is completely molten after torching it, then the pin is released and the centripetal force arm spins around really fast, which forces the molten metal into the crevice that was left by the burned out wax.

After the flask has cooled for a while (it should still be too hot to touch though) with tongs, you take the flask and submerge it under water and the investment will bubble out and you're left with your metal piece!!!

and that's the gist of it.

You won't be able to do this on your own without someone experienced teaching you first. There are a lot of safety precautions; It can be very dangerous but when done right, you can get some pretty awesome looking things.

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krymson-sky In reply to redLillith [2008-10-17 03:14:13 +0000 UTC]

thankyou!

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redLillith In reply to krymson-sky [2008-10-17 06:40:00 +0000 UTC]

my pleasure!

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