I have a question. Has anyone any suggestions for mediums to use to
drop the silver into for drop casting? I think the basics are well
established i.e. water, icewater, sawdust, sand anyone have other
materials they have used?
Thanks!
Teri
An American Cameo Artist
www.cameoartist.com
I use rock salt, like you use for ice cream, and dampened pine or
broom straw tied up into a bundle. Dampen some tooth picks, pile
them up and pour the metal over them. Be sure to use safety glasses.
I use a face shield an leather apron as well. Good ventilation!
Even poured bronze down Fire Ant mounds. This is incredibly dangerous
to do but gets rid of the Fire Ants and gives you a really neat
sculpture. (Lost Ant Casting)
Bill Churlik
@Bill_Churlik
www.earthspeakarts.com
Has anyone any suggestions for mediums to use to drop the silver
into for drop casting? I think the basics are well established i.e.
water, icewater, sawdust, sand anyone have other materials they have
used?
Pine needles, cuttlefish bone, beans, broom straw all leave
interesting shapes.
Donna in VA
Hi Teri;
Rock salt yields some interesting effects, or stack up a bundle of
broom straw, soak it in water for a while, then stand it on end and
pour the metal into one end of the stack.
David
try kosher salt or bundled, long wet pine needles.
cathy
Teri,
It has been many years since I experimented with drop casting but
using different shapes of cooked and dry pasta or rice can make some
interesting shapes.
Have fun
Greg DeMark
email: greg@demarkjewelry.com
Website: www.demarkjewelry.com
Custom Jewelry - Handmade Jewelry - Antique Jewelry
Has anyone any suggestions for mediums to use to drop the silver into for drop casting?
Natural broom straws, wet and crammed on end into a water filled
orange juice or tomato paste can. Also, ice cubes, and dried beans.
Andy
Indeed many alternative media I’ve used or seen used. I’ve tried:
rice, groats (wheat, oat, or rye), pine needle (loose or bundled),
lentils. soy beans, other dry beans, well rusted & wire brushed steel
plates, dry rocks with interesting textures, weathered wood (end and
side grain), that’s all I recall…
I’ve heard, seen or considered: any shape of pasta, corn broom
heads, field corn, dried corn cobs, tree bark, straw, pine cones, or
most any organic material. For a slightly more planned casting,shape
pottery clay with any fairly shallow texture or image, with no under
cutting or you’ll wind up with clay inclusions.
Now, most importantly, HAVE FUN!!
Ed
Dry beans, rice, pasta, ice cubes, broom straw, if by drop casting,
you mean pouring molten metal onto something that will form organic
and random shapes.
marilyn
Lost Ant Casting now that sounds very interesting lol
Teri
An American Cameo Artist
www.cameoartist.com
Teri -
A wet broom (made of broom corn or broom straw) held vertically,
brushy end up, or wet, long pine needles tightly wrapped together
and held vertically. These methods give similar effects to each other
and can yield some beautiful effects.
Jim Small
Small Wonders Lapidary
Teri,
The Lost Ant casting is a creative way to get rid of Fire Ants if
you live in the south. But as I said, it is incredibly dangerous! If
the soil is not sandy enough, too much clay in it, or is too damp,
all the molten metal will come right back at you… driven by steam
pressure. Sandy soil gives the steam someplace to vent out. I used a
leather apron, face shield, and a crucible on the end of a 4 foot
pouring handle. I was pouring about 4 lbs of brass/bronze at a time.
Good use for old plumbing fixtures.
Bill Churlik
@Bill_Churlik
www.earthspeakarts.com
Another thing that you’ll notice in using the broom straws or pine
needles is that different metals yield different results. The metal
stalagmites that are formed when pouring on end into the wet straw
will appear either longer and more delicate or more compact and
stubby depending on the properties of the molten metal poured.
Sterling is more fluid than gold but doesn’t have its intrinsic
weight. It tends to yield more attenuated and longer icicles.
Andy cooperman
Lost Ant Casting now that sounds very interesting lol
There was an article in the last year or two in Smithsonian Magazine
on an entemologist who researches the differing architecture of the
tunnel and nest system of different ant species. Each species
produces a typical tunnel layout particular to the species.
What this gentleman does is pour molten low fusing "white metal’
like bismuth down the main whole. The fluid, molten metal, which can
be melted on site, hardens and cools quickly and then is carefully
excavated, yielding a 3 dimensional tree like model of the various
chambers and tunnels of the nest.
Cool stuff.
Andy Cooperman
"Rock salt yields some interesting effects"
Yes it does. If you attempt to cast using rock salt, be very
carefully, not only of yourself, but of the immediate surrounds.
Dumping molten silver will release the elements chlorine and sodium
from the chemical bonds, and suddenly you’re standing in a cloud of
chlorine. And I can’t even imagine what the sodium is doing. I only
know that when I was experimenting in ceramics we only did the salt
glaze out in the country with forced air going when we threw the salt
into the kiln. If you do attempt to use salt be very careful,
especially of what’s downwind. Use a respirator, a powerful fan, and
use long tongs to pour with.
Richard