Lost Wax Casting - my own hand!

 

We were learning how to use silicon casting material today to take a nice detailed cast of items – which can then be made into wax and finally glass.

 So, I thought I would do my hand, complete with jewellery to see how much detail I could get.

 So I plunged my hand into the bucket and waited a little while for it to set – then after a slight wriggle or two, I was free!

The next step was to pour melted wax into the mould, and wait for that to harden.

Once the wax was set I could break away the silicon mould – I then set the waxy hand on a lump of clay to form a base.

Plaster Recipe for refractory mould:  (to be measured up as required)

·       1lb plaster powder

·       1lb molochite powder

·       1 pint water

Now it was time to cover the hand in the plaster mix.  Adding layers at a time to ensure all the parts were covered.

When the mould was dry, it was time to scrape out the clay and melt out the wax. 

This was done over a steamer, allowing the wax to drip into a tray which meant it could be reused.

Once the wax was out I have to fill the mould with water to measure how much glass I would need  (2.5 x the amount of water)

The mould was then put into the drying cupboard.

Once dry, I filled a terracotta plant pot with the correct amount of glass and they went into the kiln.

The mould was positioned with a table above made from kiln props, on this sat a plant pot with my measured amount of glass in it.  Once the glass melted it dripped through the hole in the plant pot down into the mould.

I used some scrap glass from the HotShop to make this as I fancied a little colour.

Now it was time to very carefully chip away the mould, making sure not to damage the glass inside.

Dah da!    A lovely glass hand …. minus a little pinkie  😊

 It was at this point that I realised I had not added any cocktail sticks to help air and glass flow – lesson learnt.

The silicon mould doesn’t last long and is not really reusable over time, but I managed to get another wax cast from it.

This piece didn’t need any coldworking at all, I purposely underestimated the glass amount needed so I didn’t have much (or any) overspill, and it all came out quite smooth.