Help with casting...I think?

dawnmarie128 - Wednesday, April 16, 2008 - 9:15pm

I am very new here and looking for some help. My background is in ceramics. I have only taken two classes in metal art. I would love any help with this. How do mass produce a metal version of an object made out of clay and what is the best metal to use if the object will be outside? The original pieces are small only about the size of a hand.

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Casting

peggy - Thursday, April 17, 2008 - 8:09am

Hi dawnmarie128,

I'm fairly new to casting (not an expert). You might want to consider sand casting. I have made sand castings of flat backed items that I made out of clay and they turned out well.
I learned how to do this from "Practical Casting" by Tim McCreight. The instructions in this book are straightforward.
The metals I've used for casting are bronze & brass. I think these would hold up outside - other people on this site could provide better info on this. I hope this is of some help to you.

Peggy

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Thanks

visitor - Thursday, April 17, 2008 - 10:14am

Thanks so much for the advice to really appreciate it, i have been feeling lost. I at least can read up a bit on sand casting to start!
DawnMarie

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That would depend a lot on

Gene Olson - Thursday, April 17, 2008 - 10:47am

That would depend a lot on the shape of the part.

Are there undercuts?

ie: if you can pull a two part slip cast ceramic mold off the part, it is probably a good candidate for sand casting. Indeed if you can make the slip mold it could be used to cast a match plate pattern for sand casting.

If the part is more complex, there are other approaches which may work better.

Gene Olson
Sculptor
Elk River, MN

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flowerThis is similar to

dawnmarie128 - Thursday, April 17, 2008 - 11:50am

flowerThis is similar to what I have in clay, the backside will be flat with some sort of hook for hanging. It is small scale. Also it does not need to be two tone such as this photo. Thanks again everyone for your imput!

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Make a rubber mold or latex

B.J. Severtson - Thursday, April 17, 2008 - 12:09pm

Make a rubber mold or latex mold or rtv mold of the item.
make a wax (casting) from the mold
Investment cast or lost wax casting process. Your pic gives us '''no '''idea as to the scale of this item. Brad

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Dawn, if what I am seeing is

Gene Olson - Thursday, April 17, 2008 - 5:43pm

Dawn,
if what I am seeing is loosely "radially symmetrical" flower shape with a flat back that has been canted up for a better picture.

Then I for 1 - 5 I would sand cast it, hand pack the mold and carve the sprues and feeders.
for 6 to 50 I'd make a match plate by using wax or some sort of soluble glue to stick the original to a match plate with sprues and feeders glued to the back. For more than that I'd think about making a dedicated match plate pattern.

Gene Olson
Sculptor
Elk River, MN

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