Hello,
I'm new to this stuff but have been pondering and reading about casting for some time now. I rebuild saxophones as a hobby. My desire is to fabricate brass levers for the neck octave of certain types of saxophones that would be very time intensive doing it by hand forming out of brass plate. My question is which method to use? I am presuming that those who read this don't know what the octave lever on a Sax neck looks like. The lever is bent in an arc, probably that of a 12" dia. circle, it has a loop in it, much like an elongated noose. It is hinged close to the center where it pivots to close and open a vent in the neck. It is only about 1/4 - 5/16" of an inch thick and has various degrees of shaping to the looped end. I can't really be more precise other than the shaping is contoured in an arcing fashion so instead of just square sides to the piece of brass it is shaped to an edge on the loop end. The other end is the "rope" part of the noose analogy and has a little cup at the end of it where a leather pad would be inserted and glued. If I were to flatten the arced original piece it would be approximately 8" long. I am assuming I'd have to make a flat copy out of some material to use as a form? I would like to get as close to the original confuguration as possible as the contouring at the noose end as described above would be quite difficult to match and make consistent by hand filing/sanding.

Hello,

Just a quick announcement on a few new classes offered this year at the Worcester Center for Crafts.

“Introduction to Hollowware”
With Heather Beck
Mondays 6:30 – 9:30pm, Feb 4, 2008 – April 7, 2008

To whom it may concern,

I am a recent graduate of the Bachelor of Fine Arts program in
Sculpture at the University of Minnesota. I have experience working with both resin-bonded sand and ceramic shell molds. I am also trained in plaster and rubber-mold casting and have a thorough understanding of

This site is a bit odd to me, but if there are people that do actually cast bronze art in here, I need some info with core mixtures. We use a 4 plaster 4 silica flour 3 silica sand mixture. Not sure this is the problem with the casting.