lost wax hand bottle opener.

Have wanted to cast my own bottle opener for quite some time. I don't really trust zinc because of how brittle it is to make the mechanical aspect of the opener so I have decided to coat an existing bottle opener with the casting.

Built this around a free moosehead bottle opener with wax. Sprued and vented as shown to the left. coated in plaster and burned out in a wood fire. I poured zinc heated in the same fire in a soup can into the mold. this is the first time I have had gotten good wax burnout and pour. Cut sprues with dremel metal cutting blades. May or may not go on to patina it.

Example of cupric sulfate zinc patina matte and gloss. Master and Margarita.

Master and Margarita by Brodie Parent before and after patina.
This is a one sided mold made of a clay positive cast in zinc. The casting was wire brushed quickly and unevenly to give the rustic look before applying the patina. No polishing or brushing was done after

Compare the matte appearance of the above to the much more polished color in the piece below. The only real difference is a light wire brushing after the patina has been applied and a coat of clear coat.

Cupric sulfate

Here is what the zinc looks like raw.

Art All Night 2010

Brodie and I just dropped off our art for Pittsburgh's amazing Art All Night Show.
ART ALL NIGHT
This year has a sweet location at the old iron city brewery.


Here are some photos of our two pieces.

This is a lost foam foam zinc casting. Click here for how I make lost foam with packing peanuts.

And Brodie's

This is a clay positive plaster investment zinc casting. Pretty much the same process as this belt buckle. A better photo post patina will be coming as soon as I get down to the show and take it.

Some other pieces I wanted to bring but could only bring one:
My crayon sculptures.
Lost wax jesus
The infamous tapsticles
the first lost foam bull

Lost Foam Bull #4

Here is the original in foam. Glued together with hot glue

I add a pour spout to get a mass of metal to fill the mold.

here it is coated in plaster. Note the straw. Any "high" points need to be vented in order to fill. In this case the important point is the tip of the nose. I then drill holes through the plaster. This allows the steam created when the hot metal hits the plaster to escape.

I heat the mold in a fire to burn out the foam in advance. (not the standard method for lost foam) Then I bury the mold in regular play sand.

The metal is heated with this simple diy home casting furnace using regular charcoal and a normal can that food comes in. Zinc can be scraps or from Rotometals.com.

I then pour in the molten zinc into the mold. A video of another pour back when I used a regular fire.


Here it is after pouring the metal. The little spikes are where the mold was drilled

After this the bull is cleaned with a wire brush and given a coat of clearcoat.

Two piece lost wax mold jesus

The goal of the two piece mold is to allow me to clean the wax out of the mold perfectly as well as dry the mold completely.

The wax sculpture before plaster

The front half is dipped in the plaster.

Oil is spread over the plaster bottom half and another layer is poured on.
Then after setting the two halves are separated. The dark spots on the top half are babbit to allow for the nails to be pulled out even though they are not perfectly straight.


holes were drilled to allow the metal to flow into the mold. and i set a can in plaster to make a spout.

Using Cupric Sulfate as a Zinc Patina for Sculptures

More examples of zinc patina in this post.

1. Clean metal with wire brush to get off all zinc oxide.
2. Paint on a thin layer of Cupric Sulfate (while wearing gloves) Get Cupric Sulfate here at Rotometals
3. Wrap in thin layer of saran wrap so it does not evaporate
4. wait 3 hours.
5. brush off the high spots with wire brush.
6. Three coats of clear coat.

lost wax casting a bust of jp2. my first attempt at lost wax.

This process is described in detail in the figure sculpture in plaster and wax, The needed supplies are, plaster of paris,Microcrystaline Wax , a can, Zinc ingot (available online for 2.40/lb from Rotometals) various tools for carving wax and pliers for moving the can.

Good safety gear is a must. Goggles that can handle the heat, welding gloves, respirator.... the main risks are fumes and flying molten metal so dress appropriate. This is not a safe process and i don't recommend you do it!

1. The bust built in wax. note the vent from the chin and the large reservoir to get a mass of metal pushing in.

2. nails are put in to make blind vents.

3. Plaster is painted over the entire piece and then the nails are pulled.

4. after pulling the nails it is wrapped in rags soaked in plaster. and a small can is attached to make an easy spot to pour.

5. the can is cut to allow for the wax to flow out and the can is put in the boiling water.

6. a coffee can holds the heat on the mold. The wax that flows out needs to be constantly removed to stop it from exploding with steam under a continuous surface of wax.

7. The wax burned out a little longer over the fire

8. video of the pour. The zinc from Rotometals is heated in a normal can that food comes in. it is bent with pliers to make a nice spout. As you can see the burnout was inadequate and lead to a metal volcano.

9. after the pour some wax was not burned out and caused steam to prevent full filling of the mold.

Working thorugh Richard Mcdermott Miller Figure Sculpture in Wax and Plaster. 4: sketching a small figure in wax

Gonna go through this whole book. But here is where I started.
My first figure sketch in wax.

Richard Mcdermott Miller Figure Sculpture in Wax and Plaster review by me.

Figure Sculpture in Wax and Plaster $11.96 new on Amazon.

Richard McDermott Miller. Figure Sculpture In Wax and Plaster. Book review.

Armed with a borders gift card from xmas, thanks Singhs, got this book that I had my eye on. Old book (1971) but is new to me. Great review of basic techniques in sculpting wax and lost wax casting. The book is aimed toward at home hobby sculpting and casting. The biggest highlight for me is the emphasis on material selection and handling. Especially for plaster. High density of quality photos showing each step of the process.
Figure Sculpture in Wax and Plaster $11.96 new on Amazon.

Quickly found a few things that will improve my process.

• steam burnout of the wax.
• using nails for blind vents (as shown on right)
  
• better process for mixing plaster

Highly recommend this book. As far as i can tell is the best book for beginning to work with wax sculpture and lost wax casting. A good buy for DIY lost wax casters.

The results of my attempts to follow this book