After an unplanned hiatus- lets get to casting Skulls

Discussion in 'Lost wax casting' started by cire Perdue, Nov 16, 2018.

  1. cire Perdue

    cire Perdue Copper

    Tobho requested pics on my intro thread- and I am not one to try to let someone down... that was several months ago- but after 2 hurricanes with back to back activations for said hurricanes (Im an on-call fellow for part of my job) then helping family clean up/out pig farms after hurricanes (they are in costal NC near Wilmington)... and a near-miss at a career change (unplanned as well)... well shoot- Im just happy to be back online let alone trying to get to casting stuff!

    OK- so DavidF had asked about the project I wanted help with- What I am trying to do is cast a skull in Everdur Bronze- for my brother in law for Christmas. Problem is the skull is a wee bit small. Im planning to "dip" it into wax to build up the rear of the skull prior to making a silicone mold.

    Pics to follow after I get back home from Daddy Duty (gymnastics and pizza)
     
  2. Jason

    Jason Gold

    Pictures or it didn't happen. How ya going to invest it? I hear straw, PoP and pig poop works great! (sorry, but I had to go there)
     
  3. cire Perdue

    cire Perdue Copper

    OK so the motif is this- a skull in bronze-
    IMG_20181117_195121606.jpg

    This year my bro-in-law made Master Chief and has been promoted to Command Master Chief where he is stationed in Sept. So I wanted to make him a little desk ornament- Chief style...
    IMG_20181117_195354171.jpg

    Now the issue is the skull lacks a bit of diameter in the crown to fill the lid- See next pic for the gap... so I want to "expand" this with a wax dip on the rear of the skull to leave the facial features- Im no Zap when it comes to sculpting! (Love the Hawk-Dove-Eagle-Poultry Hulk you're creating by he way!)
    IMG_20181117_195409473.jpg

    The investment arrived yesterday as well for this adventure:
    IMG_20181117_195532277.jpg
     
    Last edited: Nov 17, 2018
  4. cire Perdue

    cire Perdue Copper

    My first steps are
    1-shave down the parting lines and cleaning up the plastic skull
    2- enlarge the skull with wax
    3- trim down to fit the hat
    4- Make silicone mold

    So I guess my question first is simple- does the smooth on create heat in its cure? I have never used it.
     
  5. Jason

    Jason Gold

    No.. smooth on doesn't create any heat when it goes off. Don't be too picky with the silicone. Just pay attention that you can remove it off the model. That means don't let it trap you or lock itself in place. You WILL have to do some wax repair as always. But that's the fun and easy part.
     
  6. cire Perdue

    cire Perdue Copper

    OK cool- The Smooth On is from the original purchase of equipment so I dont know its age or if it is still "good" or not either- can't go wrong if it was cheap, right?
     
  7. Jason

    Jason Gold

    Yeah, the stuff does have a shelf life even unopened. Just get a stick and mix it before combining with the other part. You'll be fine if it's not 7yrs old. I've used rebound that was 3yrs old without a problem. "Cheap" and smooth-on are two words that never go together...:oops:

    I really wish the stuff WAS cheap, I'd make silicone molds of all kind of cool stuff. Barry uses some kind of rubber stuff that is much cheaper. I saw it, but wasn't really impressed with it. It's probably fine for large stuff, but not for the little artsy fartsy crap I mess with.
     
  8. cire Perdue

    cire Perdue Copper

    HA! well I agree there Jason... I have a regional distributor of Smooth-On near me and have drooled over the products for awhile. Cheap was a reference to buying it from the estate sale I got everything else at- it was in a "Generic" box o'stuff with the casting supplies- So I have no idea about date. I will have some free time this week to scrape/plug and build a mold box- I may do a "Glove" mold so I can pour the wax to make a kind of slip mold.

    Im not sure about that- will have to see when I get there- but time is running out
     
  9. You'll know about the Smooth-On when you go to stir or pour it. If you can't put a stick in it to stir it's too old.:rolleyes:
     
    DavidF likes this.
  10. cire Perdue

    cire Perdue Copper

    HA! good to know- tonight Im getting the skull trimmed down- going to be interesting gating this
     

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