Glad it came finally. Well maybe I exaggerate a bit with the usage. But it still uses a lot of slurry. Several gallons for sure. There are a lot of legs on this beastie. Only on coat #3 at the moment. Waiting for it to dry. Hopefully in 2 hrs or so around midnight I can add a 4th coat. Then 3 coats for sure tomorrow. Possibly 4 if I'm super lucky. And then pour the next day. My back is killing me. Too much sitting and bending for this stuff.
I have sooo many other unfinished sculptures to fix before shutting down and packing up the workshop. Jesus. How am I gonna finish these?? I need an apprentice.
At some point you are going to have to settle down and stay put so you can get some serious work done. .
I know the feeling... I've got 3 on the bench right now. One is a royal pain in the ass, one I can't talk about here and a that little porch light. Add on some fancy inside window trim, an 80 pair spinning shoe solution in a closet and a lawn that refuses to die and quit growing... I'd have to work 20hrs a day to keep from drowning. I said to my wife last night is 18hrs a day not enough? Just don't call me before the crack of noon! An apprentice almost sounds like a good idea. I've got a hundred things in mind, but giving up control is not something I'm comfortable with.
Ugh I know! I'll get myself a proper workshop at some point. Hopefully in 4 yrs time. Maybe a dro lathe/mills and enough space or hell, a cnc mill if were dreaming big. Literally like 25 unfinished sculptures that need a patina or polishing on that bench. That's something that irritates me. When people on Facebook or in real life see any random sculptures I've made they always suggest something along the lines of 'wow, you should make and sell those.' As if it was possible to make a profit from making art like this. The number of hours in any random casting is crazy. There is no profit margin at all. The only reason to do this is for fun and the enjoyment of making things. It's a money pit otherwise. Coat #5 drying. #6 should go on in maybe an hour or two. Jason how are you doing on your ss pool btw?
Yeah make money at this? Not a chance unless you go all in. I'd be happy just to recoup expenses. People think this stuff is easy and have no clue the hours req'd. I think there is a place for one of a kind stuff.. I say that ONLY because we are not paying a foundry. When ya send a piece off to them, you gotta plan for an edition and that means ya need more buyers that all want the same thing. By being a one off, I think you can crank the price a bit, maybe skip some of the molds and roll the dice. Look at your octopus. If that was a proper commission job, he should fetch 5-7 grand. I know the svseeker boat is kinda special and Doug would never pay that, ya gotta watch doing this free stuff. Remember, the FASTEST way to devalue anything (education, art work, healthcare, food, etc) is to give it away!!! Imagine if the next guy gets his PhD for free. Yours would be worthless. Pool is on hold until the wife gives the green light. Need to do this one with all cash. I've only got one loan and that's for a home. Dont want to owe on anything else. Payments suck!
Yeahhh loans.. don't remind me. 1 off for seeker to become the new Jack cousteau. At least he offered to pay for material costs and shipping. I think this is going to take 3 to 4 tanks of propane and probably 70 to 80 lbs bronze at $4.1/lb and then shipping costs. So maybe 3 to 400 bucks for material costs. Mostly in bronze costs. I put in an additional 300 or so to make the silicone mold and do the other parts. But I'll be keeping those so I think it's a fair split. The foundry I visited charges $9/lb bronze to cast stuff. Quite steep.
Even if that's just to pour... Say you give them the ready wax, they sprue, pour and hack off the big stuff.... That's still a deal! Hell the bronze is half! They assume all the PITA of dewax, burnout, breakout and they probably even sandblast it. They operate in a controlled setup, pour at the exact temperature, and even provide the perfect slurry. Who is this? I'll send them my stuff. Anyone want to buy a furnace with a kwiky in Texas????
A place in Sacramento CA. Maybe I'm misremembering price now. Watch its $18/lb or something. I think it was this place called arthouse. Or at least the foundry is directly next to this place in the white bay doors that you can see from Google street view. I think they were run by the same people so give Arthouse a call if you want them to cast stuff for you. Or do a price check. They have a website but I couldn't find a phone # ARTHOUSE 1021 R St, Sacramento, CA 95811 http://arthouseonr.com/ https://maps.app.goo.gl/xWgBxUo8ugauY2r96 Also I'm on my 6th or maybe 7th? Layer now. Shooting for around 8 layers to be safe. Should be ready to cast tomorrow. But wouldn't ya know it I'm totally out of propane gdi. Been grinding and welding up all my other sculptures. They are basically done for the most part. I need to sand blast a lot of them though.
Hmm worried. I put 4 or 5 legs in the kiln and the pouring cone didn't melt out first. I saw wax soaking the outside of the shells about half way up on at least 2 molds. I don't see any cracks but how else did the wax get out? It must have split somewhere. I'll know more in 30 mins or so when the burnout is finished. Ugh worried. Edit. Yeah I see some cracks. Hopefully it didn't damage the internal suckers too much. Hopefully I can just path the outside with more and finish the casting. I'm gonna melt out the cones on the other ones. Yikes
Yes it did. But it wasn't a problem. I just cooled them down a bit and dunked them in slurry and stucco and it sealed up the crack. I think it would have cast even with the crack unsealed. But I didn't take chances. Dramatic pause..... The 5 legs cast just fine. No defects that I can see. Also the shell came off much easier than normal. So I think mixing the slurry like the directions say is a winning combo... About to cast the octo head and 3 legs and flowers for frog sculpture now. In probably the next 10 to 15 mins. I melted out the pouring cones and they melted out easily without cracks that I can see. More pics soonish.
Looking good Zap! Did ya drill any relief holes? I like your little dewax chamber, but I have to wonder... I trust you are getting that thing wicked hot BEFORE putting in your shells???? Andy, that's the main issue with this stuff. Ya gotta get the wax out. That's called dewax. This wax is even designed to be semi low expanding when heated. The shell is dimensionally VERY stable and the slightest increase in the wax can cause shell to break. Before it's been fired to 1700degrees, shell has very little green strength. The pros use an autoclave and steam the wax out, but they are a bit expensive to buy. So, you are left with flame to dewax. Ya gotta hit the wax hard and heavy, slow is even worse. It's not as easy as it sounds. Hence, why I am more inclined to boil out wax. You saw the video right? and the followup.
Yeah I saw it. Looks interesting but I've got the kiln ready so I figured why not. The issue is because the burners are angled up too much to avoid hitting the SS bars on the bottom to reduce warping. Since its fiber board it doesnt really have a lot of heat mass so it doesn't really matter if it gets very hot because within 2 or 3 mins it's all gone. Also if it's too hot I can't get my hands inside because they'd cook. It's an inferno in there when hot. I melted out the pouring cones with a hand torch and that solved the issue on the last 5 pieces. No cracks with the second batch. I just have to remember to do that for future molds. Everything came out without defects even my little lily flower for frogger. The only defect is a shrinkage defect in the octo head because I decided not to fill the entire pouring cup and it pulled a hole down into the top of the head. Easily patched up with the tig. No major problem. Here's what I have so far. 10 molds in 3.5 hrs about 4.5 tanks of propane.
Those video links were for Andy. Hey Zap, Gary loads his chamber roaring hot. He took some wire lathe and kaowool and made them into a pair of gloves. He grabs the shells and puts them in. For the bigger stuff, he has a pair of hanging tongs that balance perfectly and he grabs shells that way. I still have this vision of a rising rack that comes up from the bottom into a closed up kiln and instant heat bath. Nice and even heat and all at once. I'm glad to see you've got no failures. Hitting the pouring cup works for me too. I clean 75% of it out, enough so I can see my hollow main sprue. Anything to speed that wax getting outta there.
Yeah. I think the easiest thing to do is just remove the wax from the cones in the future. Seemed to work perfectly. Unfortunately my ryobi hammer drill stripped the gears inside and won't turn the shock anymore. The POS... I need a new hammer drill or impact hammer to remove shell in between the octo's legs. Where its beak would be
I have been told muriatic acid will remove fired shell. If you try it, do it on a test piece. I haven't tried it myself.
