Crafting cast medal while social distancing
Hello forum members.
Covid-19. I know many of you, like me, are at home social distancing at this critical time. Although our state hasn’t officially ordered a shelter in place directive, many of us have headed warnings and taken the cue on our own. Six feet distance is just not an option in my field so I temporarily pulled the plug on the business until we know more in the coming days.
With that said, I’m trying to establish a new routine and model good healthy behavior to my children while they’re home from school. It’s an interesting situation and while we are doing what we can from home with our responsibilities there are still hours that need filling besides sitting on a tablet and obsessively reading news updates. I’m always wishing I had more time in my home studio and I can’t let this opportunity go to waste.
I have basically put my commercial coin collecting on hold, not initiating any buys as it just not essential and thinking it unwise until this story unfolds a bit more. This doesn’t mean my collecting is over. There is a lot I can do with my current collection. I can organize and attribute some medals and re-photograph my sets or just bust out a loupe on some old friends. I can share here on the boards. Maybe my family will get bored enough to check them out with me, I can only hope. That’d be nice but I also have a self crafted and cast medal section of my collection that is pretty cool and now is a great chance to build up an addition while filling the new gaps in time I find myself with today. I’d like to share it here.
Here is a link to a thread where this journey for me began in 2019. Since then I have been adding knowledge and tools to be able to do this all at my home.
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/1021641/i-recently-completed-making-my-first-cast-medal#latest
With a medal, I feel there is nothing on it that doesn’t belong and every thing depicted needs to add to the overall story, maybe a little interpretation, but I picture a message that can be told hundreds of years from now without much decoding. That both sides need to play off each other and the hardest part, visual images that are fresh and haven't been seen before. I’ve had this idea to do visual representations of Grateful Dead songs that have moved me over the years and have had this one design rolling around in my head for months and now maybe is the right time to get it out and realize it as a medal.
The first step to cast medal making, for me, is model making. I don't have any reduction lathes so I have to create an exact size model for my casting mold. I’ve been working in carving wax lately and have moved to a type that has a harder density than my last piece. New for me, but I feel it will be an advantage to higher detail and hold up to repeated sand casts. The last medal I made was cast with investment plaster and this piece I’m looking at learning and perfecting sand casting, which means no undercuts in the model.
Sawing out the puck isn’t a big deal it’s filing the thickness down with a rasp by hand that takes a bit. I have a lot of tools on hand but nothing that really makes quick work if this. I would like the blank to be about 7mm at the rim and be somewhat domed in the center. The wax slab is ½ inch thick so I have a ways to go. I feel this will help pop the relief and have economy of metal when produced.
That’s pretty much it for this post. I’ve been digging in with my sculpting tools and magnification. I’ll post updates as time permits and get more into what’s behind this particular piece. Hope you are all well. Thanks for looking.
Comments
This is very interesting,... I look forward to the progression of your process. Thanks for taking us along. Cheers, RickO
Interesting, you've got my attention. Obv and rev design ideas? Peace Roy
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I agree, this should be a great thread
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That's one way to pass the time! Cheers!
Right on, thanks for tuning in people.
I basically refer to the piece now as the Freedom piece or Freedom medal. It's my visual interpretation of the songs
Lost Sailor and Saint of Circumstance written by Bob Weir and John Perry Barlow and typically played together back to back live by the Grateful Dead. Songs first appeared on the album Go To Heaven released in April 1980. They're deeper tracks, so you may not be familiar.
Lost Sailor
Compass card is spinning
Helm is swinging to and fro
Oh, where is the dog star
Oh, where's the moon
You're a lost sailor
You've been too long at sea
Some days the gales are howling
Some days the sea is still as glass
Oh, raise the main sail
Oh, lash the mast
You're a lost sailor
You've been too long at sea
Now the shorelines beckon
Yeah, there's a price for being free
Hear the sea birds cryin' and there's a ghost wind blowing
And it's calling you, to that misty swirling sea
Till the chains of your dreams are broken
No place in this world you can be
You're a lost sailor
You've been away too long at sea
Now the shorelines beckon
Yeah, there's a price for being free
Driftin', you're driftin'
Yeah, driftin' and dreamin'
'Cause there's a place you've never been
Maybe a place you've never seen now
You can hear them callin' on the wind
Oh, you drift your life away
Hey baby, drift your life away
Driftin' and dreamin'
Really goin' on a dream now
Really goin' on a dream, really goin' on a dream
Really goin' on a dream
If you don't already have it, I recommend going online and finding the music. For me, the Lost Sailor doesn't literally mean a sailor, but someone who has checked out of society and found freedom from the absurdities and complications of life but eventually get pulled back in out of loneliness and love of others. A price for being free has to be paid both directions.
For me, one critical escape pod from basic society and has always been my motorcycle. I can blast off on that and troubles and worries just slide off my back while concentrating on the mechanics and the beauty of the senses. I always thought that a good long solo ride would help me deal with the absurdities of life better, but the longer I'm riding the more ridiculous things look when I return, making me actually more anti-social! Not always a good thing!
So for starters, I'm carving a motorcyclist dead and center of the piece riding straight on at the viewer. And he has to look wild! Wind blown and blasted by hot summer air while crossing mountain passes and deserts. A soul that has been to the other side and back and now changed, transformed. Someone maybe once considered normal but now kinda freaky while still not necessarily off-putting. Plus, finding coins and metals with a chopper on it are a woefully underrepresented design element. Not for much longer, at least not in my collection.
I've drawn this character many times before, he's shown up at other times over the years in my art and I've been itching to animate him just a little bit more. He's a sort of an alter ego of mine or better put, ultra ego.
This is great....That song (never heard it before) rings true to an old Navy guy like myself...Those of us who have spent years on the sea can relate. I look forward to the next installments here...Thanks for taking us along...Cheers, RickO
Great stuff....... maybe you can get with David Carr and do a forum piece...
I would be in for one in silver.
I've had some pretty good sessions to round out the first side of this piece. I love mixing up a strong coffee, picking some good tunes and dropping the magnification hood and start digging in the wax. It's basically another world for a while and hard to quit once you get going and seeing results. I'm always saying, just 5 more min and another hour whips by. It's just good clean fun to me and I have my heart set on the end product and the more work I put in here the neater it will be.
No lettering on this side besides my initials at the sides of the skull. I don't feel it needs any to convey the overall vibe. Ya'll know I dig skulls and the one from the Dead's Steal Your Face logo is one of my favorites. Easily identifies someone as a fellow Deadhead.
Ya know I'm jamming to the Dead most of the time and nothing better to listen to while cruising. I feel it brings down my anxiousness in traffic and gives me a real laid back feeling while either driving or riding. When Jerry is singing I'm more apt to be in less of a hurry, let someone in and generally be kind-er in traffic. It's just an overall good vibe for me and even better while riding. In real life, I wear a full face helmet that has speakers inside so I'm able to enjoy music. My fantasy character-no helmet.
OUTSTANDING WORK!!! Some real artistic ability on display here.
Thanks @habaraca
Dan Carr is a genius and makes struck coinage that is out of this world and way out of my league. I look up to Dan as an inspiration and influencer, that man flat out blows me away! I make folk art and crafts and struggle with that! Maybe one day I'll get the nerve to tap him on the shoulder and ask him to strike one of my designs.
Very nice, hard to work in metal. Did you soften it before you began the carving?
bob
Thanks Bob,
What your seeing is carved in a hard jewelers sculpting wax. I also have tool called a waxer that I can add melted wax back onto the piece with. It has different tips and a temp dial. If I take too much wax off I can put material back on and there is definitely a lot of back and fourth refinement, but for the most part I just pull material off with a small blade and some old dental plaque scalers.
Eventually, I will press this piece into a sand mold and remove the model and pour molten bronze onto the cavity.
Nice work !
The advantage with that approach is that you don't have to worry about the strikeability of the medal.
Will you be able to make multiple sand molds or more than one medal per mold ?
Very nice work... I have enjoyed the progression of the piece. Will there be a reverse to this item? Not that it needs one, just curious...seems like it would be hard to protect the work already done while working on the reverse. Cheers, RickO
Thanks Dan! You are right, the relief can get pretty high on a cast medal. Medallic Art Co video called the Medal Maker shows where they are striking medal blanks with a huge press and have to anneal the medal after 3-4 strikes as it gets strike hardened and have to repeat the process 4-5 times. Again, this is why the casting makes sense for a hobbyist like me.
Some pieces in my collection are super mountainous and chunky relief. I dig that and they make me want to make mine deeper. I also have other ones that are quite low relief and I start thinking I should try for that. I'm still pretty fresh at this so I don't really know where the sweet spot is in this regard. Some are overall quite thin too and apparently a sign of a master skill level. I feel that if high or low relief has mold making or casting advantages that could certainly probably influence the relief of my pieces going forward. I don't think the depictions require very deep edges to show the designs when they get final toning and tumble, but I think a bit of depth adds to the overall initial impact and heft of the presentation.
As far as the mold, I think I will be shooting for a flask that is only big enough to cast one medal at a time. I was casting my last medal in casting investment and I could do two with the size of our curing kiln. I imagine, as I perfect the sand process I could possibly work toward a multiple piece pour, but that is a long way off for me at this point. I've seen where medalists have several individual casting flasks and pour them all at once, I could see the economy of that, but again, I need to keep the precess basic small batches while I hammer through the learning curve and wreck stuff along the way and expand from there.
As always, I appreciate you following along!
Thanks ricko, this piece will most definitely have another side and I'll have something worth showing soon. This wax is harder that to looks and can take a beating. As long as it is resting on a soft towel I seem to be able to push on it without any effect or damage at all.
Wow, thank you WildIdea for sharing. Great talent and patience. Look forward to more.
Jim
When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either quit being mistaken or cease to be honest....Abraham Lincoln
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.....Mark Twain
With the shops closed were in uncharted water. There has surely been some time to reflect and think, but there is an awful lot of work while being closed! Accountant professionally compiling data and walking my employees through the Reemployment Assistance application process (first time for everything) and apps accuracy dialed and not get tripped up with unprecedented influx. Filming public work postponement response and grocery shopping for first time with gloves a mask. Lots of time composing texts, public and private while trying to look calm and strong while pretending not be scared.
This all ties into the medal some I guess. The second side is the second song listed, Saint of Circumstance. When played live the Lost Sailor song merges into the Saint of Circumstance with a little ad lib rap from Bobby. I don't have it all, but currently have over 180 continuous straight hours of live soundboard recording of the Dead. Probably somewhere over half of everything they ever played live in their 30 years as the Grateful Dead. I love it when the Lost-Saint sequence comes up and the rap is always somewhat different between the two songs. There are a few times I have heard Bobby say live "Freedom don't com easy, Freedom don't come free...there are two kinds of freedom, at least...Freedom From and Freedom To Be". I like the At Least part the most. It makes me try to find another kind. I wanted the reverse of this medal to say this as it's super simple and super cool.
Saint Of Circumstance
This must be heaven, tonight I cross the line
You must be the angel, I though I might never find
Was it you I heard singing, oh, while I was chasin' dreams
Driven by the wind, like the dust that blows around
And the rain fallin' down but I never know
Got to be heaven 'cause here's where the rainbow ends
If this ain't the real thing, then it's close enough to pretend
When that wind blows when the night's about to fall
You can hear the silence call, it's a certain sort of sound
Like the rain fallin' down
Hole's in what's left of my reason, hole's in the knees of my blues
Odds against me been increasin' but I'll pull through
I never could read no road map, I don't know what the weather might do
But when that rich wind whines and I see the dark star shine
I got a feeling there's no time to lose, no time to lose
Never know now, just don't never know, no
Well it's been heaven but even the rainbows will end
Now my sails are fillin' and the wind is willin'
And I'm as good as gone again
I'm still walkin', so I'm sure that I can dance
Just a Saint of Circumstance, just a tiger in a trance
And the rain fallin' down, well, you never know, just don't know
Listen, sure don't know what I going for, but I'm gonna go for it for sure
Tons of deeper hidden meaning for player and listener alike. I want the medal to challenge a listen. I'm suggesting there's something there in those words worth a look. The big takeaway for me in the song is the last line repeated in the song. Don't know what I'm going for, but I'm gonna go for it for sure. This is the perfect flip around to the rider on the front.
My Daughter asked me what Freedom From and Freedom To Be means. I said its's anything you want it to mean or apply to yourself. Freedom From addiction, Freedom From disease, Freedom From guilt, Freedom From poverty, Freedom From hunger / Freedom To Be different, Freedom To Be gay, Freedom To Be a self thinker, Freedom To Be anything your held back from.......She gets it and rattles off a few herself. I want Bobby's words to invoke thought for others like they did me. This is why it's called the Freedom piece.
The skeleton and rose is commonly used Dead symbol and the broken handcuff a nod the the chains of your dreams be broken ref from Lost Sailor.
I think the two sides play well together and pretty fun to craft. If this piece cast in metal were to outlive me, what message would I want to leave behind. It is something like this.
Very nice work!!
So here we go, now that my model is satisfactory complete, it's time to share a casting attempt. First, just the mold making. I don't have a ton of experience here but I'm about to get started on the learning curve. It doesn't seem that tricky, but I now better and I'm pretty apprehensive I'll be successful right out of the gate. Thankfully, I have previously ordered most all of the materials and tools I will be needing and have everything on hand. My casting teacher and friend Brian perviously coached me to the max on the process and and I've been watching several sand casting videos online and feel the fog has lifted pretty good to give it a go.
Thankfully, I had previously ordered a quality casting furnace months ago and had that sitting at the house. I saw a few different models for half the price on eBay and places, but I sprung for a high quality one from a solid jewelry supply company Rio Grande. It's been my experience that to cry once up front has always been the least expensive strategy for a lot of purchases, especially specialty tools. Melting Bronze and Brass needs to reach a ridiculous high melting point of 1980 degrees and hold it there for 8 min before pouring. I needed a casting flask, the two part box you need to hold the sand, which I did find on eBay. I needed to drill a hole on the edge that I will be pouring molten metal into. The sand came from DIY castings and is a red sand with an oil based binder. There is a water based binder with bentonite sand I have on hand from Lost and Foundry in Seattle, but that involves an entirely new learning curve. I'll try both and see what each is like to work with and gives the best results. I'll eventually see what advantages are to each.
A nice sturdy, well lit work bench and all the associated tools on hand. The first half of the flask gets a bit of sand hammered in, then flipped over for the model to get pressed in. Then, a parting dust gets applied and the other half for the flask gets fitted and sand filled. This sand gets rammed, tightened up and more sand added.
It's crazy how much sand gets added, It just seems to keep taking more and more. The flask gets flipped and the first side takes more sand and hammered. Its hard watching my model get buried after all the time I put into it. It doesn't get hurt at all, the sand is supporting it as it gets tightened up.
Flask gets parted and model surgically removed and stowed. Its exciting to see the negative of the piece in the sand. The gating system, or the runners that the metal and air flow through while pouring are sculpted in each side of the mold. More tedious work with the magnification hood. Clamped together and onto the next stage.
Is it too early to start start thinking about a finish piece in hand? I think so, I've had casting failures galore in this journey. Still, I'm human and I can't wait to have a metal piece in hand for my collection.
I have enjoyed the progressive read of the post. I am looking forward to the final product!
Nice!
Great progress!
Thanks @erwindoc, @GaCoinGuy, @jwitten
I’ll post my pour later tonight if I can. Our WiFi keeps dumping us at home which can be expected. We’re taking turns in devices or just giving up on them for hours at a time.
Working on this piece is helping keeping me centered right now. Art has always done that I guess. Since we’ve been closed and hanging at home, there's a lot of time for my thoughts to get the better of me. My wife and I just generated the last partial payroll the crew will be seeing for a bit, so there’s that.
When I can, I specifically hang in the study or garage for a spell until I have energy worth being around and not transferring any negative juice on my wife and kids. The medal is my excuse. Also, on the other side of this, I want to have something to show for the time we have been given. It’s a mental therapy as well as a new object goal.
It’s not all I’m doing either, my son and I have adopted a daily workout routine which we agree is the highlight of the day. We do yard work, house work and home cooking takes up some hours, but we’re looking lean and mean!
This thread is amazing. What an enjoyable read. Thank you so much!!!
mark
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
Diggin this 👍
This is exciting. I too am a lifelong Deadhead. Lived in San Anselmo in the 70's. Best of times, great food, Dead all day long. Mt. Tam.
What's gonna influence you to melt brass or bronze? Peace Roy
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@WildIdea thanks for inviting us into your project. Have a great day. Peace Roy
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Bad transactions with : nobody to date
It's not just the garage that is a refuge, it's checking in with the CU Forum as well! I'll admit, when the day gets heavy, it's a relief to periodically check in here for a quick thread or two and get back to tackling whatever it is that needs it next.
I was saying before that I needed a quality furnace. Doug has really held my hand through the classes I took with him and not only did I learn the processes, but what tools are the right ones to buy. This furnace set me back about $650.00. This is a good starter and has more than enough capacity to pour the size pieces I'm making. I opted to spend some hobby cash here and invest in the tool instead of a direct coin purchase for the collection. I feel it is basically splurging on my collection anyway as this end of my collection is right up there in importance with anything I could be buying. Basically, I know I'm a spoiled rotten tattoo artist and have don't have to ask anyone if I can by art supplies of any kind, so I could justify the purchase from two angles. Not only that, it unlocks the door to the whole world of casting and gives me the keys to make about anything I can dream up, both practical and whimsical.
Unboxing and reading directions for programing the heat settings. I can key in the temp I need and it will climb to that temp and hold it there. This furnace can reach 2020 degrees and I'm looking for 1980 for brass.
Pouring time is aways exciting, it's a mix of adrenaline of working with the dangerous heat, optimism that the cast will be a success, apprehension that it will possibly fail and hopeful delight of the successful outcome. Doug has always done the actual pours and these are my first attempts at tipping the crucible, so I don't want to spill molten medal all over the shop. I have a fire extinguisher at the ready.
It's been recommended to not start the furnace while making the sand mold. To make the mold then start the furnace. In this case, a few days apart. Furnace takes roughly 20 min to get to temp. In the meantime I weigh out the wax model in grams, times it by 8.8 for brass and add 20 grams for the sprues and button. Brass gets added to furnace and drops the temp 100 degrees and climbs back from there one digit at a time, the tension is building, what a rush!
The pour goes great. A nice steady even pour with no breaks or pauses and the crucible is retuned to the furnace. What will I have? I've had several at bat strike outs in the past. I'm not new to setbacks here but still believe I can achieve perfection castings at some point if I keep practicing. I haven't been challenged this hard with a craft in ages and really has me applying myself.
The sand is a nice heat sink and its only 5-6 minutes and I'm safe to pull the flask apart and reveal what I have. The oil is pretty rank when it's burnt so the shop doors get opened. At first glance it's looking pretty nice! The crusty burnt sand is interesting and I'm looking for any sign the casting worked or not. Still have to wait to touch which is the real hard part. I want to get the sand off the piece to have a real look.
Once cooled, the sand falls right off with a soft brass brush. I see some fine pitting and some micro stress cracks in the center, but overall I'm pretty stoked with the look here. I believe I can refine the process and get smoother finishes. I'll get the sprues and button cut off and sanded, chemically stripped and toned up and show you all the final results. Thanks for looking!
Thanks Namvet69
Basically, a lot of the medalists I’m collecting cast in bronze and I’m drawn to the beauty of it. Cast iron was an option during war years such as WWI etc. I will give cast iron a shot at some point but expect a new learning curve.
Aluminum might be an option as well cast but the old masters weren’t known for that and I like the heft of brass. I have done sterling silver but the cost is prohibitive. Thanks for checking in and commenting!
@WildIdea....WOW!! This is an incredible thread... What a great project. That medal is awesome...I am so deeply attracted to the reverse...Don't get me wrong... the obverse is great as well....but the reverse has personal meaning. I would hope you will be offering some of these for sale later....Thank you very much for taking us along on this project. Very impressive. Cheers, RickO
“Great moments are born from great opportunity.”
@WildIdea
I can't recall a post on the Boards I've enjoyed more. Perhaps it's the odd combination of numismatics, art and our current strange world, but watching your posts go from wax to the near-final piece has been a real pleasure to watch and read. If the Boards had a Post HOF, this one would be enshrined. Thank you.
If we were all the same, the world would be an incredibly boring place.
Tommy
Very nice job. Glad you documented and explained the hurdles. I wish I was there. It would be exciting to do rubbings of the obv and rev designs. Are those letters M and T at 3 and 9 your initials?
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Wow, this is a great thread! I'm glad I dropped in.
What a great share! Easily top 5 things I've seen written about and posted here. Thanks for taking us all on this long, strange trip with you.
Click on this link to see my ebay listings.
Thanks @ricko, I appreciate the feedback and I’m delighted it appeals to you at all. I still think it needs more work. Each casting has its own characteristics and I’m pushing for more predictable casting outcomes before any would escape my hands.
@JeffersonFrog, Thanks for the kind words! Sometimes I wonder if anyone cares, so definitely nice to see you following along and adding to the thread. I’m grateful I finally noticed medals and that they sparked me to try to make one myself. I’m learning so much every day. Not just what it takes to make one, but how to gauge my appreciation of the craftsmanship of other artist works.
Thanks again @Namvet69, I wish you could be here too. We could have a good time telling stories. A digital elbow bump from here my friend. Yes, the MT are my initials.
Thanks for checking in @Flatwoods!
@Meltdown, what a nice compliment! It makes it all the neater with you all here with me. More to come as time permits.
@WildIdea....Thanks for the reply, please keep me in mind if you should decide to release a trial piece... it looks great to me...Cheers, RickO
These days at home are starting to gather structure. I have been speaking to my parents daily in AM and encourage them to stay the course with their isolation. My conversations with them are awesome and text banter with my Dad all day is thought provoking. They're seriously plugged in to what is going on and following essential guidelines. I spoke with my 96 year old Grandmother yesterday for 40 min. She's lives by herself still in her home and she is totally up to speed on the virus situation. She sounds awesome on the phone and rather uplifting to talk to. Our thoughts are on NY and initial states bracing for impact.
I'm anxious to keep working on the medal. The raw casting needs some finish work. I nip off the sprues and hack saw the button off, then I hit the edge on my Harbor Freight one inch belt sander. Awesome tool to have set up, I use it on more than I would have guessed, from anything metal around the house to pinewood derby cars. This gives a nice sanded edge to the medal and mirrors what I see on my WWI cast german medals. Some are belt sanded and some are even crudely hand filed, either way, the sprue needed cleaned up and this works very nicely.
The piece is still stained from the casting process. The high temps have scalded some weird stains and patterns on the bronze and they need to be stripped away as much as possible before toning and tumble polishing. Doug gave me a sample of an acid that's made specifically for brass on this step, so I'll give that a shot. It’s the little pro tips like this that really help move a project along! Just a dash dissolved in some warm water and the piece comes pretty clean and bright in just a few min. It works pretty awesome, so I'll have to get my hands on a hefty supply of it at some point.
Then it gets soaked in a new solution of toning chemical, in this case, Liver of Sulfur dissolved in water and finally off to the tumbler for about an hour is all. I could go longer, but I think this works for me on this one. I don't want to polish the piece, just bring out a little contrast.
I have some issues with some pitting, micro stress fractures and unevenness of the casting. I’m a picky numismatist that’s all about surfaces, so this is concerning. I don't like to call these blemishes "charm" but I guess they are. I intend to refine my process to eliminate or at least reduce the pitting or mold fatigue as I press on here.
I have mentioned before that I do tie dye (of coarse I do! ) and I use some repurposed blemished material to sew up a little pouch for the medal to reside in. I'm thinking a little card stock insert with any attributes will go inside at some point. I can see watercolor paper with a toned little tea water to stain it just a bit would look appropriate, we'll see what I have on hand and can run through my printer.
I've been casting some more today, I
l'll show some more soon, until then, the first one goes in the mineral cabinet on my cast medals drawer.
Yesterday I heard Micky Hart say "We're the Grateful Dead, we will endure, if you get confused, listen to the music play".
@WildIdea so isn't there a casting clay powder that has particles way smaller than red sand? Is the pitting a sand granules problem? That medal looks so good! Peace Roy
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Thanks! Yes, that is investment casting and something I explored on my first medal in my other casting thread with decent results, but will not a slam dunk. I can always go back to that style but would need to invest in a kiln with exhaust to cure the investment flask and a vacuum stand to do that work at my home or keep relying on and paying Doug to use his facility. Both devices have significant cost and the reason I’m exploring sand casting as the footprint of hardware is much smaller, less expensive and my lab can be self contained.
I will be trying green sand from Lost and Foundry (Silica, bentonite and water) next and will post my results. When I contacted them about pitting questions, they said pitting was sand and that they’re not fans of the red oil sand. So now I follow another fork in the road.
@WildIdea coincidentally I am familiar with bentonite. Lots of it in Pa. They use it to line the Delaware canal to keep the water in the canal. It has an almost creamy texture. Peace Roy
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@WildIdea... That finished piece looks marvelous... I like the bit of pitting and the finish...I guess it is my nature, being an outdoors person and used to roughing it for hunting, caving, camping etc....Look forward to future installments and hope I am on the list for this piece when available. Cheers, RickO
I like it, think it came out looking nice.
I am very, very impressed! I would love to be able to design and make something like this on my own.. how cool!
@WildIdea
Your finished medal is way cool, but I must tell you I like the look of the medal in the “special acid”. Maybe it’s the bright yellow bowl, but in the acid the medal has a gold, almost Saint-like look.
From your pics, it appears all of your medals have the “liver of sulfur look”. Is this a medal norm, personal preference, part of the chemical process, other?
Regardless, an impressive endeavor. Thanks again for sharing.
If we were all the same, the world would be an incredibly boring place.
Tommy