Casting – Future Crash

Posted on April 18, 2017April 26, 2017 by admin

Thing A Week 14: Silicone Tea Cup Cover Pewter Charms

Last week I made some silicone tea covers to help with the steeping process, this week I made some pewter charms to go inside the little indentation that I made in the top of the design. Using the process I have come to think of “making things in pewter” I used some mold max 60 (see here for the process), and made some lovely little toppers.

The nice thing about this design is that I can make any top charm I want. Even a Bernie Sanders one…

Basically any small charm with the appropriate little T shapped bottom bit will fit into the tea topper. I am going to have to think of some cool tea related things, but right now I just did some cat ears, a snail shell, and soon a tiny Bernie Sanders head.

At some point I will probably put some of these in my store.

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Posted on April 1, 2017April 19, 2017 by admin

Thing A Week 12: Dune Enamel Pin

I wanted to get a Dune themed enamel pin, and I couldn’t find anyone selling what I wanted. I looked into making your own DIY enamel pins, and EVERY single page I went to was not instructions on how to make your own, but instead instructions on how to order them from companies in china who make enamel pins.

So like many things in my life, instead of paying someone else to do it, I just decided to do it myself.

I did some research and found that most enamel pins are just copper or nickle plated pewter. I have experience casting pewter so I figured, lets just go for it!

Step one was design something in illustrator, print it out and glue it to some matt’s wax carving wax.

I used an X-acto knife to cut the design onto the wax

Using my home made wax carving tools I carefully removed about 2 mm deep of wax.

Next I used a drill bit in my hand to slowly remove a hole for the backing pin.

I didn’t want the pin to weigh a million pounds so I used a file to taper the back of the pin down towards the backing pin.

Next I used Mold Max 60 from Smooth On, to create a small two part mold. See other projects for details on the casting process.

I used a hobby knife to clean up any flashing, as well as cutting in the pour spout and the air vents. I places a pin in the small pin hole on the left, and then poured the pewter.

I melted and poured the pewter.

after sanding the top surface was uniformly smooth.

The tiny lip of the backing pin is now solidly embedded into the body of the pin, very sturdy.

I used Testors brand enamel paint to fill in the spaces, using two different color schemes.

After it hardened, I again gently sanded the pin to clean up the lines.

I like it! I think i might go with a different color scheme for the next one, and perhaps put an epoxy coating over the top, or even try to electroplate the pin before I paint it, but overall it came out better than I thought it would!

If you like things like this check out my etsy store.

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Posted on March 5, 2017March 7, 2017 by admin

Thing A Week 9: Dune Inspired Jewelery Part 1

I am very into Dune, and re-read the original 6 books once a year. During my many re-reads I noticed there are a bunch of instances of jewelry being mentioned. So I decided I would re-create them.

Kynes Rabbit Pin:

A copper pin engraved with the likeness of a hare clasped the neck of Kynes’ robe. Another smaller pin with similar likeness hung at the corner of the hood which was thrown back over his shoulders. (pg 112)

Its a copper rabbit with a hand made safety pin so that it can handle large cloaks, or heavy knit weaves. I liked them so much I decided I would add them to my Etsy store. (see how this one was made here)

Next was Kynes golden teardrop pin of rank he wears at the dinner.

Kynes Teardrop of rank:

The Duke looked at Kynes, noting that the planetologist wore an old-style dark brown uniform with epaulets of the Imperial Civil Servant and a tiny gold teardrop of rank at his collar. (pg. 127)

I made three of them, two with cut outs, and one solid one. The two with cut outs I did the full size pin backer, and the one without a shorter one. They will look really cool on jackets and other heavy clothing.

Buy one on Etsy here.

Next I made the Atreides Hawk Crest:

The entrance door swung wide. Atreides guards emerged swiftly, all of them heavily armed-slow pellet stunners, swords and shields. Behind them all came a tall man, hawk-faced, dark of skin and hair. He wore a jubba cloak with Atreides crest at the breast. (pg 104)

I wanted to make this pretty hefty, so I decided to cast it.

First I carved it out of wax, then drilled some small holes in the back for the pins.

I cast the wax positive in mold max 60, leaving the pins in.

Then when it comes time to cast the crest, I put two pins into the holes so that the metal would flow around them and encapsulate them into the final crest.

After I cleaned the crest up, cutting off the sprue, and polishing it a bit. I had this.

I wanted to try my hand at making it look more like copper. So I got some copper leaf, and some size (thats what the glue for using metal leaf is called).

First you paint a very thin and even layer of size on the piece, and wait an hour or two for it to dry. Once it is tacky you can apply the foil. Using a brush and a careful hand.

I made another one in silver, but in the books they are described as being red, so I thought copper a bit more appropriate.

I am also going to be listing these in my etsy store.

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Posted on February 27, 2017March 7, 2017 by admin

Thing A Week 8: Run The Jewels Fist and Gun Hand Earrings

I liked the last two weeks projects so much (carving/casting the crow skull), that I decided I wanted to do some more carving and casting. Now that I have practiced a bit I think I can do it all in one week.

Update: See the finished product here!

I have been listening to a lot of Run The Jewels lately (if you have not heard them, check them out they are great!). Their logo is two hands in a fist and gun.

So I got out some wax, and started carving!

I took the time to drill two tiny holes in the back, and made some little copper loops, so that when they are cast they would have them pre-formed. I want these two be earrings, so they are pretty small.

They would also make nice charms.

I then used the same method as before, placing them in clay, casting one half, and then flipping and casting the other half.

Don’t forget the mold release! Or you will end up with a solid block of silicone. Again I used high temp mold max 60 from smooth on.

I then cut in some air vents, and pour spouts, being careful to make the air vents smaller this time. I didn’t know if cutting two different pour spouts into one mold would work, but it works like a charm.

They came out better than I could have hoped! Lovely and shiny. I am really surprised by just how detailed you can get with pewter, its pretty amazing stuff.

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Posted on February 19, 2017March 7, 2017 by admin — 3 Comments

Thing A Week 7: Casting A Crow Skull In Pewter

Last week I carved a wax crow skull, or at least sorta one (I am no sculptor). Now I want to cast it in Pewter.

(Update: See some of the finished products I made from this here)

Before I can do that though I have to make a mold.

First I got a plastic cup and cut the bottom off.

Then use some molding clay to fill the bottom.

I then took the carving I made and carefully pressed it into the clay, carefully smoothing it around the model. I think made sure that roughly half the wax was “under the clay.”

I then took one of those little wood things that come in flat pack furniture, and made some distinctive indents into the clay, making sure to leave room on one side for a future sprue. I found 3 to be the ideal number of divots that left room, but also made it so the mold would index.

Then I mixed up a small batch of Mold Max 60, a high temp. silicone that will withstand the heat of “low temp” melt metals like tin and pewter.

I mix in one cup, and then scrape the whole works into another cup. This makes sure you don’t have any gunk on the bottom that is unmixed. Follow the instructions, use a scale, and if you have it use a vacuum chamber to degas the silicone. Then wait 24 hours. This stuff smells pretty rubbery, so do this in a well ventilated area.

Cut the cup away, and slowly remove the clay.

Carefully clean off all the clay, and very carefully cut away any flash that might have leaked in (around the beak area you can see some). I used a brush to get clay out of the cracks. DON’T pull the wax model out, you want it nice and snug in there.

Take that clay and flatten it out, then make a little wall around your mold. Its very important that you spray a layer of mold release on it at this point, or you will end up with a huge chunk of solid silicone.

You can see the mold release shiny area. Follow the instructions on the can. Then mix up another batch and pour it on top. Wait another 24 hours.

Carefully crack that bad boy open, and see if everything came out ok.

Success!

I then carefully cut a pour spout, and some air vents. I then realized the air vents were probably too big, so I put a little chunk of copper wire in there.

Dust a little baby powder on the mold (these pictures are from before I cut the vents) and push it into all the cracks with a fine brush.

Get some pewter, I got this big hunk off the internet, it was pretty cheap, I just use a torch to melt some off the end, I also had some leftover bits from previous pewter projects, so I dumped those into the crucible as well.

Heat it up until it balls up into a lump, it doesn’t take long, then scrape the gunk off the top with a spoon. That gunk is impurities and will make your casting ugly.

I put a rubber band around the mold, and stuck it between two fire brick with a metal pan under them to catch any spillage.

I dumped it in slowly, and gave the side of the mold a tap. You might have to do this more than once until the mold warms up. But if you mess up just melt everything down and go again.

Let it sit for a while until the top part solidifies, than crack it open and see what you got.

I cut off the sprues with a wire cutter and jewelers saw.

I think cleaned them up with a file, and polished them a bit.

If you want to darken them up a bit, dip them in some ferric chloride (its the stuff you use to etch copper), it turns pewter a lovely dark color. Ferric Chloride is an acid, so put some gloves on.

Then polish up the high spots and you have a pretty nice looking pendant. I made the model with a little hole in the back of the skull to put a chain through, it didn’t come out in the mold so I just used a drill to open it back up.

This is the second time I have used this casting method for small things, and have had really good success both times. I like it so much that I think I am going to make some more things over the next couple weeks.

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Posted on February 12, 2017March 7, 2017 by admin — 1 Comment

Thing A Week 6: Carving A Wax Crow Skull

I want to make a pewter casting of a crow skull for a pair of earrings. The only problem is, crow skulls are too big for earrings, and I don’t have a crow skull.

I do have carving wax and some wax carving tools, so I decided I would make a scale model of a crow skull, and use that for the mold instead.

The first thing I did was go online and get some pictures of crow skulls from the top, side and front. I think printed these out nice and big so I could check them while carving.

Then I cut out a chunk of wax roughly the right shape, and began shaping it.

I used a jewelers saw and a file to shape to this point. I just scratched the rough design onto the wax to give me some idea of when to stop cutting bits off.

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Basically I just kept holding it up, looking at it from all sides, and then staring at the pictures I had printed out. Scraping, picking, etc. Next week I am going to attempt to cast this in a mold and make some pewter earrings/pendants.

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Posted on January 22, 2017March 7, 2017 by admin

Thing A Week 3: Casting An Adult Toy In Silicone

As part of my new years resolution to make a new thing every week this year, I have decided to make the third weeks project, casting an adult toy in silicone.

Last week I sculpted an adult toy in clay, this week I am going to cast it in silicone. I am using a two part mold, made from the same thing I intend to cast the toy in, Dragon Skin 30 platinum cure silicone.

The first thing I had to do is put some spru’s on the model so that it would sit up above so I could get the first half of the mold under the clay model. This will also give me a place to pour in silicone later to make the final toy.

Then I built a little box around the toy. I found it helpful to use one single piece of cardboard, so you only have a single seam to close up around the edges. Be sure you fully seal all the way around the bottom, I used blue painters tape, and some extra clay to keep the corners strong. I used packing tape to seal up the one corner seam.

Give all sides of the clay model a good spray of mold release, as well as the box, and the floor. Hold it about 12 inches away from give it a light coat, wait 5 minutes and then do it again. MAKE SURE YOU GET EVERY SURFACE. But don’t put too much on or you will get strange surface artifacts on the final object.

Mix up a big batch of silicon, you can use an online calculator to figure out how much you will need. I use a vacum chamber to get the bubbles out, depending on what you are using for your mold, you may or may not need to do this step.

The finished product. This particular silicone has a pretty decent pot life, so you don’t have to rush, but you shouldn’t wait too long or it will start to harden in the cup.

Next pick a spot, and pour slowly. Be sure to pour a very small stream so that it will not trap bubbles in the silicone. I poured into that little hole on the left, and took my time allowing it to slowly fill up all the gaps, while pushing out any air.

Now wait for it to set up, I waited overnight. Things like set time, pot life, and other important facts about your silicone will be on the box when you buy it.

after the silicone has set I cut in some key holes so that when I cast the other side it will be hard to mis-align the mold. I used an X-acto knife to cut them out.

Mix up another big batch of silicone, make sure you spray on some more mold release, and do the same thing again.

After it sets up, remove the cardboard and see how your mold came out.

After I used an X-acto knife to clean up the holes, and the edges.

Clean out your mold, make sure you get all the clay, and all the dust, and everything else. Spray the inside with mold release, and then close up your mold, and I use rubber bands to make sure it stays put together.

I used some pigment to make the next batch of dragon skin 30 blue. Removed the air bubbles, and slowly slowly filled the mold making sure to allow the air bubbles to escape. I ended up having to cut two small air holes (the square blue holes below) to let the last little bit of air out.

Give the sides of the mold a couple taps, and let it set up overnight. When you wake up, take the rubber bands off and see your new baby!

I used an razor blade to cut the spru’s off, and clean up around the pour holes.

As you can see this left some small defects. They are pretty smooth, but I am going to try a third casting where I use a different technique to try and make it so that the entire mold can be filled from one end. Resulting in far fewing pour holes, and better air bubble removal.

And just like that, you have your own sex toy! The total cost for this project was about $50. Which is what you would pay for a high end sex toy. The fun bit is though that you can re-use the clay to sculpt anything you want, and you can make as many of these toys as you want (as you now have the mold). So future toys will be much cheaper.

Posted on January 15, 2017March 7, 2017 by admin — 1 Comment

Thing A Week 2: Sculpting An Adult Toy

As part of my new years resolution to make a new thing every week this year, I have decided to make the second weeks project, sculpting an adult toy.

Hold on to your hats prudes, and wholesome folks, futurecrash is going blue. By which I mean, I have decided to make my own adult toy. The first step in this process is sculpting.

If you are going to be casting the toy later in silicon (which I am, stay tuned for next week’s thing a week) you will need to be choosy about what sort of clay you use. Silicons that use platinum based catalysts don’t do well with sulfur. So you need to make sure you use sulfur free clay.

I used Scupltex hard, as it is sulfur free, and never dried out, and the hard variety is very firm and easy to sculpt complex geometry.

Now might be a good time to say up front, I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I AM DOING. None, I have never made a sex toy before, I don’t know what sizes, shapes, whatever will feel good, will work, will fail, anything. I am flying blind here. So I decided to make something anyone could use (that means it goes in a place everyone has), I will let your imagination fill in the rest of those details.

I started by making some balls, and rolling them together then attaching them.

I used lots of round things of various sizes to help smooth and shape the form. I am going for a sorta anal beads with a handle feel here, but the picture above shows it in a rough proces.

The rest of the shots below are process shots, you have to do a lot of smoothing, and small adjustments to the form as you look at it from all angles. It is surprisingly easy to ruin one side of the toy while you are fixing another, so I kept turning and shaping and turning, until I got something I think is smooth enough, and nice enough to be done.

So yea, that is where we are at this point, I think it will “work” in the sense that it wont fall apart when I cast it, and the finished product will be tough enough. I have no idea if it will “work” in the sense that people would like to use it. But I think it will come out nice.

Stay tuned until next week when I figure out how to make a mold for this, and cast a couple versions of it.

ps. if you are into to these sorts of crafts, check out my second Etsy store.

Posted on March 25, 2016March 7, 2017 by admin

Bernie Sanders Head Badges!

I am feeling the Bern! So much so that I thought I would make a Bernie Sanders head badge so that bicyclists for Bernie can show their love of this amazing candidate.

The first step was to carve them out of wax.

Then I molded that wax carving into some special high temp silicone. I then cast them in either tin or pewter (each and every one comes out a little different, so far the tin ones seem a bit more shiny). The results have been pretty awesome!

They can be bent to fit on a bike, or left flat if you just want a shiny Bernie Sanders paperweight.

Every one comes out a bit different, but I like that, I might experiment with polishing them, but pewter and tin are very soft metals, and I don’t know if I have anything that delicate.

I am going to be selling them here, 27 dollars of every sale will be donated to the Sanders campaign. Get your own!

Posted on December 9, 2015March 7, 2017 by admin

Silicon Casting A Wax Model

Lets say you just spent a long time carving out a wax model that you plan to cast in metal, you know that your wax model will be destroyed when you cast it, but you really like and want to be able to save it. Silicon Casting to the rescue!

You will need the following:

your wax model (or anything you want to copy)

A form to hold the liquid silicon

some liquid silicon (I used Dragon skin 10 from smooth on)

A vacuum chamber and pump (this is not needed, but will greatly improve your casting)

First glue your wax model to the bottom of your form, unless you are going to suspend the item (if you want both sides cast), if you are doing that you will have to cut it in half later, look on youtube for tips on this, I did a simple one sided cast.

The mixing process for the silicon is pretty simple, follow the mixing ratio’s for your silicon. In my case it was a 1 to 1 mix. Follow the instructions as each one is a bit different.

Once you mix it together, give it some time in the vacuum chamber (how long will depend on how long your silicon takes to set up, you don’t want to wait too long and have it harden in the mixing cup!), then pour it slowly into your form, starting from a low point and letting the silicon find its own level. Go slow, and try not to introduce more bubbles.

Then back into the vacuum chamber again, to get even more bubbles out.

I also cast a simple silicon disc, just to see what would happen, it came out like a super tough, super stretchy cup coaster. I might use this technique later to cast gaskets and stuff like that.

I found that quickly running a torch over the top pops most of the surface bubbles. Very quickly run it over the top, never stop moving, and only do it once or twice. Too hot and you will harden the surface. Keep the torch far away, and move very quickly. There will be a couple bubbles left, but most will pop before the silicon hardens.

Next melt your wax and pour it in!

Don’t melt your wax in a mason jar…this jar later broke, use a pyrex jar.

The blue wax hardening.

Some waxes melt better than others, the blue wax didn’t melt well, but the green wax I had was perfect!

Air bubbles from the blue wax, it just didn’t like being melted.

You can see that it copies every little detail!

I made another one just for fun.

That’s it! I recently purchased some food safe silicon, which I am going to use for chocolate casting! This is a really simple and easy process, I can’t wait to try it some more.