Jennifer Culp

Today I went to ETSU’s studio and cast a few things: three snakes-in-love pendants, lipstick tops for some new, vitreous-enameled cartidge lipstick pendants, and a harpy from Little Prick’s mold, with which I plan to make yet another pendant. I made a few changes to the burnout and casting processes to accomodate the Castilene I used for the snakes and lipsticks, and I’m pleased with the results. All the pieces were a little bubbly (couldn’t get the vacuum table to work correctly) but were smooth and pit-free. Photo-essay on the casting process after the jump!

I increased the burnout time from my usual nine hours to twelve, and lowered the initial temperature. Castilene has organic components, and if allowed to burn while still in the flask it can harden into lumps of carbon that stay in the mold and screw up your casting. I set the initial temperature low and allowed it to run for several hours before heating further, allowing the Castilene to melt out of the mold before burning. I was concerned when I opened the kiln door and saw the usually white investment was stained gray and black in places. It turned out to be a good sign; the stains were caused by burning Castilene that was out of the mold, not in.

I also took a shop vacuum, rigged with aluminum foil around the tip of its tube in an attempt to prevent damage, and vacuumed out each Castilene mold before casting metal into it. I didn’t get any pictures of this part because it was a two person operation, requiring my photographer/beautiful assistant Justin to either man the vacuum or hold the hot flask while I vacuumed. This proved successful as well; checking the vacuum afterward revealed a small amount of organic dust that otherwise would have stayed in the mold and messed up the product. The rest of the process is recorded in the gallery below. Click on the images to get the scoop!

That’s how it’s done! This is the exciting part, but next time I’ll try to remember to record all the work that goes into preparing for it: sculpting the waxes, sprueing them up, pouring the investment, and burning out the wax.

Looking at that list, it seems like a lot of work; thinking back, I suppose it was. Those of us who go into metalsmithing must have some masochistic tendencies. On the plus side, we get to play with fire AND get fantastic jewelry out of it. That makes any amount of work worth it.