Lost Wax Process of Terrigena Avi Cervinus
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This is the wax modeling process. I have already created a waste mold for each side of the elk, cast copies in wax and created a three-dimensional form. As you can see, he has three broken legs, as the wax is temperature sensitive and it was very hot that day. The antlers are staying rigid only because I had just gotten them out of the freezer.
You can see the underside of an extra wax copy lying on the desk behind him and his legs. |
Here is the completed wax form, sans antlers.
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As I don't want to cast this entire elk solid, we needed a way to pour the mold matter inside of the form. It is sometimes possible to pour through an open mouth and unnoticeable vent, but not this time.
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The red lines and large square J are sprues. I'm preparing him to be cast in bronze with a lost wax mold. This is a solid mold that will be destroyed at the end of the casting process, so the wax needs a way out and the molten metal needs a way in. The red sprues take care of undercuts and give multiple paths to the wax and metal just in case one of the main paths become blocked.
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The cast was successful!! You can see the bits of plaster still clinging to it, and the dark patches are where the wax didn't completely burn out. I have already cut these off of the main sprue and cleaned the majority of it up so it can be welded back together.
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He was welded by my wonderful professor. The weld goes all the way around, ensuring that he won't come apart if he's dropped. Now I need to clean up all the flashing (such as the large raw bronze piece on his nose) and grind down the weld.
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Check out these strange colors! They occurred only where the raw bronze was exposed where I had already used a grinder to clean it up. These are the effects of the welding process. The color will tell you how how hot it was, with yellow being the coolest (but by no means cold!) and blue being the hottest, usually closest to the weld.
After a treatment of Liver of Sulfur and almost catching the kitchen on fire, I sealed him with wax, melting it over him and burnishing it to a matte finish. The thread was systematically tangled through his antlers in a dreamcatcher-like style of working and I attached the small bird skulls as I worked.