JEW

ELLERY

&

METALS

MITHIN

G

CASTING IN BRONZE

One of the most interesting things I did in Jewellery and Metal-smithing this semester was to be given the chance to cast rings out of bronze.

We were given the instruction to bring along a combustible ‘found’ object that we could turn into a ring.

Using wax, we affixed the ‘found’ object to a base and formed the ring either around our own fingers or around the mandrel.

I also created some rings just out of the wax, using different ways of creating patterns to try and find the right way to make a ring that would look unique, but also be able to be cast.

This was interesting for trying to work out the finer details and I felt that it was well worth the effort to try and make things as good as possible for the casting.

Because you use plaster to fill in the flask for the casting you get a much more accurate imprint of your ring and therefore should try and get it as good as possible before you cast it so there is less work when you get the bronze cast.

When we had made our wax rings, we attached them to a ‘base’ and set them in plaster inside a metal flask.

This capsule was then put through the ‘burnout process’ which consisted of a steam bath then a long sit in a kiln that was ramped up to 370oC then left for about an hour, then heated up to 700oC.

After the burnout process in complete (approx. 5 hours) we melted down some bronze, using a blow torch, in preparation for the casting.

All in all the casting turned out to be a really interesting process that I found to be intriguing. It is something I recommend people to try and I hope that the finished product will be as good as I hope it will turn out.