As a new/amateur silversmith I'd made the Olmec "Colossal Head" in poured silver as my fist cast out of my own personal pouring bench. Again an homage to the Native American and Mestizo culture that I grew up in.
That first head was a little under 7 ozt. A truth I've known since I was a teenager... once you get a little head, you just want more. So I went ahead and found this silicone ICE CUB TRAY. I used casting resin to make a positive from the silicone mold (thank you YouTube... aka free art school), then placed the new epoxy cast "positive" mold in my sand casting flask/mold.
You know the rest... heated up the silver and poured it in. Check this OUT!
BOOM!
Stunner, Right?
What great results, if I do say so myself.
It wasn't all rainbows and lollipops. I had a little bit of resin left so I poured it in another one of the silicone negatives (ice cube tray slots). It didn't fill up all the way, but got the front of the face, it was just kind of shallow.
I tried using this second epoxy mold for an open pour and it didn't come out so great... no biggie, back in the melt pile.
This is not the head in the melt pile
This is a learning process. No matter your level of mastery you should never quit growing. I'd never used casting resin before. The instructions said to use a lighter after 5 minutes to pop any bubbles that form. Getting the bubbles out is where a vacuum chamber comes in really handy, but I don't have one of those. I got my little butane torch and the bubbles just melted away, pretty cool.
But the next day there was one more big bubble in my cured positive epoxy mold. I just sanded it off, but there was a pit left there which ended up getting transferred over into the final silver product.
See the pit?
Another think I've learned (I should have listened more closely in YT Art School... Sand is porous. It doesn't really need too many vents cut in. Clay does.... I bought some clay but haven't used it. Anywhoo.... I cut a tiny vent in the top of the mold (bottom of the head) and it CREATED a filling defect. The silver need PRESSURE to fill the voids in the mold. Vents prevent that pressure from building up.
Thus... on he has a dimple on right (his right) side of his neck.
Next into the Liver of Sulfur (probably for not long enough... he came out with some rose tones). Buffed with a pad, and waxed. He now stands proudly next to my Olmec head on the SBS Poured display shelf in my office.
CONTEST WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT
And now let's see who guessed closest on the lion weight guessing contest...
There you go. Pretty cool. Thanks for playing, Y'all. @ChetanShetty, I sent you some STEEM my friend, Congratz!
