Description
True lost-wax casting.
I started by making a ring out of beeswax, which was eventually burned out of its investment (mold), in a fire pit, leaving a void–the way the victims of Mount Vesuvius did in Pompeii– and silver was poured in. So this is literally lost-wax casting, as opposed to the efficient and more profitable modern technique using mechanically created waxes made in molds and cast identically in hundreds. Lost wax means that if the wax version of the, in this case, ring was destroyed, the whole process had to be repeated. For a very detailed or large piece, this would be a disaster.
This particular model was cast by Piers Watson, who is working with luted crucible casting, and gave a demonstration and lecture at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, in 2017. ” In 2015 he self-published, “The Luted Crucible, a Pre-Industrial Method of Metal Casting,” the only book written by a practitioner of the craft and focused entirely on the subject.” (www.moifa.org)
In my Instagram profile, s.b.stuart, can be found a series of photos taken of the process, carried out by Piers Watson of Luted Crucible. You’ll have to scroll down a while and when you get to a lot of pictures with fire, you’re there.
