Watch Plaster and Bronze Casting | Step-by-step

This tutorial depicts traditional methods used for plaster piece casting and bronze casting.
Elements of this video were featured in the PEM exhibition "Rodin: Transforming Sculpture," on view May 14, 2016, through September 5, 2016. Learn more here: www.pem.org/exhibitions/rodin...
Music
"Swan Ride" by TRG Banks (CC0 1.0) bit.ly/29DbENJ

[@HobbyOrganist]

Ive cast lead-free Brittania metal into plaster piece molds back in the 1990s, I did the whole process in a round-about way due to the fact I was casting complex, fragile, standing dogs about 6-7" tall and didnt want to mess with attachments. I cast wax in the plaster piece molds to send in to cast in bronze, and I cast the Brittania metal as well but at home. I had original plasticene models from which I took a multi-piece plaster mold from, then made rubber molds of each of those plaster pieces so i could simply cast new waste molds at will. I used a 50/50 plaster and fine sand mix to cast into the rubber molds, soaped the casts when they came out of the molds, assembled them and poured my hot wax in. Some of the plaster pieces came right off, but due to undercuts some didnt- thus the soft plaster/sand pieces that were stuck on due to that were very easy to drill a hole thru them and break them apart without damaging the delicate wax cast inside. The 50/50 plaster/sand waste mold of one dog model was also used to cast the Brittania metal in after the plaster was completely dry, and then place in my oven at a couple hundred degrees at most to heat it up and make SURE it was dry. Once I had the metal melted on the stove, the hot mold was pushed into a bucket full of sand to support it upright and I poured the metal in- probably about 7-8 pounds each. In fact I am shortly going to cast a plaster waste mold maybe this weekend of my German Shepherd model which i only had one cast in bronxe in 1992 but kept the 5 molds for it all these years because I want to get one cast in bronze for myself now.

[@michaelraftice1230]

This is very interesting and informative. Thanks. We are in Paris and seeing many masterworks by Rodin and others and this video helps to add another level of appreciation for the art

[@olfoundryman8418]

Please will somebody teach these people how to pour metal!

[@joshuawebb7091]

Also teach em how to do lost wax casting. the amount of detail these dudes must lose is staggering. No vent hole either so pitting is very possible here. I get they aren't casting shapes that can easily just pop out of the sand like many vids are but if you're gonna do irregular shapes air pockets are a major concern and a vent is needed. Thats why instead of clay maybe use jewelers wax/sculpting wax or possibly even 3d scan your sculpt to 3d print it if your metal is one that melts hot enough to get a complete and clean destruction of the print. If its not a huge object or one you can do in chunks they make resin for printers that melts like waxy specifically for jewelers and dentists to get high detail metal casts off their sculpts. Seriously...either sculpt in a meltable material, or 3d scan for irregular objects and if your gonna just do clay and plaster objects in your sand then at LEAST put some vents in there. Hell I know some folks even make a vacuum table thats sealed refractory with a mesh top and pump on it to suck on the vent hole on the bottom of the sand to do the equivalent of injection mold/die cast detail for this stuff.

[@skateboardingjesus4006]

@@joshuawebb7091 Also, a hollow wax casting, made from a silicone glove mold of the original master, would have captured every detail, with no seam lines whatsoever. Then after careful placement of sprues and vents, made an investment, from which a far superior cast could be made than the one they had.

[@jordanpotarf7968]

Anyone trying to learn to cast bronze: consult other sources for their information -- this would be a bad way to do it. I think the video is demonstrating the process used by Auguste Rodin ("The Thinker"). Amazing that Rodin used them at all. Lost wax casting was invented by 6000 BCE, and bronze casting with lost wax was invented when bronze was invented by the Sumerians in 3500 BCE. If you're new to casting metal, look into lost wax casting, or lost foam. I don't know when gloves were invented, but it was definitely long before this video was filmed. Wear gloves when working with plaster, and use tools to stir it. Definitely not your bare hands. Chemical burns from plaster/cement are pretty irritating.

[@jesus2621]

Wooo thanks you mr safety

[@HobbyOrganist]

Ive cast plaster, hydrocal, hydrostone for many years without any "chemical burns" you are thinking of concrete which IS highly alkyline and WILL cause chemical burns, plaster mostly dries out the oils on your skin as it absorbs like a sponge

[@jacobhaggarty3276]

I think they omitted a step: cutting the plaster cast into pieces and then hollowing it out. The hollowing out is quite important to show, otherwise you're casting solid pieces. Just an FYI for anyone using this as a tutorial. Otherwise, the casting looks a bit naff, but this is a decent enough video for a home-shop founder to follow along with. I think this method over lost wax because it's a bit cheaper? I don't know, haven't looked into it. Fair job though.

[@skateboardingjesus4006]

I'm inclined to think this is a tip of the hat to Rodin and the casting process he used? Is this only the first, or perhaps the second time you've tried this? The practicalities of art are as important as theory, and essential for appreciation.

[@ronhoy8913]

Weld together? You mean Brazed ! Or Tiged ! Welding is for Fero metals. That form would have been better done simply as a lost wax cast. and it could have been cast in ONE mold! No assembly required.

[@jacksync8713]

I dunno, I use oxy acelatine to 'weld' bronze, better than tig

[@ronhoy8913]

@@jacksync8713 I'm probably just nit picking lol

[@theTORTUGAZUL]

Glad to see I was right about this video after reading the comments.

[@BEAMNGSurvival]

Great Video!

[@txm100]

Am I right to assume this is how for example Rodin made his bronze castings?

[@skerriesrockart]

Make the mould out of latex or silicone..easier,less messy and the mould can be used over and over

[@jairomerchan1710]

Felicidades: te saludo desde Colombia 🇨🇴 un abrazo 🤗👋👋👋🏆💯💯🎨⚠️

[@HobbyOrganist]

Murphys oil soap works, but tincture of green soap is much better, brushing on a few applications of it on the plaster and nothing is going to stick to it.

[@sam111880]

This method can also be used for casting most of the other traditional metals as well like silver , gold, copper , brass,tin ,iron ,...etc. Great video would love to have the stuff to do this as it doesn't take much to setup this infrastructure. It just be cool if there was a way to practice this stuff at a local community place / volunteer place for arts/crafts

[@MrSpitfireMustang]

How did the ancients "weld" the parts together?

[@hoklincok5899]

thank you

[@pascalennis9123]

Wow they certainly got a roasting from everyone .

[@sathibabu.chintasathi3650]

how to moulds for lord ganesh idol 4 feet image age

[@sam111880]

The more i see different sand casting the more i am lead to believe that any type of sand would work provide its a fine based sand i.e one that is high in clay based material. Some call it a type of green sand others call it foundry sand which uses oil mixed with sand... But yours looks like regular pottery clay powder sand...Good video, but without actually testing out sands to see what works what doesn't i am not fully sure... I say sandcasting major thing that would work is it having fine grain like a silt or clay based sand you can compress. Or some ratio of clay or oil/tar mixed in...

[@WGPblackmagicSPECIAL]

Yeah, seems super ineffective, and ridiculous to go about bronze casting this way

[@MrSpitfireMustang]

Wouldn't wax or soap be better as the original model?

[@MrSpitfireMustang]

How did ancients remove the excess without and angle grinder?

[@HobbyOrganist]

They grabbed one of the slaves and used his hairy leg like a rasp moving it back and forth over the plaster for hours until it was perfectly smooth

[@BiggJohnful]

this must be one of those "How not to" videos...

[@danialhowe9814]

ya exactly...

[@jagboy69]

Thank God for Silicone, Micro Crystalline Wax and Ceramic shell. This method is a royal pain in the ass!

[@Inflammo66]

casting a marker, some assembly required/

[@christopholies5617]

Make us whole

[@fiveeyes2802]

I will not troll this video. I will not troll.... dear lord!

[@Locreai]

Couldn't you just seal the clay and skip the plaster steps?

[@jdmec81]

Easily the worst mold making method I’ve ever seen. Probably a good look into a way similar to how it was done thousands of years ago though.

[@PotionsMaster666]

Can you recommend a good one then ?

[@geraldmartin8195]

The mold pieces were a huge waste of plaster and time.Their thickness contributed to the damage done to the cast positive. A thin layer of plaster , followed by another of burlap soaked in plaster, followed yet again by another thin layer of about 1/4 inch plaster. This method is cheaper, easier, and time saving compared with the method used in the video

[@johncarter1817]

...and then to add insult to injury, they don't show the finished 'sculpture'......probably ashamed of it.

[@mhypersonic]

3D printing would save you a lot of time creating the mold for sand casting

[@DemetriosLevi]

It's not about saving time, it's about the craftsmanship. 3D printing takes the value and art out of the process

[@HobbyOrganist]

This looks like it was published in the 1980s or something- well before any 3D printing...

[@4greenfieldseire654]

i watched it to the end , then it was over without showing the finished polished piece , WHY ?..THEN i thought,,it wasn't that special a piece and don't get annoyed .

[@espenforfen1334]

How amateur can you get, splattering bronze everywhere when pouring, and that basic kindergarten sculpture could easily have been made in 2 halves, what is it with these 'artists', literally no idea at all, they are just hurting my eyes to watch!

[@fabricecallot8560]

I understand why it,s so xpensive..

[@bincvanlaere6861]

Nothing tradtional about that!! How embarassing that is, it is an insult to the real masters of this craft from ancient times!! At 9:30 looking like clowns , you could even make a bronze cast out on the field but those fools using modern methods and call it traditional. Embarrassing for a museum

[@hahnkf8111]

I’m not going to point fingers or anything but I’ll just say this, being an artist is a bigger responsibility than being a politician. People dilute themselves to maintain innocence but they’ll regret it just the same when they realize the implications of their actions.

[@danialhowe9814]

absolutely NO reason you should have had to use a chisil and trash your mold. if you would have coated the inside with PVA or at eh very lease petroleum jelly that would have cut down the adhesion greatly

[@HobbyOrganist]

They used Murphy's soap, I used to use it in plaster mold making but it was not that good, then I tried the old recommended tincture of green soap is worked perfectly- no adhesion whatsoever and the plaster sections easily fell away from each other without wedges, chiseling or breakage. Green soap was long used in plaster mold making, and in more recent times it's sold for tattoo parlor use to clean the skin, it contains vegetable oils, glycerine and alcohol

[@garydouglass9577]

What a mess 😳

[@nickfanzo]

Gary Douglass how so?

[@effreyjeppstein4673]

*Laughs in lost wax method*

[@user-iq6of4ig7t]

Ученики.

[@zibakhan9867]

😬😳😨🤔😧....

[@peabodyessexmuseum]

I'd call that a transformational experience!

[@gorp27]

Ponder the quality of education that is being produced in colleges. Just because some one has an education does not mean they are smart or even have common sense for that matter.

[@Jp-ue8xz]

what the actual F*CK. This is the most awful casting (if it can be called that) method i've seen on youtube

[@timwight5124]

Yeah just doesn't seem right!

[@jimc336]

Missing one very important step! Not helpful

[@eggbertfarnsworth5787]

Gosh but people make a lot of negative comments. Isn't that too bad.

[@espenforfen1334]

It's because it's a disgrace!