Sunday, February 12, 2012

Frustrating and completion

I had a frustrating day injecting wax.  I had carved a new ring last week and made a silicone mold of it. I also made a mold of a wax that I had carved a long time ago (a square bezel) and never got around to making the mold for it.  After cutting them both open (one of my favorite things to do) I went about the process of injecting them with wax. The square bezel injected beautifully first time and every time save one. The ring, however, was a problem child.  From the get go I was getting large air pockets. I tried every trick that I know to alleviate mold problems, including making air relief cuts, lowering the pressure, raising the pressure, more air relief cuts, dusting with corn starch, more air relief cuts and I even resorted to cutting a vent.  None of this worked.  Of all the tries I only got one good injection of which I was never able to repeat. The only thing left, that I know of, is to lower the wax temperature.  Since this takes time, I will try it tomorrow.  However, I suspect that I did not sprue it right in the first place and that will only be resolved by making a new mold of the one good wax that I got (I broke the original model when I was cutting the mold).

I did finish a pendant that I had made yesterday from a stone that I found on Lopez, so all is not lost,  I am not sure what the stone is but it is an awesome pale green with patches of brown.

Here are pictures of today's work.
These are the failed injections.  The one on the bottom left is the only one that worked.  The one above it would due in a pinch, only a small dent from a collapsed air bubble.  I could build this back up, if I had to.

These are the good injections.  I have never had a mold perform so well.
This piece I titled New Life because of the fern like stampings on the bezel.  It is fabricated from copper.  I don't know what the stone is but it is stunning with its green, brown and copper tones.  I found it, as is, on Lopez.  This piece measures about 7/8" wide by 1" tall.


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