Trialling oil based moulding 'clay'

 

I received a package of oil base metal moulding clay to do a couple of quick trials. But first a photo of a couple of ingots of pewter made from a very old and dirty pewter tea pot. I had read that it is better to make ingots before melting metal for objects as it helps to get rid of impurities. 

The impurities resulted in the dull grey colour but also the rainbow colours. 

Anyway the photos below show the outcomes achieved using the oil based  'clay' - mixture of oil, very fine sand and very fine clay. Great that it can be reused; and being oil based tends not dry out. 

The good news is that I got no splutter when I poured the metal into the mould. I think this really has potential. For my work I like the textured look created by the fine sand.

Large copper bowl

 

As part of a commission I'm forming a large (about 450-500mm in diameter) copper bowl out of an old clothes boiler that someone had flattened the bottom of and been using it in the garden. The bowl is coming along reasonably well as you can see from the opening photo. I quite like to fire colour in the photo above - it was taken after annealing and quenching.

After cutting the boiler down I started to 'sink' the base to create bowl shape.

A few rounds of annealing and quenching took place.

As you can see from the photo below the bowl needs a few more rounds of annealing and hammering to improve the shape and to get some of the wrinkles out.

I hope to do a bit more work on it tomorrow. I can only do an hour or two at a time as it is quite a noisy process - and there are neighbours close to my workshop. It is a bit of a challenge to handle a bowl of this size when hammering on the anvil or stake. I'm mainly using a largish Japanese wooden hammer for the first stages of the work.

Fur, feathers and flowers

 

A real mixed bag of a post today - hence the title. First I start (above) with the grass that looks like a fox tail - catching the sun; and then proceed to the wee fox that visited this morning before I headed out for my walk. It was quite a long way from the house and the iPhone could not pick up the detail.

A gorgeous butcher bird singing with a blue morning sky as a backdrop.

Flowers etc along the way.

A couple of G's orchids.

The first of our zucchini flowers.

Much joy in the morning .

Low tech approach to bending large metal leaf forms

 

I asked Fiona if she would assist me in bending some curves into the large leaf forms that will become a wall mounted sculptural pieces. Little did she know that assistance would require her bending the Corten steel leaf around a log - see above. A fairly low tech approach!!!!

I chose the log below as the diameter of the log would result in larger and gentler curves; and it was big and heavy enough to hold the leaf form stable.

Another photo of the log in action.

The stem of one of the leaf forms needed a bit more of a curve - so why not use a piece of pipe in the vise.

Stacking the curved leaves as we worked - it also gave us the chance to compare the bending.

Then out on the concrete to check the forms - nice shadows as well.

After a couple of tweaks the metal was given a good sand to get rid of hand oil and then put out to cure - aka rust.

After a shower of rain overnight the rusting process has begun.

Photos by both Fiona and myself.

The best laid experiments!!!!!

 

I have been reading up on making moulds to pour molten pewter into rather than cutting-carving graphite. I read that one could make 'silicone clay' that could deal with molten pewter by mixing room temperature vulcanising silicone with cornflour (1:2 ration). I made enough 'silicone clay' to try to pour a small peace piece and a small heart - as you can see in the above photo. 

A couple of process photos below including my 'clay' mixing tray and the original pieces pressed into the soft clay.

Removing the original from the cured  'clay' resulted in nice sharp moulds. I let the 'clay' cure for 24 hours.

The silicone could not handle the heat as you can see from the photos below.

Maybe it would have worked if I was able to guarantee that the silicone was able to handle a much higher temperature. My next experiment will be with an oil based clay-sand moulding mix.

Orchids, birds , bees and other fragments.

 

I start today's blog with photos of a few of G's orchids - mainly because I wanted to share the very unusual one above. But those below are also a joy.

We had rain early this morning - the plovers were enjoying a bath in the drain below us; the pale-headed rosellas were out for an early morning feast; a startled wallaby checked me out once it got a bit of distance between us; and 14 bees were crowding into a magnolia.

The rain gave the gift of droplets - always my favourites.

A joyful morning.