Life Casting

[jdufty]

Does anyone know of either how to or where to go to find out how to make molds for Branze casting from delicate organic matter. For instance, flowers, trash, or banana peels. Is there a way to make a detailed mold that is reuseable, or even a single use mold that can capture detail and maintain the integrity if the thin original material?

[fritchie]

This can be done with no problem. The bronze artist and founder who has cast most of my figures and torso’s for about the last 15 - 16 years has cast pinecones, strawberries, twigs, branches, vines, and so on. Another artist I knew here in New Orleans a decade or so ago cast clamshells, shoes, small fish, and similar items as well.

Many of these were single-cast items, probably just encased in standard casting materials, but it also can be done with ceramic shell or paint-on casting media. The only requirement is that the original burn out at the quite high temperatures of the casting furnace, about 1100 degrees Celsius or 2100 degrees Fahrenheit. (These are rough figures. I may be overestimating a bit.) Ash residue is the issue, and the percentage of ash in all these objects is very low, a couple percent. Most of that will be swept to the surface of the mold in casting, so even that small amount disappears.

As for molding materials, you can use any of the standard polymers (plastics or rubbers), as long as the object to be cast doesn’t prevent hardening. These molds can be multi-use. Otherwise, simple plaster or something similar will work and be much cheaper.

You probably will get other opinions, but be assumed it’s easy.