A different approach

So this week i have experimented with different types of materials used in casting. Using the various types of materials helped me to gain an understanding in how replicas are created and which medium is best suited in demonstrating you're concept or idea.

I firstly tried the obvious which was plaster but found this material to be quite fragile and just not what i was looking for. I secondly casted with resin in my two-piece silicone mould. I found this material to be very beautiful and unique as i loved the way the light could glisten through the glass-like key replica. I used a polystyrene based resin which took over 16 hours to dry, which was the only downfall to using this material, as i wanted to produce a mass of keys for my 3D sculpture which I will discuss later on.

So I spoke to the casting technician about producing the large quantity of  keys and he suggested using epoxy resin which is a harder and faster drying resin. Jewelers tend to use this type of resin as it is less likely to break or chip. On the downside epoxy resin is highly toxic and quite expensive so i decided to experiment further with materials that were at hand with less cost.

I discussed other possibile mediums that i could use in creating the replicas with one of my tutors. She suggested using wax which i found really interesting as it is a more natural based material which is exactly what i was looking for. So i jumped on the bandwagon and delved into creating the wax keys.

I found at first that the silicone key casts were not working as i thought they would but through thorough use they casted much better. I firstly casted in plain colourless wax to see the effects of light through this bland tone. I then choose to cast in rust-like colours such as oranges,browns and reds to see there qualities. To make these coloured wax, wax dyes are needed which you can see in one of the right-hand side photographs. I found these colours to work perfectly with my theme and concept as it presents the idea of 'olden but golden', which leads me on to how i finished each key individually with a light coat of gold ink. This really added to the worn effect I was aiming for and I am highly pleased with the resulting replicas. 

  

I finally experimented with creating wax casts with items set into the wax replicas themselve. I placed red berries within the silicone cast and poured the wax in which ultimately froze berries within the key casts.

This trial of setting berries within wax was quite interesting as the replica looked quite richly colourful with a tropical sense.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed the process of experimenting with all the different materials used in casting. Testing and trying different techniques attained me a great dept of knowledge in producing casts and I feel very confident in this area due to the experimentations. I highly recommend that fellow students give it a go and see the fun and magic of casting!