Expert: Dr. Ari Roark - 6/11/2009

Question
I'm a miniature furniture maker and want to cast my own silver mounts. I don't
want to spend to much money to start with on expensive equipment and
complicated sprue arrangements so want to try pressing my wax into some delft
clay, melting it out and  pouring my melted silver directly into it. Assuming I can
melt the silver what are my chances of success???

Answer
Hello Chris,
100% is your potential success rate!
Clean(smooth) the wax well, coat with alcohol as a debubblizer,  prepare the cope and drag ( do a trial  run with  some white casting metal first- Contenti Supply has some  in the USA, Cookson's in the UK -among many other vendors,,,its cheaper than  silver but has the same working properties)remember to  make some  venting marks and registration can  be done with  pieces of  cork, or  sticks  or  dowel cut to  size, then  position the wax, remove the master, then pour...while that's a far oversimplified  process, read Tim McCreight's titles, by his Bryn Mawr Press: "The Complete Mealsmith" and "Practical Casting"- It's quite easy to  do if the  clay is the right texture, the room air is  not too humid, nor dry and  you practice first...or just  use  some  cuttlefish bone ( carve,or press a hard model  between two pieces that  you have prepared  by  rubbing together until they are  perfectly level and  no gaps of  light are seen along any margin)pieces of  bone, make  your registrations, carve a pouring well as wide as the piece, with a pencil  make  a few gas vents,tape it together with masking tape, set it in  a bucket of sand to  hold it  stable, melt the  silver or gold, and pour.Then if you  need to , depending on how you prepared the  mould, clean the  piece, and you're done..fast, but each mould can only  be used once, however it  will not fail like clay can at the last second..so it's more reliable, as is tuffa stone, but that leaves a rough texture that can be polished out as well as  in the case of the cuttlebone).
Good Luck, and remember it's easier than it sounds!
Best Regards,Ari