Water Casting for the Weekend Jeweler
Here's a primer on water casting melted silver. It produces really fun pieces to incorporate into your designs!
How do you know when you have enough silver to warrant melting it down? For me, when one of my two baseball card storage boxes (appropriated 30 years ago from my son) is full, it is time to do something with it.
Assemble the work area. I like to put four naturally heat-resistant rubber mats on my garage workbench to protect the linoleum surface. An old cake pan from a garage sale holds a rotating pumice pan and a graphite rod.
The ledge of the cake pan provides a place to set the hot torch head on to cool when not in use. As the crucible gets very hot, pumice is perfect to set it in while melting metal. The can I use is a #10 size which is 7 inches high and 6-3/16 inches in diameter and is filled about 2/3 full of cold water.
Personal preference: I keep a metal bowl with ice cubes away from the heat but close by. Hint: I highly suggest taking the course Low Tech Casting with Kim St. Jean.
The ledge of the cake pan provides a place to set the hot torch head on to cool when not in use. As the crucible gets very hot, pumice is perfect to set it in while melting metal. The can I use is a #10 size which is 7 inches high and 6-3/16 inches in diameter and is filled about 2/3 full of cold water.
Personal preference: I keep a metal bowl with ice cubes away from the heat but close by. Hint: I highly suggest taking the course Low Tech Casting with Kim St. Jean.
This step depends on your torch system. I use a Handy Flame II Propane Torch attached to small propane canisters when water-casting in the garage. The canister should be secured to the workbench as the tubing on the torch will invariably move the canister around, making it a safety hazard. There are brackets available for these canisters to secure them to a workbench, but since I don't use the torch very often, I found that securing it in a drawer in my workbench works well for me.
Place a fine mesh strainer over a bowl. The cement garage floor is fine for this since water splashes around and I don't want water all over my workbench.
Since my friends and I get together to melt down our metal, an old door on sawhorses is where we place layers of newspaper with paper towels on top to soak up the moisture remaining on the pieces after straining. We each have our own spot to dump our treasures. There is always a lot of OOOing and AHHing!
Optional: The water should be kept cool to produce similar results to the first pour. To keep reusing water, keep a metal bowl of ice cubes nearby to periodically add to the water poured back in the can after straining the cast pieces.
How much metal can be melted at one time? That is entirely up to you and the size of your crucible. Each of us will have different preferences. More metal in a crucible usually yields larger pieces, which I do not often use. Because of this, smaller amounts are usually melted.
Heat the metal in the crucible until it flows around like mercury. Once the metal moves around freely, heat back and forth over the crucible pour spout and the molten metal.
Heat the metal in the crucible until it flows around like mercury. Once the metal moves around freely, heat back and forth over the crucible pour spout and the molten metal.
The crucible pour spout should be red, the same color as around the molten metal. If the pour spout is not hot enough, the metal will get hung up there and not pour properly.
However, when moving back and forth between the metal and the spout, the metal can cool slightly, becoming less molten, and the pour spout cools a bit as well. To fix this problem, slightly tip the crucible so the torch flame hits the spout as well as the molten metal.
However, when moving back and forth between the metal and the spout, the metal can cool slightly, becoming less molten, and the pour spout cools a bit as well. To fix this problem, slightly tip the crucible so the torch flame hits the spout as well as the molten metal.
About 6 inches above the top of the water is a good distance to hold the crucible to start the pour. Experiment with this distance. The resulting water cast pieces will ALWAYS be different.
Pour molten metal into the water. To keep the metal stream molten until it hits the water, the torch flame should be hitting the pour spout and at the same time pointing down in the direction the metal stream is falling. A slow pour making a thin metal stream results in smaller pieces, and a "dump" usually results in larger pieces as well as a few smaller ones.
Pour molten metal into the water. To keep the metal stream molten until it hits the water, the torch flame should be hitting the pour spout and at the same time pointing down in the direction the metal stream is falling. A slow pour making a thin metal stream results in smaller pieces, and a "dump" usually results in larger pieces as well as a few smaller ones.
Pro Tip: To obtain smaller cups and pieces, swirl the water with a graphite rod, seen behind the pumice pan above, just before pouring.
The cast pieces immediately cool in the cold water. Pour the water and cast silver into the strainer in the metal bowl. Strain the pieces and dump them onto the paper towel-see the photo in Step 5. It is so much fun to go through all the one-of-a-kind pieces! Anything you don't like can go back in the crucible to melt in the next pour.
Pour the water back into the can and repeat the casting process. Add more ice if needed, removing water if necessary to keep the water level where desired.
After the pieces are dry, store them in a large flat box. This 6x4x1ΒΌ inch clear box makes the pieces easier to sort through to select just the right ones to use. To make it easier to move the pieces around and pick up the desired one, leave a large tweezers with a small scoop end in the box.
Materials
No materials listed
Tools
Whip, Wire Handled Instrument for Pouring, Large with 2 Crucibles
CAS-250.20
- CAS-250.20
- Lesson Quantity: 1.00 pieces
- Purchase Quantity: 1.00 each
- Price: $24.95
- Gold Club Price: $18.71
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- Category: Metalwork
- Technique(s): General Education
Judy Larson
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