Beachwalker Boxes: Unique Handmade Wood and Glass Boxes located in Austin, Texas
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The Process: Lost Wax and Mold-Making for Casting Glass

10/30/2014

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Casting glass is wicked tough, but really fun. For those of you interested (and who isn't?), here's some photo documentation of the process. To left is a wax figure I worked on for 2 days- a sleeping woman covered in roses. The reason it took 2 days is that this is about 8 inches long, and the 26 tiny roses on her took HOURS to make and attach in wax. It isn't quite finished here- as you can see in the next photo below, I added some vines and leaves carved into her body.
The below left picture is the finished figure (carved with vines and leaves) on a clay base, being molded to the clay in preparation for making a plaster mold of her. Below right is the mold material poured over her in a mold box clamped together to fit her size.
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And below left, the finished plaster mold. Once the plaster set, I picked out the clay base and melted the wax out of it.  Now you're looking at her from underneath, through the space that once was the clay base. I'll pack pink glass powder in the roses, and green glass powder for her body, and then fire her in the kiln for about 35 hours for a pate de verre figure. If it works. I have no idea- all that work may be for nothing. I will post a picture of the result- success or failure. But below right is a picture of a finished box with a pate de verre that DID work- a green glass frog top on a glass box detailed with vines. It's SO great when it works.
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New Golden Girl, Violets, a Glass Menagerie.

10/27/2014

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Here is our new cast glass gold girl box. The figure is kiln-cast glass using the lost wax method, sitting on a mahogany box. She turned out lovely, I think.
Below,  our new cast glass flower box: purple and green glass in a lost-wax cast box that took A LONG TIME to make- all those little petals and leaves in wax. Luckily, it worked out and is absolutely stunning. This will get a wood base and a glass top much like our rose box.  Also below, one of  our new glass cats, in orange. This will sit on an aquarium box, I think, with etched glass fish, so he's reaching down to catch them. I personally dislike cats, but they do lend themselves to glass.
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And below, one more cast glass cat (this will be sandblasted white) and an abstract-ish horse (also to be sandblasted white). Animals and more animals this week out of the Beachwalker kiln.
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New Golden Girls (one deformed), Mermaid, Helix.

10/14/2014

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Out of the kiln last week, a new cast glass golden girl to sit on top of a box. We're working on a series of them. She's been sandblasted for a smooth, matte effect. Below left  is another gold girl out of the kiln today. Tom thinks she's crying, although I didn't mean it that way when I sculpted her, although now it really does look like she's pretty sad. She will get some serious polishing before she goes on top of a box. Also below,  a colossal gold girl screwup- WTF happened with her legs? We're still trying to figure out what went wrong. This would have been awesome if it had worked out- we would have built a stair-step box for her to climb up. Maybe I'll try it again, since I still think a staircase shaped box would be awesome. I've been working really hard on the female figure, with some success, I think.
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And below left, out of the kiln last week, a cast glass mermaid in blue. We think we'll make a black box for her. And below right, new today, 2 helical figures in shift-tint glass to sit on top of a box. It was a pretty happy kiln-opening day, except for the fucked-up gold girl above. Sometimes glass does weird things.
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Beetle, Snake, Creepy Face. Off to Dallas.

10/3/2014

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Fresh out of the kiln today is an experiment in pate de verre: a glass beetle with a dichroic green shell cast into a clear/white glass base. This was done using glass powder. When it's cleaned up, this will sparkle on top of a box.
Below: A new rosewood box with the cast glass rhubarb face as a top. The base is mirrored.  And also new today, a green glass snake which will be set into a wooden base as a top for our snake box, pictured with it.
We're off to Dallas for the Art in the Park fair at Klyde Warren Park this Saturday, Oct 5. See you there!
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    Author

    Tom Beach and Amanda Walker

    Tom works full time building boxes and entertaining and feeding pets.

    Amanda does the glass casting and etching and is generally busy having a midlife crisis

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