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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    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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