Lost Wax Casting and Wax Working; Sprues and Gating

 To cast this piece, I had to paint in multiple layers of molten wax to achieve the thickness I wanted.  For bronze or aluminum casting I make my wax pattern wall thickness between 3/16" to 1/4".

A trick I do to check wax for proper thickness is hold the wax up to a light and if you can see light thru the wax it's too thin.  I also use a wax mixture  between Red Casting Wax and Brown Microcrystalline Wax, so this ruke may not apply to lighter colored waxes

 This is a photo of the other two wax sections as they are coming out of the plaster molds.









A closeup after I patched the bubbles with utility patch wax and then polished the wax using a nylon window screen and mineral spirits.  Lighter fluid works great too.

 Another shot of the polished and patched section pre-gating.

 A few views of the piece as it will be in the end.  It really looks like melted chocolate which is dripping down a wall and shelf.

 The top view of the "butt crack" middle section.

The back view showing the gating system ans sprues.  This system is a mix of direct and indirect metal casting gating systems.









This is an article in the Tahoe Daily Tribune, which features our foundry:
Hard work Metal casting and fabricating classes at college turn out works of art