Hey guys, I have a very exciting project to show you today! This is a ring that I have been working on for the better part of a year now (oh how it pains me to admit that!)
The ring was comissioned by my good friend Nerv, a very talented flame worker, whos work you can find here:
http://www.glass-sculpting.com/#!
http://www.highpriorityglass.com/categories/brands-k-o/nerv-glass.html
http://www.hellawicked.com/nerv
The original inspiration for the ring was a french piece from 1880, depicting two lions locked in some kind of struggle.
The idea was to duplicate, if not improve on the original design, Nerv and I both felt the design lacked some of raw ferocity we'd expect in a fight to the death between two killers.
So, in order to pump up the intensity, I took a look at changing the pose slightly, with an aim to capture more motion, and create even more tension.
Here is the 3" diameter sculpy form study I did to start with, as well as a few of the images I was pulling inspiration from.
I was fairly happy with the initial study, but felt it lacked some depth and definitions, so I took another pass at the study, again, aiming for more motion and more conflict.
Once I got to this stage I knew I was ready to move into the appropriate scale and material.
3-4 months later, I arrived at this!
Success! Right? Well yes, and no. I'm extremely proud of the end result, but the work is not done yet! It now needs to be turned into metal, a much more challenging task than I had at first assumed.
So, here is where I went wrong.
1- I assumed that since it was wax, it could be investment cast as is... my mistake, since its made of multiple kinds of wax, and since it has oil from my hands, accumulated over 100+ hours of work, the burn rate of the wax will not be uniform, and I would risk looking the piece entirely if I attempted to cast it as is.
2- I sculpted a form that, while absolutely fine for investment casting, is actually almost impossible to cast in traditional silicone or RTV molding..... So, if I wanted to pour a duplicate in traditional jewelers wax, I would need to cut the ring into at least two pieces, and cast them in silicone.
3- Once cast in silicone, I realized that not all wax is created equal... My initial cast was done in the brownish wax seen below. That wax, while providing excellent detail retention, and ease of clean up, failed to properly cast when sent to foundry.
Apparently, your wax needs to be pure, thus I proceeded to jewelers wax (the blue version). As you can see, the first brand of jewelers wax was not at all acceptable, so I tried the aqua colored wax, which finally seems to be working!
Now that I have finally got some useable part, I "hope" we are nearing metal parts, however there are still a couple of hurdles to clear.
1- Re-assembly and clean up. While the parts are quite good, I still foresee an additional 8-10 hour making sure its all tuned up and ready to cast.
2- Proper spru/vent planning and assembly. Im still not sure what the optimum number of vents should be, their diameter and placement. This could potentially sink me when it comes time for casting.
In any case, its been a long, but awesome journey! I hope you enjoyed a peek into the lion ring project, I will be sure too keep posting updates as progress is made!
