10-11-2006, 05:04 PM
Paulus and Crispvs
This may seem to be a bit OT,at first, but bear with me.
About a year ago I let you both know I was going to send you (and two other people) a set of belt plates. This above mentioned belt plate is the design I ended up with and will cast the dies here soon. They will be pressed from sheet. The die models have to be made from wax, invested, and then kiln fired to remove the wax, at which time molten bronze is the poured into the hot cavity. The dies have to polished and be put in a special press and an annealed sheet then then placed in the press.
When I started gearing up for bronze casting a year ago, I did not realize the extreme expense of having a coherent system. It takes a about $5000 for the first belt buckle. The second one is about $1.00, if the mold is re-usable, however. Plus you have to take classes. In short, I got into a long term expensive project. I have spent about $1000 this summer on the buffing, polishing and melting torches. The wax investment and kiln will be about $2500 more. Then I can make anything I want.
The original dies I wanted to cast at the local University where I was taking casting classes. This was refused by the lab staff as "it had to do with open mold casting which was sacred to [a local tribe] and 'they' did not want to offend anyone". I pointed out that this method went all the way back to the Early Bronze Age, but this was ignored. I think the real problem was that what I wanted to was Roman (non-PC) and military (absolutely forbidden non-PC). Also, the work had to be original, Post-Modernist, and reproductions were were not. I wish I was joking about this but I am not. This is an Art Department at an American University, Remember.
For Experimental Archeology in particular Roman and Greek studies, this University imposed limitation is a bit of a disappointment. This means I cannot experiment with methodologies that give insight into how original pieces may be made. Case in point: I think I know why there are rings on the back of some apron studs, as a process of one of several ways to cast them. I was told this would have to be done at the Anthropogy or History Department, who in turn sent me back to the Art Department. So I will have to wait for more equipment, as I can afford it.
The learning experience has been a real learning experience.
Gaius Decius Aquilius
(Ralph Izard)
This may seem to be a bit OT,at first, but bear with me.
About a year ago I let you both know I was going to send you (and two other people) a set of belt plates. This above mentioned belt plate is the design I ended up with and will cast the dies here soon. They will be pressed from sheet. The die models have to be made from wax, invested, and then kiln fired to remove the wax, at which time molten bronze is the poured into the hot cavity. The dies have to polished and be put in a special press and an annealed sheet then then placed in the press.
When I started gearing up for bronze casting a year ago, I did not realize the extreme expense of having a coherent system. It takes a about $5000 for the first belt buckle. The second one is about $1.00, if the mold is re-usable, however. Plus you have to take classes. In short, I got into a long term expensive project. I have spent about $1000 this summer on the buffing, polishing and melting torches. The wax investment and kiln will be about $2500 more. Then I can make anything I want.
The original dies I wanted to cast at the local University where I was taking casting classes. This was refused by the lab staff as "it had to do with open mold casting which was sacred to [a local tribe] and 'they' did not want to offend anyone". I pointed out that this method went all the way back to the Early Bronze Age, but this was ignored. I think the real problem was that what I wanted to was Roman (non-PC) and military (absolutely forbidden non-PC). Also, the work had to be original, Post-Modernist, and reproductions were were not. I wish I was joking about this but I am not. This is an Art Department at an American University, Remember.
For Experimental Archeology in particular Roman and Greek studies, this University imposed limitation is a bit of a disappointment. This means I cannot experiment with methodologies that give insight into how original pieces may be made. Case in point: I think I know why there are rings on the back of some apron studs, as a process of one of several ways to cast them. I was told this would have to be done at the Anthropogy or History Department, who in turn sent me back to the Art Department. So I will have to wait for more equipment, as I can afford it.
The learning experience has been a real learning experience.
Gaius Decius Aquilius
(Ralph Izard)
