Casting Class Update. It's a Ring!!

Last I wrote about my casting class  it was me carving a blue wax turtle.  Well, he got put aside awhile I decided to try my hand at carving out a ring.  Here's some pictures of that process.

First you start out with a block of hard blue wax and you score some lines in it to determine how you want your ring to look.
Then you saw, file and carve and shape to get a rough looking ring.

Here's the ring (top view where you can see the abstract shape) in it's investment canister. I wish it were a money investment! Ha!  It's where we pour a goop that looks like plaster of paris inside this canister. It's called investment and it hardens up so you can stick it in a kiln to melt out the wax, which then leaves a mold of the ring I carved.

After it's been in the kiln, then I cast the metal in it using a wild  gadget and hot melted metal and a big torch!  I have a video of it which I will post later. Still trying to find the time to edit that one!

Here's the canister after it's had the melted sterling silver pushed into it using centrifugal force. It was a wild ride I tell ya!  But it did it!  The dark spot you see inside the white is the metal. It's oxidized but just wait, it'll shine soon! It's hot and that's why I've got it in a bucket of water to cool down and remove the investment.

Here it is!! It's a ring! The base is where I put wax on the bottom of the ring to create a funnel for the melted metal to flow into. You can still see some of the investment on the ring which I scrubbed off.

See? I told you it was a ring. A sterling silver ring to be exact. Some of the metal I used was from my mom's college jewelry class days. Very special.
I've cut off the bottom which is referred to as a button and will then start the process to make it look more normal and ring like.

Here it is so far.  Still have a ways to go with sanding and resizing.

Here's the top view where I'll learn how to set the turquoise stone I was telling you about.
Yes, it's thick...it gives me some wiggle room to work with too.

It's a cool class. But it's almost over and I've learned a lot!

I'll post a picture of it all finished soon hopefully.

Thanks for stopping by to see my progress!