5 Week Casting Class

$385.00

Who:

Anyone interested in learning about the lost wax casting process, molding and directly casting jewelry and objects. No prior metalsmithing experience is necessary. I tailor the course to meet you at your experience level. I often have a wide range of students from ‘never touched the stuff’ to professional jeweler. Some of the best work has come from participants with no prior experience so do not be discouraged. Enrollment is capped at 4 participants. (3 participants are needed for the class to run. If the enrollment requirement is not met, you will receive a full refund and priority enrollment in a future class)

When:

5 Weeks starting October 9

Wednesdays from 5:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m… except the last week when we might pull an all-nighter. jkjk

Class will meet: October 9, 16, 23, 30, and November 6

Where:

My home studio in New Albany, IN.

Address provided upon enrollment

What:

Hands-on demonstrations of wax carving, soft wax sculpting, mold making, cutting, wax injecting, organic (botanical?) casting, vacuum assisted lost wax casting process, cleanup of castings, and polishing/finishing and various metalsmithing tips and tricks. Participants are invited to cast botanical objects and can create additional pieces utilizing carving and sculpting as time allows and considering space in the kiln. Each student will have their own flask at least 3” x 5” cylinder to plan and fill. Quantity of castings really depends on the size and complexity of models, but you can plan on 5-10 small pieces for casting utilizing carving, sculpting and/or organic casting techniques. The pieces will be sterling silver.

All equipment will be provided

Wax, wax pen, carving tools, casting equipment, burnout kiln, investment, wax injector, heat gun, magnetic finisher, flex shaft, tumbler, abrasives, files, polishing compound, investment, bench pins, hand tools. Students are welcome to bring their own hand tools if they already have them.

Metal cost is NOT INCLUDED in workshop tuition. I would estimate the metal cost for each student to be around $60 - $220 depending on the volume of castings. You are welcome to bring sterling silver to recycle, fresh scrap, fresh casting grain, or purchase metal from me.

How:

The workshop will demonstrate and explain principles of casting, techniques such as mold making and cutting, injecting waxes to create multiples, explanation of all equipment, and work sessions for participants to create their own items using the process. Students will leave the workshop with cast jewelry items and objects, finished as time allows. They will leave the workshop with knowledge, experiences, digital reference materials to access indefinitely, handouts, fun sketches, notes, and instructional reference videos. The course will be taught by me (Theresa Applegate!) I have 12 years experience teaching high school visual art including jewelry courses, and 22 years of metalsmithing experience. You’re in good hands.

Why?

Because melting things is awesome. Learning new things is awesome. Meeting new people is awesome. I hope you can join!

Tentative Schedule

Week 1

Introduction

Wax carving and modeling

Worksession

Week 2

Sprueing

Mold making, wax injecting demonstration

Week 3

Mold cutting, Wax injecting

Sprueing, treeing?

Organic/botanical casting explanation

Week 4 Preparing organic castings

Sprueing, treeing, investing

Week 5

(Burnout night before)

Casting!

Cleanup and clipping

Sanding, filing, finishing

https://www.penrod.org/