The Casting Shop

inter-metalic compound

2011-11-13T15:22:00.000-08:00

So I talked about it, they talk about it, we have our ideas about it.......
But pictures are worth 1000 words....so here you go 18k rose gold with 23% copper.
What happened? I alloyed the metal in the crucible I was going to cast it in, got distracted allowed it to air cool all the way down to room temp. and an hour later decided to cast it without thinking about the alloy type or what I just did to it. Then after torch casting it let it sit too long in the casting machine. Well when I got it out of the plaster it already started to crumble, I tried to clip some of the parts and they shattered. the part that is broken in half was done with my bare hands...

The beginning...

2011-07-01T00:47:00.001-07:00

When we started we where without form and full of hope...

as we began to narrow in on what we would expect....

then beginning to take shape...

as the basis for form and foundation came into being...

the hard part as always is finding our place in the world, where we belong and how we fit in...
Ultimately finding that the people and the places we have touched are forever changed.

Something for myself...

2011-07-01T00:39:00.001-07:00

although change is inevitable, it is still painful, scary and all the other verbs we can imagine.....
we still manage to find our way through all of the obstacles placed in our path.

This is a ring I made for myself, it is a commemoration of a part of my life, my work and the time spent with a friend.

She takes a piece of us with her.....

I have a piece to remind me of her......

Metal inlay

2011-06-04T12:29:00.000-07:00

While working on a custom ring for a friend/mentor/client Kevin Crane of Crane Jewelers of Seattle. I attempted to cast Shokudo into 18k white gold.... well as you can see it didn't work so well.

The next step was to remake the white gold ring only this time I was going to inlay the Shokudo using a hammer technique...
The channels are made the opposite of stone inlay, the bottom of the channel is wider than the top so when you place the metal in the channel and begin to hammer it in it will spread into the bottom and lock it in place.

Keep in mind the ring must be strong enough to handle being hammered on without distortion.
When it was all finished I treated it with Phil Baldwins Patina to turn the Shokudo black. After the ring was completely finished it went to have diamonds set in the holes in between the inlay on both sides. (I didn't set the stones so I have no pictures of the ring with the diamonds.

@the shop

2011-06-03T22:42:00.000-07:00

If you have ever struggled with the issue of a good count down timer for investing. I have used clocks, watches, Flash timers on computers to just plain guessing. Nothing ever has been as good as what I first used when learning to invest the first time.
A few months ago while looking in junk stores in Portlandia I found one! after almost twenty years I finally have one again! THE BEST TIMER EVER.....

@ the shop

2011-06-03T00:23:00.001-07:00

Just have to tell you! Foredom makes an angle grinder now! Did you hear me? ANGLE GRINDER FOREDOM HAND PIECE!!!!!!!

Go check it out....... @ Seattle Findings and while your at it check out their new site...

@ the shop

2011-06-03T00:05:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you don't really understand why you needed that tool...
Then you buy the tool...

...and you just can't see how you got by without it all this time.

Playin With Fire again......

2011-02-20T22:36:00.000-08:00

This is my friend Eliot Peacock of
http://www.thepeacockbrothers.com/
He was casting some bronze buckles......

and now the video

2011-02-13T18:10:00.000-08:00

Cutting glass with a diamond band saw....

Diamond band saw

2011-02-12T15:20:00.000-08:00

I acquired A diamond band saw a few years ago and at the prompting of one of my associates pulled it out of the basement and set it up for the first time. we started by sawing some glass then on to her project cutting up some tigers eye.
Needless to say I'm hooked...
...video to follow.

plastic is the new medium

2011-02-08T21:11:00.000-08:00

Who would have thought that a metal casting shop would be casting plastic?
I think his name is James.........

....today's color is green

@ the shop

2010-08-26T01:50:00.000-07:00

Candice's first gold casting...

... white gold

@ the shop

2010-08-26T01:26:00.000-07:00

Casting shop turn over......change is inevitable...

on an other note, what is low karat ( around 2k ) has a specific gravity of 10k made with recycled metal and only contains gold silver and copper? It began its life as an alloy called "Sphere" I have been considering a name change.

the ring is made from Sphere

casting pewter

2010-06-29T19:37:00.000-07:00

So after 19 years who knew I would be back to what I was doing in New Mexico

14 months later

2010-06-12T03:12:00.000-07:00

New people, new year... new metal.
A combination of two Japanese alloys, Shokudo and shibuichi.
It's been called "white Rose" it changes color in different light,
and it melts at very low temperature.
We call it "Sphere" it is low karat gold alloy of silver copper and gold. It weighs the same as 10k and cost around $350 per troy ounce.

Pictures to follow......

Been a while... been busy

2009-03-19T12:03:00.000-07:00

Its been a long while since I was here....

My Shameless Comerce Division

2008-10-18T19:54:00.000-07:00

This is my new Etsy site......

Maji's Foundry

Investment...

2008-01-15T23:45:00.000-08:00

Someone asked me what kind of investment I use?
...I answered, the kind that works really well.

But if you want to know more just ask

Casting again

2008-01-15T23:30:00.000-08:00

There is a part of me that loves making stuff, I just want a little more freedom in what I do. Couple that with a strong work ethic and you might have some prolific fun......
...a type of enjoyment that comes when you are in the creative, not just participating but IN the creative...

Favorite metal of the day 22k, 916, or better known as granulation alloy....

18k Rose Gold...

2007-12-18T01:22:00.000-08:00

Last year we encountered a problem with an 18k rose gold alloy. Before I go into the problem I give a little back ground: we make our rose golds from scratch using oxygen free copper, fine silver and always 1/2% pure zinc no matter what the % of copper used. The zinc as I understand makes the alloy workable and cohesive.
On to the "problem" we cast a 2 inch by 3 inch frame for a cameo and two days later we got the call "that casting was no good, it just started crumbling apart while working on it." I immediately took the sprue left over from the casting (we still had it untouched from the casting) and I bent it around a ring mandrel twice, not even a crack! I got the part back and I could crumble it into little pieces. So being a tech head I started researching the problem. I found out that they had to solder nine small wires to the piece for pearls... the part weighed around two and a half ounces in 18k, so while soldering they would solder one wire and allow it to cool off between soldering. Not on purpose but just the time it took to grab the next wire and heat it up again.
That is when the problem occurs... During my research I discovered a post on a news group by Peter Rowe that explained it very well. An inter-metallic compound forms in the alloy causing it to crack and break at the grain boundary.
The solution is from an other post is a faster read, but go read Peter's post first. The following steps should be taken in between each soldering operation when assembling in any 18k rose gold. This does not seem to affect 14k rose as much but might if it is a high copper alloy (RED Gold).

"Before any working is done, anneal by heating to a dark red (around 900F). Allow the red glow to just barely disappear and then quench. And here's the trick. If you quench in water, you run the risk of sometimes cracking the metal. (if you quench in pickle it will strip the copper from the surface and make your rose gold turn bright GREEN) So instead, quench it in alcohol. Be careful not to set the alcohol aflame with your annealing torch, and plunge the hot gold into the alcohol quickly, so it's immediately totally immersed. Done that way, the alcohol will not ignite."

quoted text comes from this URL http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/Archive/Rec/rec.crafts.jewelry/2005-08/msg00080.html

So that's what I know about it, hope its a help to anyone who might find some cast rose gold on their bench that needs some solder work.

Definition of Cast

2007-12-18T01:06:00.000-08:00

It falls way down in the list of nouns, number nine to be exact...
9.
a. The act of pouring molten material into a mold.
b. The amount of molten material poured into a mold at a single operation.
c. Something formed by this means: The sculpture was a bronze cast.

Ironically the number nine is the number of completion... so when your done casting your finished.

What is really funny are the first two transitive verbs:
1. To throw
2. To throw with force

...no matter how hard we try we cannot force metal to do things it doesn't want to.

Time for a change...

2007-12-12T02:45:00.000-08:00

This early December I sat and pondered the name of this Blog I have created...

It reminded me of a story; Long ago in New Mexico I got a job in a small but big jewelry company named Desert Star. It was my second job in the jewelry industry of Albuquerque. Ironically it was a casting shop that produced jewelry by lost wax process. I stood in Harry Sappington and Pam Cody's casting shop/ jewelry company late one afternoon and was overwhelmed with emotion. For the first time in my 20 some years, I knew exactly what I wanted...

Their place was an old school casting shop, with a large foundry style natural gas blast furnace and a couple of large gas fired ovens. The main metal we cast there was silicon bronze (biker jewelry) we made thousands of bronze rings, bracelets and earrings.

Now some 20 years later and 3000 miles away, I have a smaller version of the same shop. I am "living the dream" we don't make bronze rings, but we sure make allot of gold, platinum and silver ones. It's been a long tough road to get here and I lost a close friend and mentor along the way.

So why the story? Because it's time for metamorphose and change. This blog will become it's name sake and be a vicarious look at "The Casting Shop"...

Fashion week 2007

2007-10-11T11:28:00.000-07:00

My wife and I, and our friend Jeanie had front row seats at a runway show in Seattle.....and I got to meet Summer Ryne Oakes that night.

Another view...

Arcosanti

2007-10-04T22:12:00.000-07:00

Just some photo memories of a well spent summer

and my favorite photo of an olive tree and an Italian cypress

Movie

2007-09-19T17:02:00.000-07:00

My friend Cliff from high school days in Santa Fe was working on a movie set in the glass building in the post below, its the old repair yard for the Santa Fe rail road in Albuquerque.

This is Glen, Cliff and Dale..... Cliff was working we were visiting. Cliff and I haven't seen each other in 20 some years, Glen and I just met that day and I'm sure we will know each other for another 20 some years....Dale and I were traveling together through the land of Enchantment....

New Mexico

2007-09-17T15:49:00.000-07:00

Well drifting through New Mexico now... I have traveled almost the whole southern half of the state and now this post is coming from a coffee shop named Satelite at the corner of Carlisle & Central ave ...

This is the largest inclosed glass and steel building in North America

This is sunrise at Lavender Spring Ranch.....

The Traveler

2007-09-03T17:35:00.000-07:00

So much has happened since my last post. This time I am writing from a cafe in Arcosanti.
Last week I was in Casa Grande, next week New Mexico.

It's nice to be home (in the desert) once you have it in your blood it never leaves. I could tell when I was standing in 110 degree weather and was enjoying it. Don't know if I could live down here again but I do love the desert climate.

Report from the beach....

2007-07-01T22:46:00.000-07:00

We've been enjoying the sun and the beach for two days now. Our little blue house on the beach seemed to be waiting for us this year.
My little one is in the doorway.

We have chosen the right weekend to be here. It has been great, not too many people around. Things are moving a little slow for Cannon Beach and we have been enjoying it.

There is a GOOD coffee hangout here now called Bella Espresso and they have FREE WIFI . It seems like part of a Portland chain I think the have three stores. Coffee is good....Beach is good...Family is good...

.....

2007-06-16T01:56:00.000-07:00

Solstice is upon us once again. We enjoy the dark as much as the light here in the domain of Cascadia. Summer means sun rise at 4am and sunset at 9pm. This time of year we tend to enjoy the long lingering of the sun and the reason most who visit want to stay.

Still Hear....

2007-05-28T00:54:00.000-07:00

Yes I meant to spell it that way.
Be still and hear, be here now.....no matter how many time I say it it is still like the first time I heard the phrase. I still have trouble with being here now. Living in the moment is as hard as it is easy.
Talking to an engineer friend of mine the other night over an IPA, he came to an understanding of the wave/particle essence of light. The realization of light moving so slowly that it becomes solid was ground breaking. We learn through teaching, our self about our self.

Esso

2007-05-02T00:04:00.000-07:00

Full and Empty
the parody of life's drama, it plays out unexpectedly for the players. The waking dream, if you pay attention to the details you might just see the reality.

I'm not even sure why I am writing this now. I impulsively looked at my blog and realized that I need to post.... I don't even think anyone is reading this except me. Its become my ya ya, or something to that effect. Compulsory writings, the rambles of an impostor hiding out in his life that he thinks is so important. One minute I brag about my station the next I want to run away from it. Late nights hiding from the world in front of one of my many computers. Hoping to find what is missing in my scope of reality. What is it I am hiding from? Me? My life? You? The world?

Everyone has some kind of expectation about the who and the what.

I just finished watching a movie "Smoking Aces" that was such a social commentary on the political pop media culture. Right down to the kid on Ritalin, the redneck punks from New York and the 50 caliber assault rifle shooting people from more than 200 yards away. It was like real life HALO or some other first person shooter crime video game. It felt like the Sycophant trying to explain Plato to a kindergarten class.

Now I type blindly to the net hoping someone is reading this.....if you are let me know with a comment or two.

this american life

2007-04-21T12:05:00.000-07:00

I just finished listening to a radio program Ira Glass has an amazing tone of knowing in his voice, he always has the right questions and it seems that for the most part he gets them answered...

Thank Nancy Updike for the great photo of Ira.

I have questions again; most of the unanswered. What does it mean to be an adult? Why do we have to act a certain way? When do we officially grow up. What if we don't? What if we do sometimes?
Our children grow up acting like a mixture of them and us and every thing that came before us. At some point they become the adult and we become the child. We pretend to be adults and they try to act like what they think an adult is.
I really would like to know what being an adult is; is it related to the accumulation of knowledge; or is it the accumulation of experience that shapes our reality? How does perception come into play? Can we use our perception as an excuse for our behavior? When do we really know what it means to be "adult"?

a·dult (ə-dŭlt', ăd'ŭlt)
n.

One who has attained maturity or legal age.
Biology. A fully grown, mature organism.

adj.

Fully developed and mature.
Relating to, intended for, or befitting adults: adult education.
Containing or dealing in explicitly sexual material; pornographic: adult movies; adult bookstores.

that is what Webster tells me but it says nothing about the me within the Self.

How many generations would it take to truly heal the afflictions that we carry with us that are not truly our affliction, but the ones we where handed by our parents parents parents, by society and the narrow world view we have from our TVs and our own back yard.

If life is truly experiential then we must experience to really live....

Soft What

2007-04-18T02:44:00.000-07:00

It never has amazed me more how we can have an OS and an APP that works fine together until we NEED them to work. I just spent 2 hours trying to get my accounting software to recognize the Internet connection that I'm listening to streaming audio and looking at a web page through... finally after trying and fighting with Windows 2000 professional and Quick books 2005 on a computer that I have been using for 2 years...I get up go to my laptop rewrite the invoice because there is no way to transfer the data without a big hassle. and send it via email in 2 minutes like I tried to do for 2 hours.

Why am I ranting about this? I don't know? Maybe because I waisted the last 2 hours when I could have finished the waxes I was supposed to have done tomorrow! But I also needed to send that quote too. AND look at the time its 3:00am...............I did manage to not break either computer.

...Children of Men

2007-04-14T00:52:00.000-07:00

A Must See Movie !!!
It is not a happily ever after movie by far. After watching this film, you must watch the extra features... Bravo ! Truth be told !

At many places in this movie I could not tell if I was watching the news or a movie.

I have no more words to describe what I have seen....

the mirror

2007-04-10T02:48:00.000-07:00

It is a defining moment when you stand and look at the mirrors around you and you discover that it is you that you see...

...all of them attracted to you like a magnet to steel.

Defining is the moment when you understand why you attracted them in the first place.

and the comment becomes part of the blog

2007-04-10T01:33:00.000-07:00

Roxy said... (as a comment to Time)

Ahhhhhh. Nice reflection my friend.
We should all take the time to reflect whether it be of Past or Future events, it's all the same that being Contemplation. I consider this to be an ART. I am beginning to understand that what I know is absolute, as in absolutely nothing. This gift allows me to remain teachable at all times and leave the end resolve up to this present moment where all is perfect and calm. If I am honest with my Self I see that I am in constant state of QUEST,hence to reflect is when I remember "ahhhh, what a waste of energy!". Reflection causes me to remember to live, here, now and forever.Remember. reflect + live.

April 7, 2007 12:41 PM

Thanks for insight, thought I'd share it...

Time

2007-04-07T03:11:00.000-07:00

The great equalizer...we walk in this world oblivious to the the wake we leave in our path. A wise man once said "Mastery is to cross the surface of a lake without leaving a wake in your path" this is mastery.

If we stand against the wind, its force can push us in any direction it blows. If we change our stance instead of fighting the gust we can guide and channel the wind around us .

2007-04-06T01:58:00.000-07:00

This took me a long time to complete, it was the birthday present that came a year late......

... frame

2007-04-06T01:45:00.000-07:00

this frozen frame is a little something I made last year...

The silver parts where all made at different times and then mysteriously they all came together. Now they are one.

the freeze frame

2007-04-06T01:01:00.000-07:00

a moment frozen in time...
some people are predictable, some are not...
it's the Not that will always surprise you. The predictable will surprise you by becoming a Not if the lesson you are to learn from the not isn't learned at the moment you first experience it...the experience becomes frozen in time, or stuck right where you left it.
You then get to pick up right where you left off...over and over again.
If you are content to not learn then the lesson will replay it's Self by use of a new or different medium.
So... given the opportunity, deal with the issues as they arrive not after they return again......

N.O.T. neology on the
N.O.T. next opportunity to
N.O.T. now ostentatiously talk

enough rambling about the predictable N.O.T............

well....

2007-04-05T02:32:00.000-07:00

...an old friend of mine once said that I was the catalyst that ignited the fire within her and got her motivated into action. Where is I when I need me most. I have become the opposite of what I truly am or maybe I've become what I fear most.

I'm not really sure... I think its time to mend a few broken fences and tend to the flock. Time to give back and make a mends for past behavior.

Life through a filter

2007-04-04T00:50:00.000-07:00

Been playing with a water color filter that has a cool effect....
It seems to work better than the PS version, its MS...

you be the judge......both pics are done in MS photo editor.

...the charcoal filter is cool too I used it on the picture of me.

2 am

2007-04-03T02:03:00.000-07:00

Sitting in the studio at home, listening to the Drone Zone on SomaFm
longing for a prolonged stretch of time to call my own. Stealing a few hours while the world around me sleeps. I can think of 2 people I know that are up right now 1. Kim working the graveyard shift at Big Foot Espresso and 2. Gordon in his studio on Vashon Island. Each of them joining me silently in their own solitude.
The morning will come too quickly for me and the day ahead. So off to sleep I go.

11 years

2007-04-01T20:57:00.000-07:00

Today is the eleventh year of my self employment, It all started on April Fools Day.....This was our first casting, that's Larry on the right and me assisting. the flask we cast in that picture blew out while pouring it. It sucked the silver down into the plastic vacuum line in the off the shelf casting machine. From that day forward we never used another off the shelf casting machine. They always had to be modified to suit the what we were doing. We ended up building our own vacuum casting table, it has been used almost every day for the last eleven years. That's about 2700 lbs of metal. Larry built that machine and many others we still use today.....

Larry passed away December 1st 2005, the first photo is the very first casting we did together at his house, the next is the very last photo ever taken. He is deeply missed, I hope that somehow he is reading this.........

Victor

2007-03-31T23:50:00.000-07:00

I love my new torch, just bought a Victor 100fc with a #6 mfa tip. I got two tips, a #4 and a #6. The #4 is good but just a little too small for what I'm doing. The #6 is perfect for the job even on palladium white gold. The new hose set is a little stiff but long over due. The old torch was a Smith AW10, been using it for all most 10 years...it all most blew up in my hand Friday at 5 o'clock. Someone is looking out for my dumb ass cause nobody got hurt. My recommendation is CLEAN YOUR TORCH TIPS and use a good flash back suppressor.

11:11

2007-03-31T23:13:00.000-07:00

Another late late night in the shop...I'm starting to get use to working late and alone.
Not such a good Idea if you are prone to hermetic tendencies.....

...and that 11:11 number comes up again as a reminder to "BE HERE NOW" or, you know, live in the right now.

A Ring...

2007-03-31T00:58:00.000-07:00

...for the queen

Information

2007-03-31T00:32:00.000-07:00

...with the right information we can do just about anything, AND with the wrong or bad information expect to FAIL or failure. Is it complacency that causes neglect? Maybe it's not (($)) important enough......

day one....

2007-03-31T00:03:00.000-07:00

Midnight and I can hear the furnace running still.
It almost has a calming effect, a sound that once you are familiar you will never forget.....making parts for 50Th anniversary Stiletto knifes and allot of scrolls for Tom.