FA+
Shop
452
Views
Views
12
Favorites
Favorites
Category
Artwork (Traditional) / Animal related (non-anthro)
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 720 x 720
File Size 155.7 kB
Report this content
More from Ponygirl
Another jewelry wax of tininess. I tried my hand at breeding bettas for a bit, but it was too hard to keep up with since I also had two jobs at the time. :/ I made this one double-sided since I planned to make earrings out of this too (and I just had a thing for seeing if I could make 3D stuff instead of hollowed-out backs at the time).
Note the half-moon tail instead of the pet store veiltail.
Note the half-moon tail instead of the pet store veiltail.
Category Artwork (Traditional) / Animal related (non-anthro)
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 720 x 720px
File Size 155.7 kB
Never sold them. I just carved the wax, but since I don't know what the demand would be like for them, I never bothered casting (since it's a rather huge chunk of money up front...gotta pay for the model casting, the mold, and then all the silver for the castings).
Mmm...beauty-filled angry crowntails. XD I had a purple/gold trio, the male with half-white-banded 'butterfly' fins. Breeding was really neat, but too time-consuming... x_x
Mmm...beauty-filled angry crowntails. XD I had a purple/gold trio, the male with half-white-banded 'butterfly' fins. Breeding was really neat, but too time-consuming... x_x
I'm way late to the party here, but I really love all the detail you crammed in here! And the general...I don't know, "composition" of it? That's probably not the best word to use, but y'know, the overall form is very eye-catching.
What kind of wax did you use for this? I've only worked with it for making casts from plaster molds, and it liked to chip and break all over the place.
Forgive me if you're well-versed in all of this and I'm ignorantly preaching to the choir, but:
Have you ever tried making your own molds for stuff like this? Plaster is extremely cheap, and I think you can even make it yourself for even cheaper. (It's what...flour and glue, basically? I don't know how it holds up to store-bought.) Rubber and alginate are much more pricey, but the molds last waaaaay longer, and they're not as bitchy to work with as plaster tends to be. I've never done any foundry work, so I don't know what you'd do about getting silver casts, but with any of these mold-making materials you could cast plaster, rubber, wax, resin, clay...really anything you can pour in there that will set.
Anyway, I love all of the jewelry I've seen from you, and if any of those suggestions lead to more economically-sound pieces (on your end, and on the buyer's), then win-win. :) I'd love to see a bunch of colorful little rubber or plastic casts of this guy.
What kind of wax did you use for this? I've only worked with it for making casts from plaster molds, and it liked to chip and break all over the place.
Forgive me if you're well-versed in all of this and I'm ignorantly preaching to the choir, but:
Have you ever tried making your own molds for stuff like this? Plaster is extremely cheap, and I think you can even make it yourself for even cheaper. (It's what...flour and glue, basically? I don't know how it holds up to store-bought.) Rubber and alginate are much more pricey, but the molds last waaaaay longer, and they're not as bitchy to work with as plaster tends to be. I've never done any foundry work, so I don't know what you'd do about getting silver casts, but with any of these mold-making materials you could cast plaster, rubber, wax, resin, clay...really anything you can pour in there that will set.
Anyway, I love all of the jewelry I've seen from you, and if any of those suggestions lead to more economically-sound pieces (on your end, and on the buyer's), then win-win. :) I'd love to see a bunch of colorful little rubber or plastic casts of this guy.
Heh, thanks. :)
The wax is a specialized type meant for jewelry-making. As I understand it, carving wax for jewelry has a high plastic/polymer content, so it doesn't melt in your hands or get flaky or gummy. Really, it's more like handling plastic that you can shave off pieces really easily than it is like actual wax, but it also melts in a controllable manner.
The problem with trying to get this cast isn't the mold-making, but the casting. I don't know that I trust ordinary store-bought plaster or a homemade mix to stand up to the (VERY) high temperatures needed to pour molten metal into it, or withstand either the impact or pressure of said metal being put into the mold (depending on whether you're vacuum-casting or centrifugal-casting).
Also I have no facilities to melt metal, it's rather dangerous so i leave that to experts. <XD Plastic could be a possibility but because I originally carved it for use in jewelry, it's a bit thin. Besides, I don't imagine there's that many people out there who'd look at a plastic tiny betta charm and would think anything aside from "hey, what gumball machine did this come out of?"
The wax is a specialized type meant for jewelry-making. As I understand it, carving wax for jewelry has a high plastic/polymer content, so it doesn't melt in your hands or get flaky or gummy. Really, it's more like handling plastic that you can shave off pieces really easily than it is like actual wax, but it also melts in a controllable manner.
The problem with trying to get this cast isn't the mold-making, but the casting. I don't know that I trust ordinary store-bought plaster or a homemade mix to stand up to the (VERY) high temperatures needed to pour molten metal into it, or withstand either the impact or pressure of said metal being put into the mold (depending on whether you're vacuum-casting or centrifugal-casting).
Also I have no facilities to melt metal, it's rather dangerous so i leave that to experts. <XD Plastic could be a possibility but because I originally carved it for use in jewelry, it's a bit thin. Besides, I don't imagine there's that many people out there who'd look at a plastic tiny betta charm and would think anything aside from "hey, what gumball machine did this come out of?"
Comments