Casting six aluminum statues was among the most challening things I have ever done. So, looking to take it easy the following quarter, I took a course all about casting: DESIGN223. Silver Pendant was a fun jaunt through an unusual sort of making and a great hack for sourcing unique graduation presents.
Investment casting—the process used in DESIGN223—differs from sand casting—the process I had become familiar with—in numerous ways. When sand casting, you pour metal into a mold and lift a finished part out. This makes considering gravity and avoiding disturbances in the fragile sand of prime importance. But with investment casting, these factors matter less: you zorp metal into the mold with a vacuum and then shatter the plaster to get your parts out.1 Plus, the molds are made from wax, a phenomenally malleable material with a low melting point that I found both fun and forgiving. In all, there’s a bit more freedom in the world of investment casting.
I made three unique pieces in this course:
The piece of eight necklace above represents the latest development in Vivek and my pirate obsession.2 Our pseudo-matching coins draw inspiration from a number of sources, most prominently Jack Sparrow and the Pirates of the Carribean franchise. The reverse side of mine repeats imagery from the world-historic Israel Liberata coin and features a prominent Tea for One reference (the coin’s second). The four figs are a somewhat reluctant nod to FIGBERT, which has actually nothing to do with figs, and the scrolls a reference to another jewelry project of mine.
The coin was polished with sandpaper, and the punchy contrast established via chemical oxidation. You can find it most days around my neck.
The statuette above was a graduation gift for my dear friend Daniel. Though he has still not seen any of the Pirates movies, they let him walk with a degree in Film and Media Studies. Among his many achievements during his time at Stanford, he was responsible for the reinvigoration of FLiCKS and, when asked if the triangular heads on my statues were funny, said “I guess.” I married these two accomplishments in my Benji-fied interpretation of an Oscar.3
If he doesn’t wear it when giving his acceptance speech I will steal his award and replace it with one with a triangle head.
For my third (and perhaps technically fourth) piece, I made a set of earrings for Nageena. Mounted on French hooks, their wavy, disorted shape is meant as an homage to her famously squishy nose: like you had pressed a square panel between your fingers and froze it under compression.4 Though hidden from view almost all the time, the back of her earings was particularly challenging to manufacture—sprueing the part obscured the wave pattern underneath excess material, and I ended up carving it back out of the metal by hand.
These were particularly gratifying to see in-action. Look at that smile!
Technical term. ↩
Or is it regression? ↩
You see the surface modeling on that bad boy? What masterful use of forms… so… organic. Yeah, thanks. Did it on purpose. Don’t sue me. ↩
Surface modeling strikes again! Also her nose is really extremely squishy. ↩