Presentation Title

New Approaches to Sculptural Casting

Author(s) Information

Nicole Stahl

Presentation Type

Poster Presentation/Art Exihibt

College

College of Art & Letters

Major

Art

Location

Event Center A & B

Faculty Mentor

Dr. Katherine Gray

Start Date

5-19-2016 1:00 PM

End Date

5-19-2016 2:30 PM

Abstract

The focus of this research was to learn two specific approaches of casting sculptural objects to later apply to my artistic practice. For the first part of my research, I learned the process of utilizing low-fire bismuth alloy to create a three-dimensional form. Brushable silicone was applied to a clay form that was later poured into, resulting in a metal object. The attraction to this type of metal casting is the accessibility-it can be melted simply using a standard stove top. The second portion of my research was to conduct a series of compatibility testing with different brands of glass casting material. To approach this, I fabricated a series of small objects utilizing glasses of different expansions rates and colors. These forms, which took the shape of flies, were dropped into separate square-shaped plaster-silica molds containing the standard glass we use at CSUSB. Molten material was immediately dropped on top, encasing the original colored fly. Upon cooling, I observed the resulting objects to see which had cracked (indicating incompatibility) and/or greatly distorted the original object (not preferable for artwork). The findings and knowledge obtained from both of these casting methods were then applied to my sculptural artwork.

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May 19th, 1:00 PM May 19th, 2:30 PM

New Approaches to Sculptural Casting

Event Center A & B

The focus of this research was to learn two specific approaches of casting sculptural objects to later apply to my artistic practice. For the first part of my research, I learned the process of utilizing low-fire bismuth alloy to create a three-dimensional form. Brushable silicone was applied to a clay form that was later poured into, resulting in a metal object. The attraction to this type of metal casting is the accessibility-it can be melted simply using a standard stove top. The second portion of my research was to conduct a series of compatibility testing with different brands of glass casting material. To approach this, I fabricated a series of small objects utilizing glasses of different expansions rates and colors. These forms, which took the shape of flies, were dropped into separate square-shaped plaster-silica molds containing the standard glass we use at CSUSB. Molten material was immediately dropped on top, encasing the original colored fly. Upon cooling, I observed the resulting objects to see which had cracked (indicating incompatibility) and/or greatly distorted the original object (not preferable for artwork). The findings and knowledge obtained from both of these casting methods were then applied to my sculptural artwork.