Ageirr and I have been really digging this mold process for making tokens. In no surprise that either of us would keep falling deeper and deeper in love with the process as is our need to craft. We’ve posted up several of our previous molds and processes, but this one, the coronation mold was a whole -giant step- for crafting kind.
I will once again reiterate that this is not a period process and so there is very little on the internet or resources we have readily available to us. However, we’ve been enjoying discovering each part as we go.
Our original process looked like this:
- 3-d Model the positive
- Make the positive
- Try to smooth the positive (Modgepodge, wood glue, wood filler, raw sanding)
- Mix the silicone and let it cure (24 hours)
- Pull out the positive
- Cast with pewter
- “Attempt to clean” (big air quotes on that) using a Dremmel
We then started to refine our cleaning processes. We tried out different tips with different shapes and different coarseness/grinding surfaces. We got much further and even discovered how, by hand to get these suckers super shiny.
Once finishing up another set of tokens (of course it was the second we were done) we had an epiphany. Wait a second… why don’t we try to clean the mold up itself. So, we took the dremmel with the pink tips (383g) and gently touched the mold. They looked great! We would figure out the rest of the process later, for now we had a bid to complete 500 tokens for the coronation of King Ozurr and Queen Fortune.
Ageirr and I had never done 2 part molds before, however, for the design we had in mind, we would need to do this.
Step 1) 3-d Model the positive.
The concept for these was taken directly from Their Majestie’s Heraldry. However, since Fortune’s heraldry ( an 8 spoke wheel) is very close to the 7 spoke wheel award (The Silver wheel) to avoid confusion, we added roses to the mix.
Step 2) Make the positive. This is how they looked coming hot off the printer.
For size reference, these were 1.5 inches in diameter.
Our original next planned step was to cast it, clean it and re-cast it. In theory this should limit our time cleaning tokens.
Step 3/4) Cast
So, as you can see, no pre-sanding done it doesn’t look so pretty. You can see all the layer striations and the roses look like … well… not roses. In addition, after trimming off the flash, we did a weight check on these (as I mentioned before, we needed to make 500). We were also giving a 200 dollar budget for these. We did the math and if we had left the tokens at the same thickness and size, we would have needed 44 pounds of pewter. Pewter is approximately $19.95 a bar right now, so, you do the math.
Ageirr and I started to panic as we would need to re-scale the model and figure out how to take down the thickness.
We live in a 700 sq ft condo on the second floor so we don’t have crazy tools or materials. So, we make due with what we have. So, this time, we tried using sculpey. Ageirr being more patient with sculpting than I am and happened to have some more flexibility in his schedule, sculpted the damn thing from scratch. We printed out the images on paper and used them as layered guides so we could be as precise as possible.
From there, we created the mold again. Part one was done in the same exact way we had done our 1 part molds in the past. The second half we placed the sculpey model into the impression of the first cured mold. We placed saran wrap over it and smoothed it to the model. Finally we poured the silicone.
This resulted in a much smoother mold. We again dremmeled the edges a bit so we had a super flat mold wall that lined up. The sprue was carved and we started to pour.
We noticed that the roses were not coming out cleanly. With some research, it was suggested to use graphite as a release. With that, we not only got the tokens to release better, we got less pock marks on the pours (None to be precise) and that the mold was filling better and all parts were being cast.
Here are the tokens fresh out of the mold with general flash clipped, no cleaning:
Time to clean. Welcome to our bathroom. Our two man team included sanding edges and clearing out the holes. (We weren’t as careful as we could have been, so the pre-made hole broke off).
We use only the finest of safety equipment (Said sarcastically)
500 tokens cast!!!!
We still weren’t happy. We wanted these suckers to shine. Our buffing tips were getting eaten up pretty quickly, especially since our dremmel which still had it’s speed control was out of commission. Upon chatting with a sca’dian out on Nevada, it was suggested that a rock tumbler with jewelers shot and detergent would help give us the shiny edge we were looking for.
Thank goodness for amazon prime. We had the tumbler Thursday (The tokens were getting shipped out Friday evening). Off we went to pray.
The rock tumbler certainly did the trick. By 5 pm, here is our result:
We aren’t perfect yet in the process, however leaps and bounds have been made.
Meddlings of the Minnesinger 