I want to begin sculpting, particularly bronze or some metal casting into molds.
>Where can I find a solid list of materials do begin with?
>Can I safely do bronze metal casting at home? Or will foundries do bronze casting for you?
>Which materials to begin with are best and most flexible? I've seen the process online, but they never give a list of products they used, temperatures they heat to, etc.
Also if someone could tell me their beginning experiences that would be awesome. Thanks yall!
b-bamp...
Since you're just starting out without supervision and will doubtlessly make mistakes, I would highly recommend taking classes/attaching yourself to an established studio. Molten bronze is nothing to fuck around with, it's not like sculpting with polymer clay and firing in a convention oven to a few measly hundreds of degrees. Learning even just the safety procedures and having a professional helping you through your first few castings will be worth every penny.
What needs to be done to melt that shit, even the process for lost wax casting isn't something I would recommend doing in a private home. You will probably need an outdoor space to work with bronze, or at least a detached shelter/garage which you have taken steps to fire-proof. Even if you have a basement with a concrete floor and are willing to invest in a very good ventilation system, I personally wouldn't risk burning your house down.
Suck it up and take classes. If you can't afford the time or money to take classes, you most certainly can't afford to make a home bronze-casting set up. It is not something you can do on your stovetop.
>>2429436
Thanks anon. These were all going through my mind, but the countless DIY videos totally skip over these things. I was beginning to think it was simple and I was just over-thinking the ridiculous amount of accidents that can happen.
>>2429441
I was considering this, but my university does not offer advanced courses, only beginning sculpture. I'm sure there's a ton of places though where I can learn.
If casting is dangerous and not for amateurs, I wonder where the masters learned to do their work before having advanced studios?
>>2429475
experimentation, failure, accidents, success, and building off the knowledge that came before them. the same way we have cars now which stemmed from some caveman figuring out a wheel.
It's not like you CAN'T make your own home furnace. You can, it's just that if you have no clue what you're doing, the chances of you fucking up, hurting yourself, or setting something on fire goes up exponentially. the medium of bronze is much more dangerous than most of the other mediums artists use in /ic/ due to the temperatures that need to be reached and the fact you will need to move things around at that temperature. The safest course is to take a class since you will be given instruction and guidance from someone more experienced. You will learn more about how to do things safely, and get first hand experience with someone there to help you if something should go wrong.
