Glass And Molds, and Harley parts!

Good Morning Creatives, Today were looking at the glass casting process.   this process is fairly involved with numerous stages to set up, creation and refinement.   We began on the drawing board, designing a round lens for the Harley.   These disks needed fit a number of different parameters, including the reusability of the mold.  this was a big part actually having a number of lenses needed for each bike, and exponentially more needed for a fleet.  

For the Early Stages, We created concepts of several styles, time periods, and functional thickness.   The lens being fully glass, consideration must be taken when the glass is being annealed, or melted.   Glass, when successfully annealed, should neither crack nor shatter.  However, When dealing with non commercial molds and glass, there is a higher risk during product development for the items to shrink and warp during the annealing and melting process.   This can yield unsatisfactory results, including the items not surviving the process!
   Pictured at right are the Model pieces being prepped for mold making.  Sealed and polished extensively, this assists greatly in the mold process and mold release.  Without sealing the mother model, this process would fail most certainly.

   After the layers and layers of sealing and polishing,  we take our precious Mother Model, and begin Creating molds,  and then those molds fail, and we hone the mother model into a more refined version, re grease and make more molds, which inevitbley may need MORE refinement and then we make a couple molds that DO work! YAY!   So now we have Molds full of glass several weeks later, full of crushed, measured glass, and waiting patiently in the deep heat of the annealer.

               Lets go Pull them out!!


          Till next week!

Upcoming Banquets of Steel And rubber Smokeouts.

In the Fall of The past Season the Studio was abloom with the late flowers of summer, the projects and designs. Blueprints laid flat, unfurled like a great canvas of a master, fine lines and curves all around,   The distractions of those times have since become lesser giants of their former selves, the great hands of time having swept away a number of tumors.

     Now as the season temperature ebbs and wanes, back and forth yet still, we are reminded that the coming tides of spring would not be too far away. With natures logical promise, that even though the barren wastelands pour out their fury and might, we have another season approaching still.

  SO!  Soon the winds Will subside and The bikes will roll out.  The motors have been boring themselves into the heads of their owners, and The harley dealership is beginning to see signs of life again, The tours and informational sessions bringing folks in from around the town.  I stopped in myself and found the a whole group of people talking and milling about. Clipboard in hand I ordered a shiny new set of keys for my harley, Parked since october I haven't ran the motor in a while.

  Casting,  Pouring Molten metal Into the Encasement of a mold.  That is the Future topics of this semesters explorations.  finding Ways to turn Billet and sculptural molds into cast objects of function and reliability.   With objects like taillights, headlamps, turn signals and motor parts, we've got a ton of work ahead.  especially with the wax failures of this past week.  Stay tuned, More to come!