Backyard Bronze Casting

Attempt at casting a banana and avocado in sand bonded with sodium silicate.

After working in industry for a year, I was itching to do a personal project and play with a new material. I got a cheap furnace on Ebay and started messing around in the backyard.

I started by casting aluminium but wanted something gold. I experimented with brass but decided it was too dangerous after a mild case of zinc fume poisoning. Bronze was the obvious next choice but it is very hard to buy as ingots. So I went down the rabbit hole of mixing my own bronze from melted copper pipes and tin, and was thrilled with the result- a rich gold metal that polishes to a shine and patinas beautfully.

I was more interested in messing around with improvised tools than investing in a professional set up. I tried green sand casting fruits and vegetables with a cope and drag, and attempted to develop a technique to cast 3D printed parts I designed in CAD by packing them in sand and burning off the filament with the hot metal. This technique worked but left many air bubbles, which I filled with crushed stones for an effect I’m really happy with!