技法
Lost Wax Cast
Japanese: ロストワックスキャスト
A technique in which a wax prototype is encased in refractory plaster to remove the wax, and glass is then poured into the resulting cavity to create a cast.
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In the lost-wax casting process, a wax prototype is encased in refractory plaster and hardened; the wax is then melted and removed (de-waxing) through heating, after which the cavity is filled with glass billets or cullets, heated, and the glass is poured into the mold to form the desired shape. This technique is detailed in Bullseye Glass Co.’s TipSheet 8 and is one of the standard methods for art glass casting. The peak temperature ranges from 815 to 870°C.
The greatest advantage of this method is that it allows for the free design of complex three-dimensional shapes, since the final shape of the glass is created from wax during the wax prototype stage. During the dewaxing process, the refractory plaster mold must be heated gradually to 200–500°C to completely remove the wax; rapid heating can cause the mold to burst. It is important to provide vent holes in the mold; the design that allows air to escape as the glass flows into the cavity determines the level of detail that can be reproduced. The thicker the piece, the longer the annealing time (several weeks for pieces over 100 mm thick).
Related Concepts
Understand the guidelines for selecting casting techniques, including refractory plaster, fiber-mold casting, and sulfide blackening.
This entry is written in Japanese by Rei Chikaoka and translated for readers outside Japan. If something reads oddly, the original is the source of truth.