[Jewelry making - Article 00140] - Re: [Orchid] Value of old Roman intaglios?

[David L. Huffman]

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Hi All;

    I can't speak to the value of the intaglios, but the original post
    asked if it was possible to make cast glass copies from molds taken
    from some intaglios. I once did an experiment along these lines. I
    carved some "buttons" of various shapes using carvable wax. The shape
    of these was such that they could "draft" out of a mold. In other
    words, no undercuts that would prevent them from being lifted up out
    of a mold. I found some small cardboard boxes and glued the buttons
    on the bottom using sticky wax. I then poured casting investment over
    them and let them set up. I peeled away the cardboard and lifted the
    buttons out of the plaster. Next, I put these in my kiln and dried
    them for an hour at around 300 deg. F. I took some broken glass from
    old green wine bottles, cobalt blue cosmetic jars, etc and placed
    what seemed to me enough in each mold that when it melted it would
    fill them. I took the kiln up to around 1500 degrees and looked in.
    The glass had formed globules, one in each mold. I then decided the
    glass needed to be pressed down into the mold so I took some pieces
    of kiln shelving (blocks of plaster would work) and pressed down. I
    left them sitting that way and turned off the kiln. I let it cool
    completely, most of the day. When I was finished, I had some pretty
    successful pressed glass jewels. They were matt in finish, would
    probably acid polish, but I jus sand blasted them and buffed them a
    bit using cerium oxide. I sure results would vary depending on type
    of glass, etc., but the detail was pretty good. Here and there, a bit
    of evidence of the glass folding up against itself, which I think
    higher melting temperatures would correct (unless you liked the
    effect). 

David L. Huffman

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