labor intensive...

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new back etching...

 

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another casting video...

Casting an aluminum bronze calavera (sugar skull) for sale to the tourists. A calavera [plural: calaveras] is a representation of a human skull. The term is most often applied to edible or decorative skulls made (usually by hand) from either sugar (called Alfeñiques) or clay that are used in the Mexican celebration of the Day of the Dead (Spanish: Día de Muertos) and the Roman Catholic holiday All Souls' Day. Calavera can also refer to any artistic representations of skulls. This is a full video of the making of the mold. I've revised (and refined) my casting method since the previous video to speed up the process and render even better detail. I was getting too much shrinkage which was giving me a dimple on the back so I added a large feeder to the part. I'm using petrobond casting sand. The reddish sand is fresh petrobond that gets sifted over the pattern for good detail. The darker sand I use to pack the molding flask is refurbished petrobond that has been used several times. After casting, the really burnt sand gets put aside to be sifted, oiled (I use thread cutting oil), and mulled for reuse. I call the aluminum bronze alloy that I make "220"...which I mix by using 200 grams of copper and 20 grams of aluminum. That gives me a bronze that is 9% aluminum. I chose that mix because it is easy to use those numbers for different sized batches.

in production...

 

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Shipping Dept.

Aluminum bronze sugar skulls on there way to their new owners.  

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sugar skulls

After plenty of trial and error - I finally mastered casting and etching the sugar skulls.  I have already sold 10 of them locally.  Send me an email if you are interested in buying one.  They are 2 1/4" tall x 1 1/2" wide x 3/8" thick and weight 4.5 ounces.  $48 including priority mail shipping.  92,98,68,0,B