Dragon River Steel Corp's easy plaster bridge abutment casting made easy.

[dragonriversteel]

Hello all,

     On another forum I posted my easy plaster casting of bridge abutments.The whole process is below, its very simple to do. First you have to make the mold,I used heavy duty card stock for my molds.

 

 This first picture is of the card stock mold clamped together...ready for plaster.

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d5/Dragonriversteel/Castbridgeabutment004.jpg

This next photo is of the plaster mixed in a zip lock bag.I use a zip -lock bag because its less mess and I can inject the mold by cutting a small hole in the corner of the bag,to inject the mold with plaster.

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d5/Dragonriversteel/Castbridgeabutment005.jpg

The next phot is of the mold filled with plaster....be sure to tap the mold while your injecting it to release the air bubbles and fill all the voids.

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d5/Dragonriversteel/Castbridgeabutment006.jpg

The next photo is after the plaster has hardened for about 5 to 10 mins. You then should remove only half the mold for two reasons. First you don't want to damage the casting as your carving it and secondly its still easy to move it around.

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d5/Dragonriversteel/Castbridgeabutment007.jpg

Next you have to carve out the keystone. I do this by using a dentist pick and a machist tool. You must work quickly before the plaster really sets.

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d5/Dragonriversteel/Castbridgeabutment008.jpg

This photo is of the completed carved casting ,before washing it with indian ink. You could hand paint each stone with acylic paint,should you  go that route.

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d5/Dragonriversteel/Castbridgeabutment009.jpg

Here is a half indian ink wash and the finnished product is the next photo. The amount of time it takes to do this whole project after you build the mold is about 20 mins. This is a easy and fairly cheap project and the bright side to this project....you can make all the bridge abutments you want and any size you want.

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d5/Dragonriversteel/Castbridgeabutment010.jpg

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d5/Dragonriversteel/Castbridgeabutment011.jpg

Patrick

Beaufort,SC

Dragon River Steel Corp {DRSC}

[fiatfan]

Nice work, Patrick.  Thanks for taking the time to put this together.

Tom