The Saga of Darwin's Fish

This project, begun so thoughtlessly, after weeks of preparation, has finally been poured in glass. Today, after a three day burn in the kiln & another for cooling down, I removed the one-time mold.

It all began with a simple plaster-cast of a fish, a Sea Bass. Which I thought would be a quick, first-time experience in glass casting.

The mold was good, the detail clear. But it took a few attempts at filling it with Paraffin, before getting a cast with all the details of fins & tail. In the end, I made trenches in the mold from all the high points of the fins & tail, to allow the air to escape, before I was able to force the wax in all the nooks & crannies

I modelled arms & legs in clay

Made a mold for each of them

Once poured in wax, & with great difficulty, I attached the wax arms & legs to the fish. Unfortunately the process was so fraught, & the resulting wax fish so fragile, that I didn't get another photo of it until it was in the container made to hold the plaster, flint & fiberglass I would pour into it. The metal rods are sprues that are removed after the plaster sets leaving vents for the air to escape.

In the kiln after the pour. You can see the convex shape of the glass that has filled the hole on top (the fish is upside-down, we see its base)

I began to chip the mold away. Carefully, to avoid breaking an arm or leg by accident.

When I reached a certain point, however, it fell away to reveal a fish-shaped hole where the molten glass should have been.

When I got all the mold broken away, I revealed the only part that had filled. Eeek! The pedestal & a foot :-(

I bought some expensive glass, which I'm told will work better. I have all the molds, so I will begin again from scratch