renfairpirate Posted September 27, 2009 Share Posted September 27, 2009 (edited) I have had a few members ask about making a Inexpensive temporary button mold and since I have some time before surgery I am posting a tutorial So here we go You will need some craft plaster,You can get it at walmart or hobby lobby for under $5.00 DO NOT use plaster from the hardware store it will flake and crack at over 400 degrees Molding clay, any kind will work $2.00 A mold frame,I use Styrofoam cups $1.00 masking tape or duct tape $2.00 A small paint or craft brush $2.00 A can of pan spray NOT THE BUTTER FLAVOR KIND $2.00 A tube of powdered graphite to dust mold after baking I carve my masters from Jewelers wax, But you can make it from just about anything or use a button you already have as long as there are no undercuts in the design This will take about 4 to 5 hours from start to first button Edited January 13, 2010 by renfairpirate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renfairpirate Posted September 27, 2009 Author Share Posted September 27, 2009 (edited) Lets make a Dutch East India Company Button Step 1 Roll out your clay slightly larger than the top of your cup and center you pattern Then make alignment keys I use the back of the craft brush Spray a light coat of pan spray on the pattern, Wipe off excess Cut top off cup Place frame around pattern and seal edge Mix enough plaster to fill first half of mold Fill mold and let set till plaster is set about 45-50 min Edited September 27, 2009 by renfairpirate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renfairpirate Posted September 28, 2009 Author Share Posted September 28, 2009 (edited) Step 2 When plaster is set remove from clay and remove pattern Now if you are working with a thick piece or unfinished back take a small peice of clay and roll it out to the thickness you want the finished button Place clay in the mold and form the shank Spray the face of the mold with a heavy coat of pan spray if you forget this step you will not get the mold apart later Cut the top off the other cup and tape the two togather and fill with plaster let set 45-50 min Edited September 28, 2009 by renfairpirate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renfairpirate Posted September 28, 2009 Author Share Posted September 28, 2009 (edited) Now remove tape and separate mold you might have to pull hard. Remove clay Next place mold in 350 degree oven for 2-3 hours when dry cut vents and pour sprue I use a melting pot now but i started with a old tuna can and melted pewter on the stove top You can get pewter by the pound on-line but with shipping it is like $25.00 if you can get a few people together and do a group buy on a 5 pound bar you can get the price down to around 12-14 bucks a pound Here is the first button out of the mold in pewter I tumble my buttons with steel shot but you can buff them on a old pair of jeans and they will shine up Someone said try lead free solder I will try it later on tonight and post the results Ok here is one poured with 60/40 it came out fine but it is a little soft i have some hard lead free around here somewhere for making screw back coins i just need to find it If you have any questions fell free to ask Edited September 28, 2009 by renfairpirate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casketchris Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 thanks for the info i love the fact you did a dutch button our crates we haul our stuff in is all marked with the dutch e i co. logo... Nautical acquisition and redistribution specialist Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelsbagley Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 That is awesome stuff RenFairPirate! Thanks for sharing! One question I have about this, how many castings does one tent to get out of a mold before the plaster degrades and the detail starts to get washed out? And I love how you explain how to do it all with household items or stuff easily found at the local hobby store. For anyone that tries this, another source of metal is plumbing solder. At about $12 per pound at the local hardware store, it is comparably priced to the casting metal one can buy, but much easier to find... Proper casting metals are generally 90% tin, 2% copper, and the remaining 8% is usually bismuth or antimony (or a blend of the two), most plumbers solders are around 80% tin, 2% copper, with the rest being antimony or bismuth or a blend... While the 10% difference is enough to make the metals act differently slightly, it is still possible to do some decent casting with solder, you just tend to wind up with a bit more slag to skim off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thunderbuster Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 Ahoy Renfairpirate, Cap'n, thank ye kindly for teaching this art in an easy to understand manner! Good luck with the surgery! Fair WInds, thunderbuster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renfairpirate Posted September 28, 2009 Author Share Posted September 28, 2009 I can get about 60 or 70 buttons out of these molds as is, but there are some tricks you can use to get more. powdered graphite helps extends mold life, I have some of these molds that have over 300 buttons poured, I have one mold that i still pour after 2 years maybe 1200 buttons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPP Tar Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 how about colors? I would like to cast medallions with our logo and website and would like them to look like gold and silver coins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renfairpirate Posted September 28, 2009 Author Share Posted September 28, 2009 I just started looking in plating pewter if i find a cheap way of doing it I"ll post It Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPP Tar Posted September 29, 2009 Share Posted September 29, 2009 Cool thank you, we've been looking for a way to do this for awhile, this seems like the best for us. we're not a bright crew but we're ambitious Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renfairpirate Posted September 29, 2009 Author Share Posted September 29, 2009 Cool thank you, we've been looking for a way to do this for awhile, this seems like the best for us. we're not a bright crew but we're ambitious Have you thought about gold leafing them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lady constance Posted September 29, 2009 Share Posted September 29, 2009 have you ever tried to make the casting mold out of sculpey? fimo? will baked sculpey take the heat of the molten flux? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dutchman Posted September 29, 2009 Share Posted September 29, 2009 i tried sculpy a while back and could not get it to keep the detail of the coins. it got stuck in the reliefs. i was using vegetable oil as a release,but not the spray kind like here. I cant wait to try this out over the weekend. thanks for posting this how to! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renfairpirate Posted September 29, 2009 Author Share Posted September 29, 2009 have you ever tried to make the casting mold out of sculpey? fimo? will baked sculpey take the heat of the molten flux? Sculpey will burn when you pour molten pewter in it,been there tried that The extra firm stuff worked a little better but still only good for two or three pours I got started making buttons because i was making leather pouches and the button selection at walmart sucks. So i started trying everything i could think of to make a cheap mold.RTV rubber is not cheap average mold cost is $35-40 at the time i could not justify the cost to myself I found out that you use investment plaster to cast silver and gold so I thought why not try some craft plaster just to see what will happen.I just got started using rubber last year but still use plaster if i just need a small run of a new button as the plaster mold only cost around 50 cents Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 4, 2009 Share Posted October 4, 2009 Someone said try lead free solder I will try it later on tonight and post the resultsOk here is one poured with 60/40 it came out fine but it is a little soft i have some hard lead free around here somewhere for making screw back coins i just need to find it I have had good luck using lead free silver bearing soldier to cast buttons. I'm just getting ready to make a mold to make a bunch of buttons for my Buccaneer coat... My mold looks close to what you made, but I carve it out of soap stone... Instead of the dimples to align the two parts of the mold, I drill two holes through both parts of the mold and then use two chopsticks of pencils to hold the two halves together.... so I can pour the "pewter" and then open the mold to get out the button, then press it together again and re-cast as the mold is still warm/hot....(yeah... I've burned my fingers a few times using this method... but I can make a lot of buttons quickly.... One of the advantages of using lead free silver bearing soldier, it that I know how long of a piece I need to fill the mold...(this button will take an 8' length...) I got a lead ladle at PiP last year that Bo made, so I will use that instead of an old tablespoon held by vice grips to melt the metal in this time.... I cut the lead free silver bearing soldier into short chunks and put them in the ladle (or spoon in vice grips) and then melt it with a propane torch, then pour it into the mold.... Of course I do this outside, so when I spill molten "pewter" I don't mess anything up (well other than waisting some "pewter".... ) I'm sure there are safer ways of doing it.... but this is more fun.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renfairpirate Posted January 5, 2010 Author Share Posted January 5, 2010 (edited) Hello Everyone, Thanks for the well wishes, Surgery went well They bypassed 5 arteries. Had an infection set up house in one of my leg incisions. They were talk about amputation But just found out last week that i get to keep my leg for now. So I just wanted to see if anyone has tried this yet Edited January 5, 2010 by renfairpirate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salty Posted January 5, 2010 Share Posted January 5, 2010 (edited) best wishes for your complete recovery and thanks for the tutorial Edited January 5, 2010 by Saltypots Mud Slinging Pyromanic , Errrrrr Ship's Potter at ye service Vagabond's Rogue Potter Wench First Mate of the Fairge Iolaire Me weapons o choice be lots o mud, sharp pointy sticks, an string Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matty Bottles Posted January 5, 2010 Share Posted January 5, 2010 I hope you make a complete recovery. I haven't tried this yet, but plan to. It's a bit too cold to pour outside in Wisconsin right now, I think. "The time was when ships passing one another at sea backed their topsails and had a 'gam,' and on parting fired guns; but those good old days have gone. People have hardly time nowadays to speak even on the broad ocean, where news is news, and as for a salute of guns, they cannot afford the powder. There are no poetry-enshrined freighters on the sea now; it is a prosy life when we have no time to bid one another good morning." - Capt. Joshua Slocum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Midnight Posted January 5, 2010 Share Posted January 5, 2010 Haven't tried it yet, but it sure looks neat! I have tried plumbing solder to cast metal toy soldiers; it works like a charm. Best wishes on your surgery, I hope you will soon be recovered and casting buttons by the thousands! "Now then, me bullies! Would you rather do the gallows dance, and hang in chains 'til the crows pluck your eyes from your rotten skulls? Or would you feel the roll of a stout ship beneath your feet again?" ---Captain William Kidd--- (1945) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renfairpirate Posted January 6, 2010 Author Share Posted January 6, 2010 Haven't tried it yet, but it sure looks neat! I have tried plumbing solder to cast metal toy soldiers; it works like a charm. Best wishes on your surgery, I hope you will soon be recovered and casting buttons by the thousands! It gets a little better each day I started casting again but it is slow going for now. Still needs more clean up but I got a whole 14 poured Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPP Tar Posted January 6, 2010 Share Posted January 6, 2010 Haven't tried it yet, but it sure looks neat! I have tried plumbing solder to cast metal toy soldiers; it works like a charm. Best wishes on your surgery, I hope you will soon be recovered and casting buttons by the thousands! It gets a little better each day I started casting again but it is slow going for now. Still needs more clean up but I got a whole 14 poured Those are cool i might want totry something like this. And i hope you have a speedy recovery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renfairpirate Posted January 11, 2010 Author Share Posted January 11, 2010 (edited) That is awesome stuff RenFairPirate! Thanks for sharing! One question I have about this, how many castings does one tent to get out of a mold before the plaster degrades and the detail starts to get washed out? Good question. lets try a new mold and pour 100 buttons and check every 25. Here is button 1. It is uncleaned right out of the mold Edited January 11, 2010 by renfairpirate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matty Bottles Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 Looks pretty good. Do you have a favorite brand of plaster? "The time was when ships passing one another at sea backed their topsails and had a 'gam,' and on parting fired guns; but those good old days have gone. People have hardly time nowadays to speak even on the broad ocean, where news is news, and as for a salute of guns, they cannot afford the powder. There are no poetry-enshrined freighters on the sea now; it is a prosy life when we have no time to bid one another good morning." - Capt. Joshua Slocum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renfairpirate Posted January 12, 2010 Author Share Posted January 12, 2010 Looks pretty good. Do you have a favorite brand of plaster? I use Hobby Lobby casting and mold making plaster $4.99 for 8 pounds here is number 25 50 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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