"Hirst Arts" Topic

I've considered buying some of these. people keep saying though the cost of the molds is high that the material to cast is fairly cheap. For example how far would this tub of hydrostone get you?

7 lbs. ($10.40)?

Like i said im fairly new to the idea of casting terrain pieces.Does anyone have any suggested reading?

To me its seems the 2nd hand market sucks nowadays. Thing typically cost the same or more 2nd hand on ebay etc. Are there places where 2nd hand hirst arts mold are cheaper tahn quoted on the website?

Cheaper through trades on here.

Can't say how far 7 pounds will go as it depends on the molds.

Take a look at Drystone. It is sold through ceramic shops. It has nearly the same strength as better dental plaster and is much cheaper. Last quote I had was for around a dollar a pound. I am sure it has gotten more expensive but it still should be cheaper then dental plaster by quite a bit.

His website is the best resource for casting, I think. There are websites where people post their projects around too.

I went a bit gangbusters and bought 6 or 8 molds. I also found a vibration table, if you can believe it? It came from some lab. I won an auction on some industrial supply auction website. It is heavy duty and is just the ticket to eliminate bubbles in your casts. Haven't used the stuff in a while as I am mostly a 15mm guy these days…

Hirst Arts has some fantastic tutorials on how to do it all. Be warned -- they will get you enthused. And it really isn't that hard.

I want to get into this so bad…

I get 50lb bags of Hydrostone from a local pottery place for about 30 bucks, and while I can't give you an exact usage, it goes quite a ways… you definitely get a good number of castings out of it.

The molds aren't cheap, but the materials ARE cheap, yes it's addicting, but a warning, you'll have to do quite a number of castings to build anything substantial, I usually cast 4 to 5 different molds at a time and it usually takes about 30 to 40 minutes per cast. So… make sure you have a dedicated space or a good amount of time set aside for a temporary area to do your castings. :)

For example, the Descent Dungeon takes 30 plus castings each of 2 or 3 molds, so about a 100 separate castings.

Try Hydrocal plaster. They make lawn ornaments out of it, it's strong and weatherproof. Home improvement places sell it and it should be about 50 cents per pound if you buy a 100 pound bag.

Mike "Bunkermeister" Creek
mediatealways.org
bunkermeister.blogspot.com

Suggested Reading: The tutorials on the Hirst site and the forum there are your best resource.

Don't worry too much about the plaster cost, I go for 5kg bags (about 11 lbs I think) and it lasts a while. Remember casting takes around 30 mins, longer if you have more delicate bits, (does depend on plaster used of course).

The thing that you really have to get right is the bubbles. For the rough stone molds you can use more basic methods. I have a lot of the space flooring and for that you need very crisp casts. I achieve this with a home made vibration table and a surfactant. I have to say that before using the Almore (I think that's the name) surfactant I was just washing the molds in water with rinse aid in and the results were average. Spraying the mold with the Almore surfactant has made an incredible difference. It's expensive and hard to get (esp. in Europe) and I know there have been good alternatives, but using it was a turning point for me.

[edit: spelling of Surfactant]

The tips on what plaster to use are good.

Keep in mind they are all made by the same company here in the U.S. U.S. Gypsum ;-) You can get information on their site.

I mentioned Dry Stone as it has the highest density and strength and costs are not much higher than the others stated here. I suppose it depends on what you are looking for in a final cast. Me, I want tough and hard so it will last. If you want lighter, go for some of the lighter casting gypsum.

Here is a link to Dry Stone: plaster.com/DryStone.html

They have the product properties for the other plasters mentioned as well as a few others. I picked Dry Stone for me as a good compromise between strength and price. It is almost as tough as the best dental plaster and MUCH cheaper. As I stated before, I found it locally, so I can avoid the high shipping costs. I found it at a ceramic supply store here in San Antonio, TX.

The Almore is an interesting find! link

link

Looks like there are other surfactants that do the same thing. Pricing is all over the place! When I was doing this, the JetDry dishwashing stuff was the stuff to use. Apparently the dental lab industry has a better product and a cooler name: debubblizer surfactant :-)

I love the Hirst Arts molds. The investment in time is more critical than in money, in some ways – it takes a LONG time to cast enough blocks to do anything significant. We use Merlin's Magic plaster and like it very much.

Doug

Excalibur is a similar product to Merlin's Magic, we've been pretty happy with it.

The molds do keep their value pretty well.

I can't tell how much volume that 7lb bucket is, and I'm not familiar with that brand of plaster so I can't be precise here but…. I use just shy of 3oz (measured into a Dixie cup) of plaster per pour (per mold). Sometimes that fills the mold, sometimes there is extra that I put into a 2nd mold (Can always use more straight walls and floor tiles).

I'm guessing you should be able to get one project out of a 7lb bucket with a little plaster left over. So you could build a tower, inn, small church, or maybe the starter dungeon project from it.

You will have to look hard for cheaper hirst art molds. I doubt that you would find more than 10%

Time is the key here. I have been working on one custom building for about 2 months now casting when I have free time. But I have also built up a pile of secondary parts that I didn't need for other projects when I get to them.

Casting a single mold 30+ times to get lots of that single pieces does get old at times and sooner or later you'll want to try your hand at making your own molds too!

Castle Kits offers almost all the molds as precast sets or kits so you don't have to buy the molds, plaster, tools, face the learning curve or explain to the wife why you just destroyed her kitchen with toxic plaster dust.

castlekits.com