The Crafty Lumberjacks: Creating a Whale Shark Casting

The crafty Lumberjacks are joined by guest expert who loves sharks, and today they're going to transform a whale shark into a beautiful casting. The host explains that they chose the whale shark because it's gentle, kind, and suave. They'll be using a hard plastic shell with a flat back to create a unique design for a drawer insert.

The Lumberjacks will use a silicone mold-making technique to create their casting. They start by mixing two parts of smooth-on's Dragon Skin platinum pure silicone, which is clear and comes in a variety of colors. The host explains that the mixture should be stirred without introducing air bubbles, as this can cause problems with the final result. To avoid mixing the wrong colors together, they'll use separate cups for each color.

Once the mixture is ready, the Lumberjacks will pour it into a cup containing the whale shark, making sure to cover its entire body. They'll then mix the two parts of silicone together and pour them into another cup. The host explains that this process must be done quickly, as the pot life of the silicone is only around 2.5 minutes.

As they wait for the mixture to set, the Lumberjacks will prepare the mold by applying a release agent to ensure that the casting can be easily removed once it's dry. When the time comes, they'll pour the silicone mixture into the mold and allow it to cure for several hours. The host warns that the molding process can be tricky, as it's easy to rip the mold or damage the casting.

To create a smooth finish, the Lumberjacks will use a rub and buff technique to polish the surface of their casting. They'll apply a wax coating to give it a brass-like finish, making it look like metal. The host explains that this technique is relatively easy to do and requires only a bit of practice.

Once the rubbing and buffing process is complete, the Lumberjacks will attach the whale shark casting to a drawer insert. They'll use a hardware attachment system to secure it in place, ensuring that it's safe and functional. The finished product is a beautiful and unique piece of art that can add a touch of personality to any room.

The Crafty Lumberjacks are thrilled with their finished project and share their excitement with the audience. They believe that this process has been game-changing for them and have introduced them to new techniques they never knew existed. The host thanks the audience for their support and invites them to share their own ideas and projects in the comments section below.

The Lumberjacks' whale shark casting is a unique and functional piece of art that can be used in a variety of settings, from beach houses to antique furniture pieces. Its vintage-inspired design and brass-like finish make it stand out as a one-of-a-kind decorative item. Whether you're looking for a functional drawer insert or a beautiful piece of art, this whale shark casting is sure to impress.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enlook who I have with me today the crafty Lumberjacks hello thanks for yeah we have out here sharks you can use any animal I'm choosing to use sharks because I love sharks who doesn't it's summertime exactly yeah move them out we're gonna use the whale shark because I really like little jars I love whale shark they're very gentle very kind suave genteel and we're gonna turn this shark into this so it's like a hard plastic then it's got a flat back on it so that when we put it on a drawer you know you can screw on and this fin actually is perfect for pulling up forward so that's the idea that we're going to suspend this shark inside of this tube and then we're gonna fill it up with a silicone remove it cast classic into the cavity and then we'll end up with it's like a little science experiment we're gonna label its body parts just like they would do if you're going into surgery actually because we are going to have to remove a little guy we want to turn the good side down because the silicone is gonna fill up this way so the backside that's the fin that we need to cut off chop them right off I'm sorry buddy that's good right you feeling that I'm feeling it okay so with that cut now it'll fit inside of this thing Austin the right way how are we gonna suspend this okay so if you will look in that bottom left drawer there is a yellow sewing kit in there that's the one right and there's probably some pins in there so the idea is that you don't want any part of the shark to touch the outside anything that touches anything won't come out in the mold because we're gonna hover it with silicone and create a cavity very good that looks great perfect great job thank you professional crafters we try to be in kind of like lumberjack lumberjack wrap Jenny crafts ease this is PLASA lean clay it never dries so I just keep it around for it's good for all kinds of other sweet so we're gonna set this here so that we know that it's sort of level okay we will hold it level this little place it's like that so this stuff is from a company called smooth on its Dragon Skin which is just a platinum pure silicone and it's clear so that we can sort of see the object inside of what we're doing okay so what I'm gonna do I'm gonna give you part a and it needs to sort of get mixed up I'm gonna give you then Part B now here's the thing about this they look exactly the same when you pour them into cups okay so you can label your cups which is always a good idea but since you're in charge of yellow and you're in charge of blue just don't don't mix them you want to try to stir without introducing air bubbles into your silicon if you shake it introduces air so yep so you pour it into that cup about half way through and then pour this one the same about half and do the same with those two and then we'll mix the two halves have you ever been swimming with shark I have never been swimming with sharks really yeah Preto I actually don't really remember a lot of it great story yeah Wow I was really excited to talk I do have a shark joke oh alright alright what's a sharks favorite number I don't know eight oh you can certainly now mix Part A and Part B together Part A and Part B together pour it in and mix it up you know like one of those commercials where you see like chocolate being poured and it's like yeah a big fat line uh-huh and it's layering over itself that's kind of wait so we're gonna let this sit for 75 ish minutes and then we can come back pop it out so all you have to do is just take everything that we did apart all right and do what is called D molding sometimes with these objects you need to cut a little bit so that you don't rip the mold getting an object out so rip thing is bad because it won't seem back up but if you cut it cleanly it'll close back up fine so we're gonna cut a release right here along the back all right so if you pull that out it should come right out of there beautiful perfect awesome so that's it so now we have a cavity of the shark so we have to pour it right in a little bit and then we're gonna kind of slosh it around and lets them get into the tail now you have to do all of that within about two and a half minutes that's the pot life of this and once it kicks it's exothermic which means it puts off heat to put off a lot of heat and to get hard really fast but we can make one casting every 10 minutes lickety-split yeah okay so we're gonna do equal parts so you've pour to that cup and I'll pour into this stuff equal parts of each of these coming in with play yes doctor doctor we're losing him okay so we'll just let that sit for about ten minutes and then we can take it out so it's cured now awesome right a little bit alarm yeah it's gonna be a little bit warm but you want to get it out before it gets completely hard so that you can trim the edges cause it's gonna have some like should I pop it open and pull out go for it here maybe I'll hold well done yeah that's a fantastic tale oh good pour whoa that's awesome I need to do one more all right you do that I'm going to get some rub and buff and that's how we're gonna make this look like brass whoo love it right work how do you guys feel about this process so far I feel right yeah yeah game changer I used this rubbin buff which is like a wax coating from making my leg like metal yeah it is sexy just we've never heard of this until we met you and you've changed our lives really yes it's tough it's awesome it's fantastic yeah so all you gotta do you're gonna take a little bit of that hit the high spots with your finger and then you can kind of finesse it I think I'm liking what you're doing there I'm going to just do that on this door so after you add the rubbin buff you don't need to like prime it or anything it just dries very quickly exactly yeah okay so we're gonna attach them to this okay like this so to do that I'm gonna have to take ok drawer out and it just so happens this this had some hardware in it and I took it out so this would fit across it all right so is it straight that's your job and you know you can really see if it's it's at Andrews fault yes all right we have our first draw completed draw draw and the secret draw that's pretty cool look ever it's been is perfect for pulling out the drawer yes this looks awesome when you first told us about the project we thought it would be great for a beach house but now I could see it being anywhere yeah it looks like a vintage antique little side table door yes and best part about this guy's we have a place to keep sharp Oh perfect for everything yes thank you guys so much for coming and doing problem I got eyes thank you so much it's just super great so yeah and if you guys want to see us do more projects together comment below let us know we'll make it happen throw ideas out there see you soon\n"