Casting a Fire Ant Colony With Molten Aluminum

Wow, chatty fellow, eh?

There may not be any words in the above video, but there is a gorgeous technique for casting a model of a fire ant colony. Yeah, it's just heat metal, dump metal, let cool, dig, but it's amazing to see the finished product with all the chambers interlaced throughout the colony.

The next video is longer and shows a bit more background of a different artist who is working in a similar medium, that of melting aluminum cans to cast sculptures of ant colonies. I particularly like the images of the blazing fire at 2:55. I also like the music (by Cake, a fun band, lemme recommend), but I will tell you that the music has a seriously Not Safe For Work (NSFW) word in the lyrics. The product in the end is far more delicate in this video, but that might not be something that the artist knows going in.


There's also a video from CBS's Sunday Morning program a while back interviewing an artist who also casts anthills out of aluminum.



Oh, and I don't see any dead ants in the sculptures, but they have to be there (or totally carbonized) right?