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?

Hexagonal Pewter Stool

Why's it gotta be hexagonal? You never see anybody casting a nonagonal stool anymore. Why did we lose the art of nonagonal casting? Heck, I'd settle for dodecagonal casting for a change. Sheesh...

I've done sand casting once at Ohio State University in ASM's year-two camp and a few times using moon sand as a medium in the classroom, but I would've never thought of heading out to the beach to make my mold and cast directly into the playa. There are probably two main reasons for this: one, the closest big body of water to my house is the Ohio River, not exactly know for its fine, sandy beaches; and two, I'm not an artist.

This time-lapse video of sand casting is pretty impressive, though, with the artist (assumedly Max Lamb) maxing a stool that I'd be happy to have in my home.

Can you walk on water? (Non-Newtonian Fluid Pool)

Oobleck knows to nationality.

These Malaysian folks mixed up 8000 (or so) liters of cornstarch and water and had a blast with it.

There's really nothing revolutionary to see here, but there's a lot of fun in watching the folks try to ride a bicycle, dance, flip, do a jig on the surface.

Super Hydrophobic Surface and Magnetic Liquid

The Slow Mo Guys make videos showing actions in - shockingly, I know - slow motion.

Here they're in a GE lab showing 'how water reacts on a superhydrophobic surface,' in their words. Personally, I'd've liked to have seen a single drop on the surface, but the beauty of the two differently-colored streams coming together and showing almost no interaction with the white surface is pretty cool, too.

The last part of the video also shows a ferrofluid attracting to a magnet.

The All-New 2014 Sierra DureLife Brake Rotors

They're touting the fact that "GMC also uses a heat-treating process called ferritic nitrocarburizing" in their ads?

I'm thinking that the percentage of people who see that commercial who have even the faintest inkling of what ferritic nitrocarburizing is can be safely rounded down to zero.

In the Heat of the Foundry, Steinway Piano 'Hearts' are Made

NPR reported on the casting of Steinway pianos' iron plates in Springfield, Ohio.

Their story also came with a few photos of two foundry workers pouring the plates by hand and telling a few stories of some of the molten iron running into their wisely-slip-off boots.

Mjölnir (Thor: The Dark World) - MAN AT ARMS

There aren't any new material being used in this video, but there is a guy making the Hammer of THOR!

Or rather a nice recreation of the hammer of the gods.

At about 5:45, though, there is a vulgar word on the shirt of the narrator/creator. Be careful if you're planning on showing this in class, folks.