Casting resources
Been working with the Rowe twins (Melanie and Leslie) on a mold-making demo for Oregon Glass Guild members, and in the course of it have put together a list of my favorite resources for casters and mold-makers. It’s primarily (but not entirely) for the northwestern US, but I’d appreciate as many resources as possible, if you have more.
I’ve also set this up as a printable PDF, if you’d rather download it, but since I update the online list faster than the PDF, I can’t guarantee they’re the same.
Here goes:
Casting supplies, services, and information
4665 South Ash Ave, Suite G-15
Tempe, AZ 85282
1-888-967-7727
Good prices on waxes, mold- and model-making tools, clays (including wax clay), life casting supplies, patinas, all kinds of stuff
Ambridge, PA
(800) 225-2673
Sculpting supplies, including oil and wax clays, alginates, lots of stone materials.
Bullseye Glass Resource Center
3610 SE 21st Ave.
Portland OR 97202
888.220.3002
Plaster/silica investment, box casting kits, glass casting billets and cullet metal foils, kiln wash, really wonderful lampworking rods, etc.
93639 Elk River Rd.
Port Orford, OR 97465 USA
541-332-0162
Casting expert Hugh McKay makes custom molds for sculptors (and other artists), and provides full-spectrum glass casting services
90 Vandam Street
New York, NY 10013
800-9-SCULPT
Badly organized website but an excellent array of sculpting and casting tools, clays, waxes and other materials. One of the best batches of sculpting tools I’ve seen. They’re changing their website to compleatsculptor.com at some point.
405 Woodland Ave.
Walla Walla, WA 99362
(509) 522-0556
Many different types of mold and model-making supplies, including urethanes, silicones, latex, and polysulfide rubber, oil- and water-based clays, waxes, release agents, etc.
19622 70th Avenue South Unit #4
Kent, WA 98032
800-395-7600
Truly beautiful lead crystal billets in a variety of colors. Very helpful staff.
756 NE Lombard St
Portland, OR 97211
(503) 283-1353
Clays (including paper clays), plasticine, sculpture equipment and supplies, really great tools, raw materials for investments (such as #1 pottery plaster and silica flour), sculpting wax
Handy calculator lets you enter volume of your casting model, then tells you how much glass you’ll need (by weight) in crystal, soda lime or float.
Lash Quality Molds and Sculpture Supplies Inc.
4702 NE 102nd
Portland, OR 97220
(503) 251-6959
Expert mold-maker, also sells armature wire, waxes, some clays and other supplies
818 John Street
Seattle, WA 98109
206-343-7336
Casting refractories including Ransom & Randolph 910, 965, etc., Luminar Mold Mix 6, Castalot, plus casting crystal (Reichenbach, Gaffer, Spectrum 96)
Pacific Northwest Sculptors Assn.
Sculptors’ guild in Oregon/Washington that holds regular meetings, arranges for member discounts on supplies, has exhibits. Also has its own resource list that’s really good if you live in glassland.
PO Box 722
Honeoye, NY 14471
(585) 229-2976
Really marvelous portrait sculpting instruction, on DVD and in books, and he also teaches workshops.
35 Bank St.
St. Albans VT 05478
(802) 524-7191
Lifecasting supplies, including Reducit (which shrinks your lifecasts) and Expandit (which grows them to double-size).
Ransom-Randolph Glass Casting Supplies
3535 Briarfield Blvd
Maumee, OH 43537
(419)794-1290
Casting investments (R&R910, R&R965, R&R400, etc), each formulated for specific casting requirements. Site also includes an interesting glass casting gallery, tutorials.
Remet
210 Commons Rd.
Utica, NY 13502-6395
(315) 797-8700
They have a division specializing in waxes, and they’re primarily focused on metal casting, but they sell just about anything you could want–waxes, refractories, abrasives, hardeners. They also have some very interesting technical papers.
Sculpture House
(609)466-2986
Sculpture tools and supplies including some really interesting clay tools, clays and armatures.
Sculpture House Casting
155 W. 26th Street
New York, NY 10001
212-645-3717
Some really cool tools,
35 S. Hanford St.
Seattle, WA 98134
800-522-1975
Oil- and water-based clays for sculpting, sculpting tools and supplies, raw materials for making investments. (I’ve been told they will make up plaster/silica investment mix if you buy it in large lots, but haven’t personally confirmed this).
470 E Bonita
Pomona, CA 91767
(909) 625-0056
Primarily flexible mold-making materials such as RTV, urethane, casting resins, latex
2000 Saint John Street
Easton, PA 18042
800-762-0744
Fabulous tutorials and videos on making molds, life casts, mother molds, etc.
3223 NW Guam
Portland, OR 97210
(503) 228-1222
Refractories, mold-making supplies, RTV, huge selection of waxes, many types of latex and rubber, etc. (and they’re very good about working with you to solve a mold problem). Also have extensive lists of model and mold-makers in this area (including metal foundries).
Stores all over the west coast
Acrylic forms, fiberglass fabric and chopped fibers, RTV silicon, lots of interesting stuff to use for models and molds
Twin Vision (Rowe Twins) website
2139 N. Kerby Ave.
Portland, OR 97227
503-284-4900
Uroboros 90 and 96 casting billet, Uroboros Glass Mix (outer mold casting investment), and plaster-silica mold mix.
10725 SW Tualatin-Sherwood Rd.
Tualatin, OR 97062
503-692-3770
Also LA and Bay area. Refractories ( Isofrax, Fiberfrax, Durablanket and Magnaboard), and can custom-make refractory products (although costly).
Zircar Refractory Composites Inc.
P.O. Box 489
Florida, NY, 10921 USA
845-651-2200 (ask for Mike Cauda)
Luminar Mold Mix 6 (be sure to visit the site for user’s guides and other artist information), many different types of mold-making and kilnforming refractories