Another interesting side of casting is casting organic items. In this instance, we have taken a black widow, originally destined to be squashed by one of Chad's High School Students, and sprued it for casting. The student was gracious enough to refrain from stepping on it, and brought it in so we could do this project.

If you do a similar project, please be careful, as a black widow bite is nothing to take lightly.

Your first step when casting an insect or arachnid is to kill it. We accomplished this by using a baby food jar and a piece of paper towel soaked in a solvent called "Attack." This was very effective and quick, as the black widow was dead within about 30 seconds.

We then remove the spider from the baby food jar. If you are dealing with a poisonous bug, be very careful and make sure it is really dead. One time I did this and was suprised after handling the spider for several minutes to see its legs start to move. Very disturbing!!

Using a clear spray lacquer, gently spray the spider. We are doing this so that we can get the spiders legs to stay in the position that we want. Incidentally, if you find a dead insect, they are generally too crispy to arrange at all. They are only flexible right after they are killed.

Using a nudgit, while the lacquer is still wet, I attempt to get the legs to stay spread out. Sometimes it is difficult to get them to stay in the position you want. It may take several coats of lacquer.

Here I am still trying to get the legs to remain in position.

Her legs are stiffening up a bit here.

The next step is to sprue the spider. I use a t-pin with a little sticky wax to attach the spider to a wax sprue wire. Following this, I invested it in a small flask, burned out the wax and the spider. Note: I've found that when casting insects or other organic items, that in the last half hour or so of the burn out process I have better luck if I turn the flask over so that the opening is facing up. This seems to release ash or trapped gasses and produces a better cast.

Here is the finished product. Note how thin the legs are. To thicken them, I would first make a rubber mold, squirt a wax, dab wax onto the legs until they are thick enough, and then recast the piece.

Here is another final view.

*Please note that handling poisonous creatures carries an inherent risk, and we cannot be held liable for injuries caused by this.

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