01
casting
Reading the cast skin
What a surface may reveal about mould, flow and finishing—and where visual inference must stop.
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Casting is a chain of decisions
A cast object records modelling, gating, pouring, cooling and finishing, even when later polishing makes the process look effortless.
Read the sequence
Begin with the object’s likely method, but keep method and certainty separate. Part lines, core evidence and repeated details can support a reading; appearance alone rarely proves a complete workshop history.
Compare systems
Lost-wax, piece-mould and sand casting solve different problems. Each distributes labour, repeatability, risk and surface information in a different way.
Respect the remainder
Sprues are usually removed and joins chased, yet small irregularities may preserve useful evidence. A clean silhouette should not be mistaken for a simple process.
Related long reads
02
casting
Lost wax, without the myth
A measured guide to direct and indirect casting, destructive models and the rhetoric of uniqueness.
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