First they crafted copper models of some of the gold pre-Columbian pieces found in Tomb Seven at Monte Alban.	Then they made two-part thin rubber molds (backed with thick tire rubber) of each model. Complicated models were broken down into several pieces, cast separately, then soldered together.	Ariel Luciano Gutiérrez García shows how they inject molten wax into a mold with a unit made from a paint bucket, iron heater, spring, enameled pot, aluminum tube, and bicycle pedal tube.	After the wax cools, They attach a metal wire to each model for easier handling and to later form a channel for the moltex wax.

They then dip the wax model into a slurry of water mixed with dental plaster.	More slurry is dripped onto the model to fill the details.	They then fill an empty juice can with the rest of the plaster mixture.	The wire is pushed into plasticine clay, then set against the can to check the depth.	Small pieces can be cast together, so another wax model is inserted into plasticine.

The wax models are carefully slid into the wet plaster.	The ball of plasticine is removed an hour later, after the plaster has set.	The wires are carefully pulled out with pliers.	The depression formed by the plasticine is enlarged to make room for the metal.	Holes made on the bottom of the mold with a nail allow hot gas to escape.

Soledad lays the molds on a bed of hot charcoal, then puts more lit charcoal on top.	She angles the molds slightly downward so that all the molten wax can run out.	Tongs are used to place the hot, empty mold into a larger can.	Doña Soleded holds fresh molds. Her husband, Don Franciso, inserts small pieces of charcoal between a hot mold and the metal can to secure it during casting.

Mexican silver is sold as sheets and casting grains. It's mixed with copper to make sterling silver.	Silver is weighed to assure there is enough metal for the casting.	Gil Enrique Gutiérrez García pumps gas fumes to a torch that melts the silver. Just before casting, a piece of charcoal is put on top and Altincar flux is added to the molten silver.		Don Franciso spins the mold around until the metal starts to cool.	The hot mold is placed in cold water to break up the plaster.

Bits of plaster are removed with a tooth brush.	Irregularities are filed off.	A drill bit also helps clean up the casting.	A saw blade cuts away more unwanted bits.	The piece is heated and dropped into 1:1 sulfuric acid and water to clean it.	A fine file will be followed by sandpaper and buffing to smooth and shine the surface.

One of Don Francisco's exquisite silver filigree earring.	Don Francisco uses a pencil and paper to sketch original designs at his workbench.		He prepares fine silver wire by repeatedly pulling it through the successively smaller holes of a metal drawplate.	Parts are shaped with pliers, then soldered together.

How Elia and Don Francisco cast a pendant in a metal cope and drag mold:

A dry mixture of cement and old engine oil fills the drag.	Elia levels the mixture while Soledad (her mother) supervises.	A reusable metal pattern is then pushed into the powder.	The cope is added. It will be filled with the cement mixture, tamped down and leveled.	The cope and drag are then carefully separated.

The pattern is removed, leaving depressions in the compressed powder of both halves of the mold.	The top is cut away to create a place for the molten metal to enter.	The mold is put together between 2 sheets of metal, then clamped in a wooden vice.

Francisco uses the flame from a foot-pumped kerosene torch to melt the silver, then pours the molten silver from the clay crucible into the mold.			The cast pendant in the open mold.	The original pattern on the left and the casting.

Francisco uses a traditional pump drill to make a hole.	A coping saw and triangular needle file remove the excess metal.

How Don Francisco solders a chased and repouseed heart ring:

The components are temporarily wired together.	The ring is placed on charcoal, flux is painted onto the joint with a turkey feather, then pieces of silver solder (an alloy of silver and brass) are applied.

A torch melts the solder, the hot ring is quenched in pickle (a mild acidic solution) to remove oxidation, then the ring is removed when cooled.		The surface is further cleaned with a fine brass wire brush.

The surface is burnished, then buffed with rouge to bring out the shine.		The finished ring.

For more information, please contact them (in Spanish) at: Taller Familiar de Orfebreria El Principe de Monte Alban Plazuela Chapultepec #106-A San Juan Chapultepec Centro Oaxaca de Juárez Oaxaca, México C.P. 68153 Soledad García 951-160-2109 Elia Gutiérrez 951-504-9320 You may email Elia at tonalliosogu@hotmail.com Elia's Facebook page is DCO De Corazón Oaxaqueño

Esta página en español

LINKS:
The Porras Ceramic Studio of Atzompa, Oaxaca, Mexico
Clay Filigree of the Velasco Villanueva Family of Atzompa, Oaxaca, Mexico
Mexican Ceramist, Capelo
Mexican Ceramist, Angelica Escarcega Rodriguez
Mexican Ceramist, José Luis Méndez Ortega
Mexican Ceramists, Guevara Ceramics
Mexican Ceramist, Tecpatl Ceramics
Pre-Columbian Maya Ceramic Reproductions
ARTCERA Wax Figures of Mexico
Tinsmithing in Guanajuato, Mexico
Backstrap Weaving School at Santa Maria del Rio, Mexico
Backstrap Woven Shawls of Esperanza Valencia Morra of Morelia
Foot-Loom Weaving in Central Mexico
Marquetry Boxes of José Antonio Rodríguez Salazar of Santa Maria del Rio, Mexico
Fernando Giron Pantoja, Woodcarver of Apaseo el Alto, Guanajuato, Mexico
Francisco Garcia Guevara, Jeweler in Guanajuato, Mexico
Ikat Shawls of Uriangato and Moroleon, Mexico
Gobelin Tapestry Weaving in Dolores Hidalgo, Mexico
Mexican Cane baskets
Margarita Orozco Ramirez of San Miguel de Allende Papermaker
Los Leñateros Papermaking, Printmaking, and Book Arts Studio of San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Mexico
Carmen Betancourt Icons of Celaya, Guanajuato, Mexico
Metal Casting in Cameroon
Filigree in Indonesia

Web page, photographs, and text by Carol Ventura in 2018. Please look at Carol's home page to see more about crafts around the world.