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The use of plaster based moulds to make ornamental pieces in glass and cristal has been developped in the first half of the 20th century. The process is relatively simple : molden glass or cristal or "pate de verre" is poured slowly into a plaster based mould until the mould is full : the cavity of the mould being the form of the desired piece. René LALIQUE, for example, used this technique to produce cristal vases with intricate exterior decoration which could not have been cast in metallic moulds. Nowadays, industrial cristal factories and artists specialised in cristal and " pate de verre " have largely improved this process. The process consists firstly to make wax patterns of the piece to reproduce. Then wax patterns are invested in a plaster based investment. After setting, the mould is heated to 100°C to melt the wax and to allow it to flow out. After this dewaxing, pieces of glass are disposited inside and above the free hole and the whole thing is heated in a furnace up to 800/900°C to melt the glass and to make it flow into the cavity. After cooling, the cristal or "pate de verre" piece is an exact copy of the original pattern. The surface is smooth and the piece is translucent. Polishing is easy. In order to respect the artist's wishes and the nobleness of the cristal material, UCPI offers a large range of specific plaster based HYDRACAST investments allowing mass production of small pieces and single artistic pieces. These investments leave artists complete creative freedom and assure the manufacturer of an exact reproduction. |
A large range of plaster based investments
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