Pouring molten metal inside a seashell - WHAT HAPPENS? - Experimental metal casting at home - DIY
In this video I will be pouring molten aluminum into a seashell in an attempt to create a perfect casting of the internal structure. I started with a Marlin Spike seashell and made a simple sand mold. I then melted aluminum in my DIY home foundry and poured it inside the shell. I then broke the casting out of the shell and cleaned it up. This was a fun project and I may revisit this idea in the future.
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Would be cool with a resin casting around it with the shape of the outer shell, as if the shell had gone translucent and the void solid.
Alternatively, you could cast the inside with opaque resin, mold the shell in silicone, dissolve the shell with the vinegar, then use the mold to cast a clear or translucent "shell" around the first cast.
Thinked just the same!
That would be amazing!
I think all ideas would be worth trying.
Great idea Leo.
There are some fossils that are preserved in this way. The shell is filled with sediment and the shell itself is subsequently dissolved away, leaving a corkscrew shaped cast of the shell
I've got an old, old wooden Pepsi crate about half full of some sort of little cnidarians fossilized like that.
I've got a few chalk fossils like that too. It's quite cool :)
It's amazing to see that the screw was part of evolution by natural selection, so amazing.
@@ross-carlson One does wonder if ancient man playing around with such shells and fossils might be how the screw was conceptualized.
@@BrutishYetDelightful archemidese is a fossil bryazoan taxon, and an ancient Greek mathematician known for inventing the Archemidese screw. Also, those she'll mold fossils are known as steinkerns
The aluminum cast of the inside part of the shell looks like a really cool drill bit. I didn't expect it to be so smooth and perfect. Nature is amazing.
Well a very soft skinned animal lives inside there.
God is amazing*
@@alphabeta8284 okay, but dont force that on others
@@yeetus5763 only the alphabet soup mafia and their delusional. Ideologies are the ones forcing things on people….. people who believe in God only want to spread his love
@@alphabeta8284 Don't know what you think he has to do with it, nature developed that all on its own, God didn't have anything to do with it...
The shell and the inside metal mold next to eachother are such a cool duo. Looks very mystic. Almost the king and queen of seashell people lmao
"My awesome wife put my channel's logo on my leather gloves, isn't it cool?" This statement is so wholesome and it brings me so much joy.
yessssh, i cried for a while!! ....pun intended ;)
Cuckest statement ever
@@lanceanthony198 it’s called love, something you apparently never will experience with that kind of mindset.
@@lanceanthony198 someone's jealous.
A mans gotta respect the drip
The shell is mostly calcium carbonate, and when heated it turns into quick-lime. This does not only make it brittle, but can also change the volume a little. Handling quick-lime and water can be a bit risky since it dissolves to a fairly strong base capable of producing chemical burns, so neutralizing it with an acid like in the video is highly adviced.
I was looking to see if someone would mention that.
Wow the more you know :D Thanks for info ^^
Wait, so I can crush up shells and use them as makeshift Tums if I run out? Cause that's what I just heard.
@@ChrisHarings yes.
@@ChrisHarings no no no. tums is calcium carbonate, aka limestone. quicklime is calcium *oxide*... NOT calcium carbonate
Yeah, I think it is worth mentioning that you really have to dry out the shell perfectly to avoid the vigorous interaction that aluminum has with water. Aluminum really wants to react with water. It isn't solely the steam expansion problem, as if that is not potentially hazardous enough.
@Stabbrz McGee. I liked your comment and appreciate your knowledge. I just wanted to clarify cause I did not know anything you said,lol.
@@kellydavis6316 🤦
@@kellydavis6316 Molten Aluminum + literally any amount of water=Explosion that likely turns hands if not face into charbroiled bits of meat and bone.
@@crimsonwizahd2358 thank you for kindly sharing your knowledge. Cool info. Love
@@kellydavis6316 boomer
I didn't know the inside would look like that!
Do a kickflip!
The legend himself.
It’s interesting that the shell interior is a spiral down which means the entire body is a spiral, organs and everything.
@@pr51 It makes you wonder, if the whole organism is spiral, and only one opening in the shell, does it womit, or poop next to it's mouth. Because there is bound to be indigestible matter in the food. Been trying to google it for a while, I don't believe it comes out from that spire like common garden snail. Nope, was wrong it actually is like a garden snail. Now I must wonder is there air deposit in side the shell to help it float, or is it as heavy or near as water itself, thus creating no weight.
It's crazy to think that a living creature used to live in there. This is an amazing project.
i am curious to what sea creature used it and how much of the inside it took up
Used to live in? That creature made that. Every shell hand made
@@chrishill6729 and likely the entire thing. Arthropods I think? They've got elastic bodies usually like a clam, but they anchor at the bottom with a foot and pull themselves in and out at will for defense
@@kanyeweast3255 Yes I know!
@@chrishill6729 Pretty sure it's body took up at least 1 less spiral than the shell, but would inflate itself with seawater to fill the entire shell when it was out and sliming around on one foot. Get a tube you loosely fit in from waist to shoulders, and carry it with it around you. Then try one you barely fit in. Which one is more stable with less effort?
ah yes, telekinesis; one of the most important tools in a makers arsenal. Savage would be proud
Hella cool! Looks beautiful. What huge shells btw I've never found one like that. PSA for everyone here: If you ever work with seashells, make sure you don't inhale any seashell shavings because mollusks incorporate toxic heavy metals into their shells :)
Did you hear that squeak from the tissue paper?!
They're not natural?
@@Jayasree0627 we polluted the ocean with toxic heavy metals and mollusks are slowly cleaning our mess up, getting rid of the toxic stuff by incorporating into their seashell where it can't hurt them, there are also animals that are getting evolving to be darker because they use melanin to trap away the toxic metals. Pretty cool but also sad I guess, wish we humans had a mechanism like that because those metals are devastating to the brain kzhead.info/sun/dK97Ycixj6WKeoU/bejne.html
@@Jayasree0627 she means that heavy metals are in sea water so it will be in the calcium carbonate of their shell. Given that we eat a lot more seafood than breathe in shell fragments I doubt there’ll be enough to hurt you.
Antonia, let me guess . . . You live in California . . . Yes ? No ?
The casting looks like the Golden Ratio in 3D. An amazing creation we live on and in!
Fibonacci 😊
So cool! I'd love to see this with a variety of different shells. They would make a beautiful sculpture arranged together.
Seconded!!
Third. The inside of various shells would be very interesting.
Great idea!
I feel sad that the shell would get destroyed in this process as so please choose the shells carefully (common ones, not rare ones).
The casting is quite literally a "Ghost in the Shell" as it is what the former occupant looked like. The thought gave me shivers.
Imagine having to explain to the snail what was done with part of its corpse.
You're weird; I like it.
Even when the snail was alive most of the shell would have been empty. The snail only lives in the widest chamber near the entrance.
@@Novusod It's still part of its body, it'd be like if your barber mentioned to you that they've been knitting a sweater from your hair clippings.
@hognoxious Just like fingernails, are they not a part of our bodies?
The last part where you aligned the tip of the shell with the casting was so satisfying 😌
I would love to see this done on a smaller scale, with smaller similar shells, to see if you could make a functional corkscrew as a gift. The symmetrical shape of the inside seems like it would have no issue holding up to a typical corkscrew
And that in palaeontology parlance is called a sock. It's the kind of "trace" fossil mould you get when the actual shell has dissolved away. Lovely idea!
My socks don't look like that, lol.
Man dinosaurs must have had some weird feet
Did people used to think there were snails shaped like this when they found it or something?
That’s awesome. I never would of thought of casting a shell. A+ on thinking outa the box and creativity. Thank you
I know a guy who cuts giant conch shells into sthin lices at various angles. Some similar type unique pieces of natural art.
@filippolo7 Would....Would....WOULD. Not Whould. Use spell check before correcting someone else.
My thoughts exactly!
@Chris Webb Thinking inside* of the shell? It's turtles all the way down
@filippolo7 Yep. It's one of my pet peeves. He actually meant the contracted form: *would've.*
Legit one of the coolest projects I've seen. Great idea and it came out so well. I didnt expect the shell to hold up and get the detail
It looked even cooler when you attached the upper part of the shell, it became part organic, part metal, hehe. Excellent work there!
An excellent experiment and a presentation! To expand the thoughts in this direction... you can 3D scan the outer surface geometry data of the shell prior to the casting, and then 3D scan the casting to obtain the inner surface data. Combining the data together will give you the 3D model of the shell which will enable you to 3D print the shell in clear resin which can cover over the metal casting(probably in multiple pieces to make the fit possible).
OR, you could make a mold of the outside of the shell before you do any of the steps in the video. Much simpler.
@@antonliakhovitch8306 Sometimes people over engineer things! I came to say what you said!
This has got to be one of the most awesome and original castings I've ever seen. Great job, and thanks for sharing with us!
I am amazed that the shell held up that well to the Molten metal. I would have never suspected it would last long enough to allow the metal to flow to the end like that.
You cast out the space in which an animal lived and grew with. Nature is just awesome
This was way cooler than I expected it to be. I'm very impressed with the result! Great you have such a similar shell to show next to it.
As you say we're used to seeing the outside and I've never even personally thought about what the inside space looks like. Was cool to see what it looks like. Thanks!
Man, this could be in a museum of natural history, close to the original seashell. Awesome!
Wonderful, in theory and execution. Even the "cut off" at the bottom is very pleasing. When you held the original shell-top in place against the polished metal, it was such a good look I thought about glueing it there... Hmmn, I see I'm not alone in being inspired by your handiwork, nay, art!
Those would make great decorations for a coffee table or a paper weight on a desk. Nice little conversation starter as well. Great job!
This is such a cool idea. It's like a combination of design from nature and industrial material.
Although interesting and unique, that's an exorbitant amount of work for one small object. You have the patience of a Saint!
Gorgeous, love how you mimicked the opening of shell in finishing the casting.
Would be interesting to take a casting of the shell before doing the aluminum pour. Then you could set the aluminum casting in that mold and do a resin "shell."
Same thought. Dont destroy the shell. Use it as a negative cast pattern.
Could still use shell 2 for the negative, then cast the aluminum inside the resin... I think that would work well, and look amazing on a small wood stand
he'd need to create at least a couple of standoffs to suspend the aluminum in the resin... I suppose those could be drilled out and retro-filled with a bit of caution.
@@kaidwyer maybe only 1 at the point of the shell, would be cool to see!
@@Coupe420 Wouldn't the resin just melt / burn?
Never one to stay to normal stuff, thinking outside the box. That came out nicely! Also, love your sense of humor with the telekenesis.
It both amazes and saddens me that 843 (at this point) people were so petty and damaged to dislike such a simple, entertaining and interesting item, I really can not get into their headspace.
You need to put this in an art gallery
The design of nature, and the cosmos is humbling and magnificent. Thank you for showing us the beauty of it.
Yet the people still believe it created itself so sad
@@alizcool1 yeah, some people actually think a "god" or something crazy like that made it 😂
Wherever u see a 'design', there must be a creator.
@@bengushlaw1379 Yep on the other hand you've got people that think things create themselves lol which one actually sounds crazier? Ohh fascinating look at this shell that the smart little crab wished into existence for itself..
@@bengushlaw1379 How is that a man borne from nature can use his intelligence to somehow come to the conclusion that the nature that he is borne from is unintelligent ?
I'm surprised how well it turned out. I thought may have been very hard to get a nice casting but you did an awesome job!
Projects like this assure me that every piece of paper in this man's home are firmly secured to any flat surface they sit on.
nature is so perfect... I mean just look at how uncredibly precise the shape of the inside is!
TBH, I thought the original shell was gorgeous, but this is nice work. I particularly like the way you cut the end off in a way that felt organic and aesthetically satisfying in that it kind of led back towards the shape. Amazing to think this is the template of a life lived and died. Wonder how long it lived for?
Now I do.
@@Papperlapappmaul :-)
only until it died .
Until it was cooked! 🤣
@@lezzman Oddly enough this species isn’t eaten, or at least not by humans. The shells wash up by the millions on the shores of India, Sri Lanka, etc. This species is itself a predatory carnivore.
Gonna need to see more of these please, would love to see how small the spiral can be cast
I'm having an I-love-KZhead moment. Awesome work. My hometown exists because of a major aluminium smelter. In WW2 my hometown made more than 50% of all the aluminium for the allied forces. Anyways, your video made me appreciate how impressive it is. Amazing as a substance, and impressive to see someone with the know-how. Best thing I've seen all day. Thanks.
Aw your wife is so sweet to get your gloves branded! What an awesome idea
I'm surprised how symmetrical it turned out to be as well. Cool stuff man thanks for sharing. I would of been to attached to the shells beauty to even try something like this
This was so cool! Would love to see you cast a conch shell next
How perfect is nature's designs? That was just unbelievably amazing. I'm awe struck at this, truly truly awe struck.
This was much more involved and complicated than I would have thought it to be. Color me "impressed" !
Kind of looks like a unicorn horn. It looks awesome! I'd have that on display on a shelf in my living room or bedroom or something as an ornament.
@hognoxious Weird how I probably know exactly what you wanted to say ;-)
That was pretty cool! Great job with the details and it's nice to see you play safe with your craft. 10/10
Nature rarely messes up and is a beautiful thing!!!
Short, to the point, and beautiful. I love it.
"We're all used to seeing the outsides of sea shells, but never the inside..." Well now we can see the outsides of the inside ! Very cool video though
That shell came out amazing, have you considered making swords or kitchen knives, you could utilize the shell casting as a blade handle to make anything from really unique basket handles complete with coral reef casted metal guard and a clean blade. Good work!
Seems like it's would be a bitch to clean, everything getting in those impossible to reach crevices.
@@chestnut4860 I'd get one.
I could see it if the casting was in epoxy.
If anyone came across this without witnessing a blue print they would have a humongous problem in solution to how it was made. Well done 👍
Your drill is the drill that will pierce the heavens!
The shape is so stunningly perfect, the spiral, the symmetry- just WOW. And you did such a lovely job cleaning it up afterwards! I really appreciate that you made the cuts and preserved the internal surface instead of sanding it away- it's now a piece of art. Well done, would definitely buy this for $70-200 (if you're ever interested in making another one, lmk!!)
I've seen clay fossils of the insides of similar shells, and they look just like that. Really well done!
Thanks for not talking too much over the video. Great presentation, really lovely result.
I see the new Bad Dragon prototype is coming along nicely.
That was probably one of the more interesting metal casting videos I have seen, right along with an ant colony.
That ant colony casting was very disturbing to watch.
This is amazing! I just found your channel and I'm really excited to watch what else you've made because this is such a beautiful project!
Nature is a wizard with fractal geometry and your wife is a gem with logos!
Nature's beauty and a man's ingenuity ..
Question: With the size of your keg foundry, have you had any thoughts of putting in another intake opposite the other? Have the 2 ports basically spiral the flames around(ish) the crucible, as opposed to the one? Just a thought. Love the content.
Wow!! That was a ton of effort, and the end product was absolutely incredible!! I had no idea the inside of a shell looked like that. Just stunning art!
That's the shape of the sea snail that lived in it. Beautiful creatures.
The inside of the seashell is so beautiful. Great video.
Thank you for channeling your inner 'How's it made' voice and editing
Could a casting like that be used as a drill bit? It actually looks like it could be effective for one depending on whatever kind of metal you're using.
You could drill jelly or tapioca pudding, sure.
@@JoshuaCromarty i wanna see it drill jelly
Really beautiful and creative, there may be a market for it especially as every one you cast will be unique. If you do sell any made from regular aluminum and decorate it they will undoubtedly sell especially if you have buyers watch the video. And if those sell you can then cast in silver, starting smaller of course, then there’ll be added value on top of the silvers weight. You’re doing great work and I hope that casting these beautiful pieces of art becomes a lucrative side job for you, adorning them with semi precious gems and engraving will really add appeal and should this take off I’d like to buy one about 1oz big as a pendant in silver for my GF. Wishing you and your family prosperity, health and happiness in the future
Would people shell out for this? It would make a nice pendant necklace.
I think it would be a bit much for a necklace.
Thank you for actually putting something interesting on the internet.
I’m amazed by its uniformity and symmetry. Nature is surely incredible..
Absolutely beautiful! Nature is a beautiful designer, isn't it. Imagine using a Nautilus shell!? That'd be gorgeous too! I've watched aluminum castings of ant hills before, and was impressed. But I love this even more. Thanks so much for the video. Subscribing to see what else you have done. Have an awesome and productive day!
Nature is a creation... Praise the all mighty creator.
@@gator966 If so, that all mighty creator is a horrendously bad designer... There are so many flaws and "design mistakes" found in nature that it is clear that he couldn't pass a basic engineering class if his everlasting life depended on it... Evolution is a fact, creationism is nonsense...
Why you would destroy real shell for some metal casting? Why? What happened to the time people would colour artificial shells to look like real ones? It is like now we want everything to look artificial! So it is ironic commenting "nature is beautiful designer" while we constantly avoid natural things. Look how wood textures are disliked and people colour over good quality wood.
@@velvet3784 Because you want to see what the inside actually looks like and admire its beauty? You know, like they did in this video? Who dislikes wood grain? I see it all over the place... You have a very different view of what people like and dislike about nature...
@@Kholdaimon Thank you! I couldn't have said it better myself.
Awesome stuff! Been thinking of giving this a try, although we don't get shells that big over here in the Netherlands, maybe I'll buy a few and experiment, would go well with a fish themed casting I did recently. 👍👊
bestel het online, op rommelmarkten vind je vaak schelpen voor paar euro
zoek een Wulk op het strand
@@hesusdanu170 Ga ik zeker naar kijken, dank je wel 👍👊
@@maartenperdeck798 Ik woon een endje van de zee, dus ik zal er een stel online opzoeken 👍😁
maak een mal giet er was in en je maakt van 1 schelp zoveel je wilt , kan je er meerdere gieten in 1 keer en eventueel verkopen als "juweel" ik zit jammer genoeg in de kans armoede en bezit te mogelijkheden niet (en in een studio kan je geen metalen gieten ............ je kan ze in metaal maken of resin in de mooiste kleuren je haalt je kosten er zo in 10 voud uit
That’s so cool how nature make a perfect spiral!😎
I used to do this some twenty years ago using pewter. I used to use cockle and mussel shells and sometimes crab. They used to sell well at the local market. Nice work you have there.
It's good you didn't polish out the interior texture of the shell, preserving its organic qualities very well.
@No Cap By polishing the aluminium to a bright shine. Aggressive little thing aren't you. You need to learn some manners and practice comprehension.
@@ihopetowin Ignore the trollfishers there always seem to be those guys who are seeking attention, classic trollfishing takes a lot more brain effort to preform, classic trollingfishing is fun, plain rudeness like this is not fun to read for anyone.
@@ihopetowin I think he read that as polishing the interior of the shell itself, and not the outside of the casting.
Yes, the texture is amazing.
@No Cap Get a life.
That was totally amazing! Would you be doing other shells like this?
The shell itself is an extraordinary piece of art.
As soon as you drilled that little hole you gave me a fantastic idea for them
Instead of breaking the shell, you could have just put it into regular water. The extreme heat of the molten aluminum would have baked the calcium into water soluble lime.
That's what she said.
"She sells seashell by the sea shore"
Man! Thank you so much. One of the coolest videos I've seen in a while!
I never gave much thought about the inside of a shell........very cool!!
"Here on Alien Foundry, we have collected some humans, and we are going to fill them with molten metal. We have to probe their anus to make sure they are cleaned out." "It's amazing that the molten metal made their skin turn black. Place your human specimen in red mercury to remove any remaining fleshy bits." I have a strange imagination, I know. Weird.
Would fit nicely in Torquemada's inquisition squads, though...
Why's it got to be BLACK?
@@nonyahbiznezz9094 Because that's what happens when stuff burns........it turns BLACK. Good grief, man. Stop looking for a reason to make something racist.
@@SqueakyCricket And "There we go!" Thank you for participating in my RAND sponsored Psychological Profiling trial exercise. (And no, this is not some hate group or KKK propaganda I'm laying down) With all the Save Black Lives shit going on out and about in our country the Caucasian man(I am Caucasian, by the way) present here in America has now been the target of past deeds that history says were evil, cruel and worse. It has been documented in the New England Journal of Science on African American Ancestry that African American as well as other foreigners were the first official sellers of human beings for slave labor here in the Americas. Need I say that again? (please read and digest what proceeds the last sentence) I personally have no connection, no inheritance financial, real estate or common beliefs of the white people who proceed me in lineage. Therefore do not even suggest that I am to be held accountable, to suffer retribution for anything I personally did not do. Apologies to those who feel offended or those who believe a more correct venue should be the place to bring out this topic. In closing I again reiterate, Do not attempt to lay blame on myself or other undeserving Caucasian individuals. We will not tolerate attempts to cage us and render us as the future victim in the never ending violence humans inflict upon each other.
@@nonyahbiznezz9094 You're nuts.
Wow this is so beautiful.....I always saw those sea shells as ideal design for stairs in small spaces.
Nature is simply divine and you have allowed us one more vision with your beautiful work.
How creative! Not the first thing that comes to mind when contemplating art.
That's incredible. Nature is amazing and you worked magic on it.
a great example of showing the "negative space" of natures marvels!
At the end all I could think was "PUT IT IN THE SHELL! THAT WOULD BE SOOOOO SATISFYING"
I never thought 💭 of casting the inside of the sea shell 🐚. It turned out beautiful and look 👀 forward to your new ideas.
Outstandingly well done in every way, most enjoyable to watch, thank you!
Nicely done, thank you. I think a deep blue-black gloss paint or resin would look really good on that. A really dark red with some black accents would look great too.
Had never seen your work before today, and am thoroughly impressed with the end result of this video. Even before you cleaned it up, it was well on its way to being art. The final product looked like you had plucked it off the head of a unicorn. Who knows, maybe they shed like antlers and the mythical creature was gifting it to you. Simply lovely.
I love the unicorn horn shell and how you used the polish to make it shine! Love your video!
my favorite use of telekinesis. To speed up packing sand. Well done!
Great physical representation of the golden ratio.
That would make an interesting museum exhibit.
I love this! Reminds me of how much fun things like this can be.