Molding and Casting
Research Casting International has built it's reputation around the molding and casting of natural history and archeological specimens and artifacts. With 30 years of experience using the latest in materials and methods there aren't any objects or surfaces large or small that can't be molded and realistic casts produced.
We have taken molds from some of the largest fossil specimens in the world and successfully molded these specimens with no damage occurring to the original specimen. Type fossil skulls of which there is only a singular specimen have been successfully molded and detailed casts made so that the accurate casts can be included in comparative anatomy collections.
Archaeological molding and casting is also something Research Casting International is very proud of. Columns in Pompei, the only western company allowed into the 3 Gorges to make molds before flooding, paleo Indian artifacts and more recent discoveries from saloons in the wild west. The application of our methods crosses all disciplines.
Massive molds of significant geological exposures in isolated localities have been made. Many in federals reserves and provincial parks where evidence of the molding cannot be left behind and meticulous care is taken to protect endangered species that to leave the exposure and work area as pristine as when we arrived. From the heat of volcanoes, cliffs hanging over the North Sea to caves 200 meters below the earth's surface molds have been taken and exquisite casts produced enabling visitors to view raw natures beauty in the halls of museums.
Casting in materials from plaster and cements through polyester and fiberglass and into state of the art vacuum bagging carbon fibres and Kevlar with epoxies and urethanes, the right material can be found and used for the right job. Many projects have to be engineered for safety in public spaces we can supply the engineer with the specifications and many times suggest the material solutions to successfully put items on public display that may have seemed impossible.
To compliment the traditional molding and casting techniques Research Casting also has in house digital capabilities to scan and 3D print artifacts if a non-invasive approach is deemed necessary.