It’s quite easy to shape the dodecahedron from clay, and get the shape remarkably accurate. You can adjust it by hand using just a single measurement tool until all the edges are of equal length. From that point you can’t help assembling the shape accurately. If the numbers available we can find out right away, the thickness and regularity of the sides, plus parallel alignment of opposite sides will reveal right away if a solid core was used. I could be proven wrong so easily with the right data.
Then the objects won’t be hollow.
And makes it likely different construction techniques were used also. I don’t believe only 14 such objects were made, there must have been many more and we have only a few to guess from. As little value as these may have had as something like candlesticks they were still made of bronze which had enough value in itself that many of these were
likely remelted for other use when found.
What the hey are you talking about?
If you make a hollow dodecahedron of wax pentagonal plates with holes in them, attach sprues, coat that with clay, fire the clay and melt/burn out the wax, then fill the void in the clay with bronze, and remove the clay, what you’re left with is the same shape as the wax - a hollow dodecahedron.
Did you think I was talking about featureless wax pentagons making a hollow but completely enclosed wax dodecahedron? What was I talking doing before about how easy it is to cut holes in wax, then?
What stops the molten metal from filling the hollow core?
Where do you get that figure from? We’ve found more than a hundred of the things.
The …fired clay? Which completely coats the wax model, all over?
Do you not know what clay slip is?
Yes I do. But unless you use it to fill the center as I described you don’t get a hollow object. Again, the answer would be revealed by measurements. How consistently thick is the metal on the sides of the shape? How regular are all the measurements, length of the sides, the angles between edges and sides, how close to parallel are opposite faces. That information can rule out certain techniques, and support the use of other ways.
NM, just threw a number out that was obviously too small. Please disregard.
Ok, you’re clearly not understanding what the process is.
The wax model is already itself hollow, you coat the entire wax model with clay, inside and out, you replace the wax with bronze, the resulting object is also hollow.
Is it just me? Is everyone else in this thread as confused by what I’ve described as TriPolar seems to be?
Having no knowledge of casting, none of the posts concerning the details of casting have been very informative to me. I’d prefer more explanation from everyone.
I get you, what I don’t get is what how they were made gives us on the question of why they were made.
The only significance I can see is that if they were particularly difficult or intricate to produce, it might serve as a point in favour of Mangetout’s Meisterstück theory.
Videos of actual lost wax bronze casting, and a step-by-step replication process blog weren’t very informative? I think that’s a you problem.
You make an exact model of the thing you want, out of wax.
You coat the whole of the wax model with clay, including the inside surfaces, which are accessible through the holes in the faces. If necessary, you push enough clay inside the model to completely fill the inside void.
Fire the clay, burn off the wax
Pour bronze where the clay was
If you end up with a chunk of fired clay inside the dodecahedron, you just go at it with a chisel and break it up, shaking the pieces out
This isn’t generally necessary with investment casting, though. You just make the shell thick enough to stand up to the casting process. You could also support it with sand in a flask for the actual casting.
Exactly what I said had to be done if a solid core wasn’t used. I have no idea what @MrDibble is arguing about. The core was filled one way or another, but it would have been easier to construct with a solid core, and again measurements will reveal that. A solid core would leave a noticeably smoother more regularly shaped impression on the interior. OTOH a solid core could have allowed more patterns molded into the interior which I see no signs of. Perhaps not even worth the effort, it’s not like the pictures I’ve seen have much detail on the exterior either.
And if I have misread what I or Dibble stated above I apologize.
Clearly.
I’m saying you don’t have to fill the whole void. Just a clay layer on the inside of the plates would be enough.
Moderator Note
This is turning into a bit of a personal attack against another user. Dial it back and focus instead on the actual misunderstanding or confusion, please.
I think you’re mistaken that it has to be done. Let’s imagine a simple casting, a smooth ring shape. The clay casting mold does not have to be solid to the center, it can be donut shaped, with merely thick enough clay around the shape to hold the molten metal.
If you apply that theory to the dodecahedron, there does not need to be a solid mass of clay all the way to the center of the figure, it merely has to coat the interior surfaces thickly enough to hold the liquid metal.