Green Sand

Well, I’ve mixed up some green sand for casting and it’s all packed away and ready to be used.

The mixture that I ended up using is:

• 3 parts sand
• 1 part fireclay
• 1 part water

The mix ratio for the water is a bit of guesswork, since I just kept adding water until the consistency was right. I’ll be including pictures of the greensand in later projects when I’m actually using it. Not much interest in some photos of sand!

The sand that I used was from an old bag of mortar that I had lying around. I hand sieved the sand to pick out the rocks and detritus, but it is generally a fine sharp sand with very few inclusions (although some of the inclusions were quite large).

I mixed the dry ingredients in a 30 litre sealable tub and then added the water. After mixing with my hands for a while, I sealed the tub and started to roll the mix around to better combine the contents.

When I was finished, I had a mix that wasn’t leaving much on my hands; formed a firm shape with pressure; and, broke cleanly into large clumps.

It probably needs a little more clay, but then again, it may not, so I am leaving it as is until I start casting.