Powder coating this one today. It's a small partial cast (should have been bigger but the aluminum clogged and didn't fill the colony completely). I don't plan on powder coating these often but this one

This fire ant colony was built partially around a dead log that was lying partially below the ground surface. I had melted 31.1 lb for a larger cast nearby and had a decent amount leftover so I decided

Finished cleaning/mounting this one. Fire Ant Colony, Cast #116: 11.1 lb, 15 in deep. Looks cool with the circular cutout where the tunnels were built around a log.

Fungus Farming Ant Colony This is a colony of the most bizarre type of ants we have here: Trachymyrmex septentrionalis. They farm fungus for food in these large underground bulbs. These are difficult to

First attempt at powder coating using a "scrap" piece of ant colony cast. Wasn't planning to do anything with this one but somebody wanted it so I stuck it on a base. Turned out cool.

This is the same colony as the previous timelapse I posted, but at a different time. ▶️ 3Speak

Cleaning two fire ant colony casts I made last weekend

An aluminum snowman is made using a snowman shaped piece of styrofoam. The styrofoam is packed in casting sand (Petrobond) to create a mold. When poured into the mold, the molten aluminum vaporizes the

Casting a subterranean carpenter ant colony with molten aluminum. I haven’t done many casts of the colonies of this species and have only posted one video of these back in 2014. I started out planning

I made a few timelapses of this colony because it's in a good spot near a shelter to keep my camera out of the rain. They rebuild from the first rain, then it gets wrecked again and they rebuild again.

A foam pumpkin is hollowed out, carved into a jack-o'-lantern, then cast with molten bronze. The foam pumpkin is encased in casting plaster (investment). Once hardened, the plaster is placed in a kiln

In this video, a cast is made of a fungus farming ant colony (Trachymyrmex septentrionalis) using an aluminum alloy. If you’ve seen my other videos, you may have noticed that each species of ant has a

This is an older fire ant colony casting video that was never posted. More colony casting videos were planned for late last year but the weather would not cooperate when I had time. I'll definitely be

his is an older fire ant colony casting video that was never posted. More colony casting videos were planned for late last year but the weather would not cooperate when I had time. I'll definitely be doing

A timelapse of a fire ant hill on a log being collapsed by rain and then being rebuilt by the ants, twice. The playback speed varies throughout the video but it’s somewhere in the ballpark of a few 100x

Pouring molten aluminum into an under ground yellowjacket (wasp) nest. I’ve been waiting to make this video for a long time but I haven’t seen one in my yard, and in a suitable place to pour aluminum,

This is a timelapse taken over 15 hours of a fire ant colony before, during, and after a heavy rain storm. There was about an hour and a half of very heavy rain which collapsed the anthill. When the rain

Navigating the tunnels and chambers of an actual fire ant colony. This is a 3d scanned model of an aluminum cast of a fire ant colony. In the video you'll first see an animation simulation of running

This is the first time I've made a cast with brass. The result is not bad but melting brass is a pain so I probably won't use it too often. I definitely don't see being able to use it for ant colonies

In this video, I make a cast of the inside of a fish skull with molten aluminum. I caught this 29 lb black drum a few years ago off the coast of Dauphin Island, Alabama in the Gulf of Mexico. I've had