Experiment 21: Sulfur Casting

After seeing Theodore Gray's sulfur fish casting, I decided that I wanted to try sulfur casting, too.  Since sulfur melts at 240°F, it can be easily melted with a stove, campfire, or hot plate.  I had previously tried melting the sulfur (I used plain garden sulfur) over the exhaust flame from my large aluminum furnace, but I overheated the sulfur a lot and it turned into some sort of tar substance.  For my next attempt, I melted it using my hot plate (WAY less heat) with a tin can crucible (middle picture) and poured it into another tin can.  It made a nice-looking disk with fascinating crystals visible on the surface.  This has since broken, but I thought it was interesting enough to land it a spot in my element collection (I will be making a page about that shortly),  Later, I also cast a sulfur cube using a wood fire for heat and a 1" section of aluminum box tube for a mold.  When I poured the left-over molten sulfur into the fire, the liquid (which glows a dull red) caught fire and streamed into the flames with the coolest blue flame I have ever seen.  I thought the sulfur looked amazing, a thin stream glowing both red and blue at the same time.  In conclusion, sulfur is quite easy to melt and is amazingly fun to cast.