See “Forever Peanuts”
What are they?
Styrofoam peanuts never seem to go away, do they? So, I thought it would be nice to make them even more permanent.
I melted E-waste hard drive cases and household waste to make these lost-foam aluminum peanuts.
These aluminum peanuts are each unique and sold singly in a small gift box. It will be similar to the one shown here, but not exactly the same. I individually quality-control and hand-finish each peanut, which has a small, shiny metal side (deburred; no sharp edges) where the peanut was attached to a sprue during the casting process.
Or find them at MoCA Arlington Innovation Studio + Store in Arlington, VA.
How were they made made?
My studiomates and I collected waste aluminum. I contributed around 50lbs of hard drive castings–the metal outsides of an internal spinning hard drive. We melted this aluminum in a forge.
I constructed “lost foam” castings with central foam sprues and around a dozen foam peanuts each. Then I packed these castings into fine sand inside an outer vessel, in such a way that gravity would lead the hot aluminum downwards into each peanut.
Hot metal pouring
Photograph by Art Drauglis
After pouring, before removing from the sand
(Thanks to Art Drauglis for the glorious photo of burnination.)
The foam was obliterated by the heat of the metal. After cooling it for several hours, I was left with a few strange metal dandelions:
Before cutting the individual peanuts free
Then I cut the individual peanuts free with hand saws and, as warranted, an angle grinder. Each peanut was left with a few sharp edges, which I removed by hand with files, deburring tools, and other small hand tools.
Before cutting the individual peanuts free
Finally, each is engraved with a tiny “CC 25” and hand-packed into ring boxes.
Engraving detail of 'CC 25'