anthillart Tag Posts Index

Casting a Fire Ant Colony with Molten Aluminum (Cast #043)

An incredible metal structure is made by pouring molten aluminum into a fire ant colony. The resulting cast is huge, weighing 17.9 lbs. and reaching a depth of 18

Casting a Fire Ant Colony with Aluminum (Anthill Art Cast #127)

A fairly large fire ant colony is cast with molten aluminum. The surface mound of this colony was not built up very high, probably due to the recent cold weather,

Casting an Ant Hill on a Log with Aluminum (Cast #126)

This is an aluminum casting of a fire ant colony which was built around a log. The log can be partially seen on the left side of the hill but most of it is covered

Casting an Ant Colony in a Stump with Molten Aluminum (Cast #121)

This is the possibly the craziest cast I’ve ever attempted and definitely the most challenging. This is a field ant colony (species Formica pallidefulva) with a

Removing an Aluminum Ant Colony from a Stump Day 10

It took 10 days of cutting and digging but I finally got it out. I had cut down to dirt around the wood the cast is in and it still wouldn't budge. I noticed the

Three Fire Ant Colony Casting Session, Part 3: Fiery but Mostly Peaceful Colony Casting (Cast #119)

Part three of the three fire ant colony aluminum casting session. You may notice in some of the other videos, dirt is piled over the colony. This helps to prevent

Three Fire Ant Colony Casting Session, Part 2: Casting in the Daylight for a Change

Part two of the three fire ant colony aluminum casting session. This one produced lots of smoke during the cast which made it difficult for me to see. Like a true

Three Fire Ant Colony Casting Session, Part 1: Big Colonies Hidden Under Small Hills

In this video I cast a cluster of three fire ant colonies with aluminum. This is the first cast of the three. I had expected these to be fairly small and was surprised

Casting a Fire Ant Colony Built Around a Log with Molten Aluminum (Cast #116)

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

Casting an Aluminum Snowman with the Lost Foam Method

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

Casting a Fungus Farming Ant Colony with Molten Aluminum (Cast #107)

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

Fire Ant Hill Casting with Aluminum (Cast #070)

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

Fire Ant Hill Casting with Aluminum (Cast #070)

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

Casting a Yellowjacket Nest with Molten Aluminum

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

Mushroom Casting with Zinc and Aluminum (First Attempt)

This was my first attempt at casting a mushroom with molten metal (zinc and aluminum). I've put out two mushroom casting videos so far which I actually did after

Five Fire Ant Colony Casting Session Part 3: Casts 4 & 5

Here are the last two casts of the five aluminum fire ant colony casting session. I thought that attempting to cast five colonies in one session and showing the

Five Fire Ant Colony Casting Session Part 2: Cast 3

This aluminum fire ant colony cast is the largest of the five cast session and the largest one (by weight) that I have done so far. I was able to get a great cast

Five Fire Ant Colony Casting Session Part 1: Casts 1 & 2

I thought it would be cool to do a few ant colonies at a time, and show the result even if they didn't turn out that great to highlight how difficult casting can

Casting a Mushroom with Molten Aluminum (Cast #091)

I've made a few of these mushroom casts and this one of the better ones that I've made so far. I've been waiting to post a video of this until I got a really good

Casting an Ant Colony (Aphaenogaster treatae) with Molten Aluminum (Cast #066)

This is the first cast that I have made of a colony built by this species of ant, which I have identified as belonging to the species Aphaenogaster treatae. I usually