Pouring Silver for Jewelry: Avoiding Bubbles & Achieving Unique Shapes

Question
Greetings Thomas
Is there a way to pour melted Silver into a cooling liquid, for the purpose of creating unique shapes for jewelery fabracation, without having the little bubbles or holes that so often occure when using water?

Answer
Mike, I have poured metal for casting pieces and in the process found pieces with such special shapes I have taken them out to save for other projects.  When poured gently and not too quickly from perhaps a foot above the water, most pieces are solid with few holes.  Some do indeed have the form of "frozen water drops" and others more like half domes.

First try pouring a small steam of the molten metal from about one foot from the water. The heat should be on the metal the entire time to be certain all is fully molten as it pours.  The water container should be deep enough to allow the metal to cool fairly well before it reaches the bottom. I use an old trash can or small but tall container about a foot deep.

Mike, the more gentle the pour the less chance of holes but there is no way to control what happens when hot metal hits liquid. With water, there is steam forming and the metal forming as it cools, getting thin enough in some areas for the water to punch through and make holes.  Steam is one factor it appears but not the only one. The force of the liquid against a still forming piece of metal can certainly punch a hole through even in some liquid other than water.

You can always try using oil and there is some risk of fire in doing that. The thicker liquid will behave differently with the metal and cooling rates will be different.  Blacksmiths may use oil to cool a piece of steel when trying to achieve a specific temper so the use of oil with hot metals is not uncommon.  You simply need to be aware of possible danger and be prepared for that.

All in all, the serendipity that forms the unusual shapes you desire for fabrication is also the cause of holes and other forms you may not want.  We really cannot have it just one way with out the possibility of the other.

Keep pouring, using various speeds and heights of pour. Also try pouring over crushed or cubed ice to get a different variety of forms, or on wet pasta under water. If you use gems, you might find a way to use a hole in a nicely shaped piece as a place to set the stone. There are lots of possibilities.

Best wishes with gaining enough usable forms to make fine projects.  
Blessings and Peace.  Thomas.