DIY Your Own Fantasy Cipher! 

Hey Kit, I have a Associates degree in Metalcasting technology & Manufacturing management. I currently work at an aluminum foundry as a process engineer. So I feel comfortable and qualified giving you some pointers. First of all, I want to say, you are doing great! I love the project, and the fact that you didn’t give up, but simply redirected your efforts. So I think you may be getting a couple different molding practices crisscrossed, there’s green sand molding, Lost wax casting and lost foam casting. All three of them are super interesting and complex in their own way. These are not the only Casting methods there are many more that I won’t cover at the moment. -Green sand uses a “pattern” that gets removed or drawn from the mold and leaves a cavity for metal to flow into. These molds are typically in two parts called the cope (top) and the drag (bottom) -Lost wax casting uses a wax object that is in the desired shape of the final product and it is typically coated in alternating layers of sand and a refractory slurry. The wax is then melted out from the inside useing a furnace or oven, leaving behind the hardened shell and the cavity in the shape of a desired piece. -Lost foam, uses Styrofoam. This process can be done either in sand or in a similar way to the lost wax process. ->Using lost foam in sand = first the foam is formed to the desired shape, (our final product) the foam pieces is then buried in molding sand (foundry sand) in a way that a portion of it is visible from the surface. When the molten metal comes in contact with the foam, it will instantly vaporize, leaving behind a cavity in which the metal fills. If you have any questions, I’m more than happy to answer them. I love what you do.

I absolutely love when markers on RU-vid share their mess ups. It makes me feel better when I do the same. Keep it up boss!

I think a third piece is needed: a highly ornate key, that goes with no lock but contains the key needed to use the decoder. You could make it hollow so a small scroll containing two characters(one for each part of the decoder) so it can be reused for future LARPS.

Paraffin wax isn't usually the wax I see used with metal casting, it's usually a green wax that's specifically designed to melt out when metal is poured in, so that might make your next casting work out a little better

because you mentioned your struggle with casting metall: there is a clay (i believe from japan) that acts as normal clay, however once you fire it, it turns into silver (i assume they have other metalls aswell) so for something like this project here its not as usefull but i would love to see you give it a shot for jewelry, one thing to note however is that the clay shrinks by around 20% when firing so keep that in mind :D

Great job. The final piece looks incredible. It's awesome that you present the failures as well as the successes. Seeing the process is so important for new people getting into any type of crafting. Not everything works out perfectly the first time and that's okay. Learning from mistakes is the best way to learn.

Hi Fellow Adventure! I ran a small metal sand casting lab in college, so I've done some of the aluminum casting you're trying. The problem you experienced is called the Leidenfrost effect, where a layer of gas (usually water vaport) builds up as you try to heat/melt something. You can see this happen when you see water droplets dancing around on a hot skillet. I think your best best is to use a two part mold. You make the bottom part the same as you did here. But then your top part should include a sprue (i.e. funnel to pour the liquid metal into), some runs to direct the flow into the pattern, a riser to account for shrinkage, and possibly an exhaust vent as well to allow the gas to escape. This take a lot more metal and a lot more post-processing, as you have to cut off the runs and file down the sides of your part. Let me know if you have any more questions that I can try to help with.

Every time I've heard of lost wax casting, they don't use foundry sand but plaster. You put the wax into the plaster along with some sprues. Then heat it up in a kiln to melt out the wax and warm up the plaster. Then pour in the hot metal. Drop the whole thing in a bucket of water and the plaster melts away leaving the metal sculpture. Dispose of the plaster water responsibly though, because it's essentially quick lime at that point.

Doing one of these in an aged copper colour with lots of green patina would look brilliant as well. I hope you go to conquest next year. I won round 3, but I can't make it this year.

This gentleman, is a true artificer ❤

A cool, albeit massive, project idea is a loom, you could make any cloth for any project.

If you pack the sand alittle tighter, you can remove the mold. Conversely, I’ve normally seen foam instead of wax. Some form of closed cell foam you could cast in place of the wax, which will burn away much faster.

SKILL TREE!! everything else is irrelevant!

It warms my heart to see all the things that went wrong. Not because I want to see you fail, but because if a master craftsman like you can screw up then I don’t feel so bad when I do.

Casting tips To get that result where your model instantly melts away when the metal touches it, the model needs to be made from Styrofoam. With a wax model, you want to mix a little plaster into your foundry sand and make it a little extra damp, pounding it more firmly around your model. You then need to melt the wax out, in an oven on a low setting. Place a tray on the rack underneath to capture your wax and prevent fire in your oven. To make a more substantial feeling item, add lead in with your aluminum and stir (a pinch of bismuth and/or antimony will help bond a more cohesive alloy). You will achieve the very best results with the lost wax method, and a vacuum casting or centrifuge casting machine help you achieve the highest levels of perfection and scalability.

I immediately thought of using cake pillars to make "stone" pillars for a deserted temple diorama. You could either break the plastic pillars first, before making the mold, or possibly break them when the UltraCal is still slightly damp.

A random tip on plaster--if you add a little PVA glue (Elmers or generic...it is all the same stuff...don't use the yellow woodworking PVA as it has compatibility issues with many other things you may want to do to it later) to the water used to mix the plaster up, it will do 2 things: 1) It will extend the set time of the slurry by 1/4 to 1/3 of normal. I know you were going for speed in this one, but sometimes this is a real advantage. 2) Secondly, the glue will...wait for it...glue stuff together; specifically all the little gypsum crystals that forms as this stuff sets! This hardens the final part so much it is almost unbelievable. I did this once with a part I wanted to sand; and it was so hard it was almost unsandable, even with high quality emery cloth sandpaper used to sand metals! I got it done, but it was far more of a fight than I expected. Don't overthink quantities of glue--if it would make a good, thin consistency wallpaper paste/paper mache paste it will work! When still green you can sand/carve/work the part, but make sure you have it the way you want it before the thing dries!

One thing you could do for a mainly metal result is to take a lot of filings of the metal you want, mix that into resin and cast as normal...I know some people who make pseudo-metal dice that way. But I'd probably go with something more of an ivory look with resin and aging

New Skill Tree upload? Instant click!!!

I've never seen lost wax casting done by burning the wax away with the material replacing it. Usually, the wax is cast in plaster with a sprues attached which stick out of the plaster, then once the plaster (or investment) is set the wax is burned away so it runs out the sprue hole. Once the investment mold is empty, then the metal would be poured in. With casting done in sand like you tried I believe usually you would just lift the wax or whatever you were using as a positive out of the sand very carefully before pouring.

I LOVE your videos! Also, just in case no one has mentioned it-- The way your hair is greying is AWESOME! I know that's random, it's just giving you great character vibes, and I don't feel like enough people appreciate how awesome silver hair can look.

This! This is way your channel is so great. You show the mistakes which in turn helps those who are reluctant to try something new fell better about the mistakes that we will make. An idea, instead of pounding the table run a blender with ice in it to create the vibrations you need to get the air bubbles out. Also you can use the crushed ice to make margaritas, two birds with one stone. Also don't leave fixing the pitted driveway too long. Come freezing weather you could have much bigger holes in your driveway.

Experienced metalsmith, caster here. I love your attempts, sharing, and attitude. You try and encourage us all to try! Lost Wax and Sand Cast are two different methods, and you sort of combined them here... Your model is excellent for open sand cast. Powder the model with corn starch or talc as a release agent. Prepare the model with holes in the back to aid in pulling the model out of the sand. Your makeshift crucible failed because the steel was thin, and the forge got much hotter (2500 - 3000°F) than the melting point of both of the metals. (Al 1220°F, Steel 2500+°F) Hope you purchased a good thick walled ceramic crucible. Keep after this... and keep leveling up!!

With sand casting you really need to pack the sand around the mold and remove it before pouring, in this situation i would have made a two part flask, done both pieces separately, and added sprues for pouring. I would recommend starting with pewter for your next casting project, it's very forgiving and melts at a lower temp than aluminum. Might be able to do it on a hotplate with a thrifted pot. You should also be able to use silicone for the molds with pewter.

Fail up. While successes are just as important, failures are just as valuable. Well done, sir. Honestly, I’m more into crafting and not so much into larping. Your videos are enjoyable, uplifting and inspiring. Thank you for these!!

I really need to sit down and workshop/pick your brains for the LARP that I'm helping build with a friend.

you didn't do it poorly, you just didn't do the top part of the mould, the brick with holes for pouring and exhausting the gases. Everything was well done!

I used to make adventures for a summer camp I worked at, and seeing this prop gave me an idea. You can have two rival teams go on competing quests to get their own treasure first. Each team's treasure is half of this cipher. When they come together at the meeting point (After finding their 'treasure'), they find a coded message. Eventually, each team puts their half together and works with each other to translate the message, then together they go and find the real treasure. Usually in situations like this, the rivalry between the two teams gets lost in the magic of the quest.

Still waiting for y'all to announce that you are kickstarting your own larp. Episodes like this make me think that idea hasn't been abandoned.

Suggestion: I'd really love to see more of these builds though for artifacts I'd suggest soap stone easy to carve, chisel and even polish end result looks like marble.

- OpenScad would be a great tool for designing that style of decoder. But I say that as a computer guy practiced in the kind of arcane incantations it employs. - Upgrade: the base is a shape that fits marks on a map. Turn the dial based on code letters and an arrow on top points to a place on the map. - Lost wax casting usually has the wax melted and burned out before casting the metal. Which requires a molding material that will hold shape by itself. The vapor layer you described is called the "Leidenfrost effect".

Dude, that's spectacular. The moss was a stroke of genius. It's been a while since I've casted anything, but I never used wax or whatever. Just the green sand and talcum powder. Congratulations to the winners.

You were on the right path with the initial set up. You did make it more complicated by creating two molds, though. Get your 3D print as "refined" as you want it to be, then get out your frame and your green sand. Again, you were on the right path at the start using the mesh to sift the sand in, but it's also a good idea to apply a non-stick coating (there are sprays and powders for this) to the piece to keep the sand from getting stuck to it, and also pack the sand periodically as you're filling the frame to help set it into part to be cast, otherwise there's a chance of the sand not being consistently solid from top to bottom. Once you have the sand packed and you turn the whole thing over, tap the casting blank firmly to ever-so-slightly loosen the sand around it before pulling it out. Might be a good idea to drill a small hole into the bottom of your casting blank before you set everything up so that at this step you can carefully twist a screw or two into it to give you something to grab onto and lift the blank straight up and out so it doesn't smoosh the sand around. You now have a sand mold into which you can pour your molten metal. Note that this method only works for "one-sided" casts. If you want a two-sided cast (i.e. casting a piece that doesn't have a flat side or that tapers in a way that can't just slide out of the sand (say, a 20-sided die) you either have to cut the piece in half and do this method for both halves and then adhere them together, OR you cut the piece in half, set up the first mold as usual, re-attach the casting blanks together, apply the non-stick (I believe powder is the better option here), set the second frame on top of the first fully-prepared mold (you'll want both a locking mechanism to keep them together and an "indexing" mechanism to keep them perfectly lined up). Here's where it gets complicated. You're going to be pouring molten metal into an enclosed space, so as you are packing sand into the second frame you need to create channels for air and moisture (from the oil/water in the sand) to escape as well as a channel for pouring, which should be topped off with an offset indentation to create a "basin" into which you will pour the metal, which will then flow into the pour hole. Sort of like a funnel but slightly off to one side with a channel leading to the pour hole. It's hard to describe with just words and no visuals. Once you have the sand packed and all the "escape" channels and your pouring channel in place carefully separate the frames and remove the casting blank. Then just reassemble the frames (this is why the indexing mechanism is absolutely critical), lock them in place to help prevent leaks, and you're ready to pour. Bear in mind this will leave you with a bit of finish work to do as you'll have to snip off and file down the extra metal that will come up into the escape and pour channels. Honestly I'm not sure how well I've described any of this and there are TONS of useful demonstration videos here on RU-vid that probably explain it better while also being able to actually show what's being described. I don't know about you but for me I am very much a visual learner; I have a much easier time assimilating new skills if I actually see it being done rather than just being told how to do it.

I was driving and I literally parked when I got this notification

there is a metallic clay which might also work. If I remember correctly the clay can be oven fired instead of needing a kilm.

This is fantastic! I love that you kept at it through all sorts of oops moments. Love this.

I love how you don't see anything as too difficult not to try, you've come so far since the early videos, it's wonderful watching the journey.

Love your creativity. This creation looks so good!

Awesome Job, you keep coming up with great content and inspiration!!

You can sand off the tooling and casting marks from the 3D printed objects themselves, so they aren't there when you mold them.

Woooo!!! Love being a Patron! Cant wait till ya tackle the metal casting!

absolutely love your content! keep creating!! i also love how you admit and show your mistakes! maybe sometime down the road you could do a "separate" channel with bloopers of your projects or even a video of on this channel once a month for the videos that we are all watching! again GREAT JOB!!

Honestly, making it out of plaster is, I feel, more accessible than doing it in metal, as many people don't have the equipment to metal cast like that. You did a great job on this one!

Bro wtf. You make literally the coolest shit on the daily. I’ve been watching your channel for years and you’ve made the best channel on RU-vid.

I love crafting things by hand versus spending money.

I believe you confused Lost wax with Lost Foam casting. Lost Foam casting involves pouring the molten metal directly onto the foam and it burns away, Lost Wax requires you to melt the wax out first in an oven and is typically used with an investment plaster mould. There are also PLA filaments you can get that are designed for the Lost Foam/wax method, it saves you making the silicone mould step.

I think this technique would make a cool Dragon Stone from Skyrim.

Kit, Thank you for helping us all level up. Years ago I read an article about the lost wax method of casting. In the article they made a hole in the sand at the bottom for the wax to melt and evacuate the mold.. Please keep us all leveling up

1. Build another box the same size as your original. 2. Complete the process the same all the way up to flipping the packed sand mold over, exposing the bottoms of the wax molds. 3. Place second box on top, then place smallish dowels on the bottoms of the wax molds. Make sure these dowels stick out above the top of the box. 4. Fill with sand, the same as you did for the molds, packing it carefully. 5. Hollow out little "funnels" around the sides of the dowel ends. 6. Remove the dowels, being careful not to disturb the sand on the sides. When you pour this will help to prevent overflow and maintain temperature. Another option is to 3d print thin-walled tubes in PLA in place of dowels, so that you don't have to remove them and risk getting sand in your cast.

OMG, this was amazing. I love the work, overcoming the obstacles and admitting that 'Nope, I don't know what I'm doing but this is how I can try.' You've actually been a motivation for my real life. Thank you. I am also constantly amazed by the quality and content relevant comments this community offers!

I LOVE Dragon Skin! I use it to create sfx makeup. I rarely have issues with it. You don't have to be exact either. As long as you are close to a 1:1 ratio, it will work just fine. I really like this project and may have to create something similar for my D&D campaign. Thanks for all the awesome videos!

i love the transition from the "metal" skill icon to "sculpting" 🤣🤣🤣 absolute class

This came out so cool!

hi, been watching for almost two years, thank you.

That looks so cool!!!

There is silicone you can get that can handle the temps of melted pewter. Should be a good place to start for successes in metal casting for you. Mold Max 60 is what I believe it is.

Great price! 🤑 As someone who has been looking at the ANKER printers for a while, this is very helpful. Also, showcase you made in this video is super helpful! It looks awesome! 👌👌

Pivoting to making it out of “stone” was a great choice, it looks awesome! For casting advice, I use paraffin wax as well, however I pour plaster in a vessel, put the wax piece in it, and let it dry completely. You can fully submerge your piece in the plaster and use sprues, or just leave the back of the wax piece above the plaster if it’s a one-sided cast. Either way make sure you don’t let the wax float up or tilt in the plaster, because it will. Then just turn the dried plaster upside down and melt out the wax in an oven or with a candle. Once everything is totally melted out, you can cast. Just make sure to heat up the mold a little right before you cast, either set it by the fire or in an oven, you don’t want any extra moisture to make the mold explode when you pour. I’ve had good success with this method, and I’ve even been able to re-use the same mold sometimes. Best of luck, keep up the great work!

While this might not be possible with your tools but, my suggestion would be to look into lost PLA casting. You can get PLA for 3d printing, submerge your print in plaster, burn it out clean, and then pour the liquid metal into the void. Alternatively, just remove the positive from your sandmold rather than trying any sort of lost casting. Since your object has a flat side, thats probably the easiest

Well done Kit AND well done to all of the people commenting. SO MUCH to learn and skill up on. Love seeing all of the sharing of knowledge.

So I do want to add that when casting, try and do it on the grass. I don't know about asphalt but concrete can explode due to trapped moisture. Other than that anything I could say has already been covered, though since you have a 3d printer you can actually do lost PLA casting. This was a very cool project! makes me want to carve something similar out of wood

I have to say, its crazy you've come this far, and only this far. From halloween makeup to ballistas and epic quality leatherworking... hope you continue to grow and bring us crazy and fun builds! FYI, i have a property with a hill now... 100% making a ballista firing range XD

meanwhile at Skill Tree: *_*medieval instrumental music intensifies_**

This is something I'll never do, but it was fun to watch.

Love your video! I always wanna get a 3D printer, and this AnkerMake printer looks very beginner friendly. Can't wait to print my own design

Failure is how we learn. As disappointing as it may seem, you've leveled up a lot more than you think. Keep at it and the rewards will be immense. Never give up, never surrender!

you could take the wax moulds and paint of plaster of Paris and sand mixed in as the first layer to keep the details then pour more plaster on top once it sets, let the outer shell set and place in the oven to harden and also melt the wax, pour the wax out and it can be reused again, then pour the metal into the plaster mould let it set and then put into a bucket of water to cool it down and clean off the plaster and polish it.

Idea for this technique: Cast some “lost tablets” that contain some bit of lore that has been changed over the centuries. The modern understanding is actually quite different from the original, so the discovery of the lost tablets would be a major paradigm-shift, one that perhaps certain factions would not want coming to light…

Love this one. Something doesn't work? Oh well, let's see what else we can do. The beauty of creativity is working with what you have to do the things you want. Not everything works right away at first. Love seeing new content. Keep leveling up you!

That looks so interesting! I would definitely want to try my hand at this 3D printer!

Tips: 1. Before making the silicone mould, sand away any of the 3D printing texture you don't want to have appearing in the final product 2. Use clay or Lego or some other adjustable shape to save on silicone use 3. When you've revealed the wax casting, check again for the textures you want on your final product. Wax is easy to carve, and a lighter can quickly smooth out any lines. If you end up going too far, it's okay. Just re-melt the wax and try again. This is the perfect phase to chase perfection without worries of wasting material 4. After the wax casting is in the sand mould, you can drip a bit of hot wax from a candle and attach a "handle" with which to pull it out, if you don't want to go the plaster route

The most common tool that I've seen for removing bubbles from a mold is a palm sander. Turning it on and running it slowly around the frame of the mold a few times, according to RU-vid, magickally removes all bubbles! Voila! 😁

It doesn't matter how many mistakes you made, if you learned something new it's becomes even better

This brings me back to when I used Hirst Arts molds to make tabletop terrain.

I love when we add metal to our driveways. If we get enough aluminum together we can finish that, bud! LOL That was epic, and thank you for sharing it. That was beautiful.

with regards to the casting, i cant say ive ever seen someone try lost wax casting in sand(maybe i just haven't looked very hard) but whenever ive seen lost wax casting done, its been in something like a plaster mold and the wax is melted out before the metal is poured in then the mold is broken apart to release the finished part. also for sand casting, the item used to make the impression is removed which perhaps wouldn't work on these specific pieces due to the details on the side. my recomendation for future casting would be to make a mould out of something such as plaster of paris, which would have a high enough working temperature for casting aluminium but may not be suitable for metals with higher melting points such as steel

I am taking my imaginary hat off for you, again! Love it!

Another great vid and I need to know where you got that shirt!

That’d be a great technique for all kinds of relics and artifacts! I think another cool idea with a piece like that would be to chip away a couple of characters to make the code even more complex. Or a plot device like a coded text short enough to give no clues, like maybe a then-unknown name, but the key can be solved by careful examination of wear markings on the piece!

There is a microcrystalline wax that is used for this method. It's referred to as Lost Wax Casting. It will be green and slightly sticky. I have also seen Lost PLA casting. Though that will be a bit more dangerous. Maybe try jewelers investment powder. It will take on all of the details very nicely. Make a two part mold, remove your piece, pour the metal and dissolve the investment powder. I've seen someone make metal mushrooms with it.

To be honest I’m surprised you don’t have a 3d resin printer with how many small intricate accessories you make. I think you might like that a lot

One little detail you could add would be a lighter, almost chalky ring, like a groove or skid mark where the top bit scraped across the bottom bit as it was turned and worn away during its former use.

That really does look like something from Legends of the Hidden Temple.

Hey Kit, had a thought. Want to toss some chaos in, make an "evil" top, that reveals some dark secret, and the heroes have to keep that secret away from the villains. Perhaps going so far as to "destroy" that evil top. Or bottom. Whatever works best. Can you imagine having to ACTUALLY destroy something you put all that time and effort into?

an easy mix for a carvable wax that doesnt crumble is to mix hot glue sticks, paraffin wax, and a crayon fir some color. the hot glue sticks add a stabilization and a bit of rubber to bind the wax together. . then you need to cast it in a mould that can take the heat and allows you to get the wax out of the mould. best thing is to cast it in plaster and put the mould upside down and burn out all the wax. then u can cast metal in the cavity it created, and bust off the mould shell once its cooled. its the old school technique, and u can even make ur own plaster with mixing sand and plaster of paris. its alll going to be a one time use so again if it goes wrong ur gonna have issues.

homemade metalsmith: dope project but 2 great points for future metal working to keep in mind 1. when making molds I wouldn't cast on the back side like that. the metal slipping off could have been completely avoided if there were pour spouts in your sand. Next time either print long tubes for the 3d print to then wax cast with or put a stick on top of the mold where you want to pour metal and then pull it out leaving a hollow channel. then your metal is forced into your pocket and not allowed to scurry away 2. please PLEASE be careful when losing liquid metal onto concrete/asphalt. Micro pores in the concrete can contain moisture, this when superheated turns the floor into a bomb. I've been around concrete metal explosions before "hot rock and metal fireball" is the best way to explain it. overall amazing work as usual keep it up :D

Also, cold-cast metal should work well in the mold. Should be available from the same supplier as your Dragon Skin.

You have done a vanity with a sink and a cooler/ pantry. Maybe you need a multipurpose cooking setup for a fire?

From solving many mystery geocaches, I can tell you that the message you will cipher should be written in some old language or at least not using common words (especially articles) because with a bit of habit it is quite easy to find some kind of patterns and decipher without the wonderful tool you spent that amount of time to create. BTW really great project ! Congrats

I REALLY want to see if u can make cool DnD holy symbols for larping or even just a cool prop to bring your dnd character to LIFE! P.S. LOVE your stuff i just started watching a few days ago and love your projects and your energy.

I want one of these for my dnd group

You could potentially have skipped the wax in the foundry sand. There's a RU-vidr called BigstackD, who exclusively does melt and metal casting videos. He uses foundry sand for some of his vids, and he makes the molds by placing 3D-printed items into the sand, packs it, then carefully slips the printed item out. Then run a channel to the cavity that you can pour the metal into (a sprue), do the same with the other half of the item you're trying to cast, put it together as one big block, and pour the molten stuff in. You have to cut the sprue off, and polish away any flashing/seam lines, but it would probably work in this case. He doesn't say anything in his videos to explain what he's doing, but they seem to be exactly what you're looking to do here. Just look for the ones that deal with making coins or something other than the usual ingots.

like many have said. ya mixed two different casting processes. lost wax and green sand. looks like yours would be better for lost wax. cast your wax item add a sprue. coat in plaster. melt out wax. fill cavity with molten metal. its best to set your entire mold in sand. let cool some and dunk it in water. brush off plaster left and do your thing. also aluminum shrinks when cooling so it will be slightly smaller. might not matter too much here but if you are trying to get a tight fit it could. also steel soup can is ok few use crucible stand in

You really needed to melt away the wax before pouring the metal. For this reason, sand is usually not the preferred mold medium. Typically for "lost wax casting", you make the wax part and then add was sprews and coat it with a fine plaster. After the plaster hardens, you melt out the wax to form the cavity for the metal. From there, you just pour the molten metal into the mold (often placing the mold in sand for structural support and insulation). Once cooled, a little water and scraping will remove the plaster. There are lots of great videos on the process for more details. As a bonus, the plaster gives a much higher level of detail than the sand (think about the grain size of the sand vs the floury consistency of the plaster). For this reason, I would also recommend doing any extra carving or modifications to the wax rather than waiting to do it on the metal. The wax is much easier to work with and all of those little details will come through just fine.

Your neighbors must 'love' you!😂 on a side note 📝 🎵 I would love to come over & see your workshop!

what about doing a set up useing nfc readers hidden and nfc rings to lock turn or do different aspects.

The steam barrier you had a problem with is called the Leidenfrost effect.

I recommend Smoothon Moldstar over dragon skin. it is meant to be used as a mold where as dragonskin is much softer.

You need to pick a lane! The problem seems to be that you're combining both sand casting and lost wax casting. Green sand will hold its shape if packed down right, so you won't need the wax to keep the cavity open. generally sand casting is for less detailed pieces and you get sand inclusions in the metal. I think your best option is with lost wax casting. Try putting the wax in plaster and melting out the wax before pouring.

Another casting problem is trying to use Aluminum in an open mold form. There is not enough head pressure to push the aluminum into the fine details. Aluminum can work in projects like this using the proper gating, feeders, and spin traps. I find Zamak ZA 12 a more forgiving metal to work with, and its melting point is around 400 degree Fahrenheit lower.