Replica Coins

[kidnamedrichie]

Hey guys,

Need a bit of advice. I'm planning several projects that require coins. Namely, a project involving Gringotts bank from the Harry Potter franchise. I have a set of their coins already but there are only 3 coins in the set, one of each denomination. I'm looking for a way to create a handful more of each coin. I'm not really concerned about the detail on the coin. I can deal with that. I just have no idea how to find or create round discs that have a good weight and are the right size and color. Any advice?

Again, I'm not really concerned about any of the words/pictures/logos on the coins. I'm looking for something that has the right weight, size, and even color if I can get it.

Any help ya'll could provide would be great!

 

[Moviefreak]

You could just take a round wood disk the size you want. Make a small mold of the shape, then melt lead or pewter and pour them into the mold. They would have good weight and just be blank.

 

[kidnamedrichie]

Thanks so much for the advice. I thought about doing something like this but I have no experience in melting metal or casting anything. Any suggestions on a website or video or something that could take me through a tutorial?

Again, thanks for the help.

 

[panterateama]

I would probably suggest Casting Resin and Silicone Mold Making Rubber they make molding and casting materials and have a lot of how to videos on how to design, mold and then cast with their products (available at hobby lobby)

I made a set of coins by making the blanks out of super sculpey modelling clay and then making a mold of the 2 sides, casting the 2 sides out of resin and then glueing them together and smoothing the edges... problem is, they feel like plastic...

If u want weight, pewter would be best, its not super expensive, it melts at a fairly low temperature and cools quickly so its fairly safe compared to lead and other metals

good luck!

Pantera

 

[Kevin Gossett]

You can also cold cast them using metal powders in your resin. Gives the coin some weight, and they can be buffed to a shine, so no painting required. Check YouTube for Smooth On and BrickInTheYard for great molding and casting tutorials

 

[kidnamedrichie]

You guys are awesome and I appreciate all the help!

 

[robstyle]

A coin is a very simple and basic first time mold/cast item to learn with whether a one sided open mold or two part mold for a complete casting. Look into some starter kits that come with some casting silicone and some resin thats a 50/50 mix. The 50/50 mix (equal parts of both A and B side) is very simple to mix with no scale needed. Prior mentioned was "cold casting" but your now adding a step or three to a learning process. Learn molding and casting in the up most basic form, then move forward. Until then some rattle can spray paint will do for the color.

In lieu of expensive casting materials, I suggest trying the first few castings out of melted Crayola Crayons. Make sure to use only Crayola brand as off brands dont melt or set proper. This is something many of use did many decades ago in school for art projects. Take a clean caned soup can, pop the unwrapped crayon in it and melt it over the stove. Dont over heat, dont get it on you or anything else thats not going into the trash. Its a great, cheap and quick way to learn pouring material.

These are some crayon coins (on the right) next to the real one (upper left) and a plastic casting (shiney silver on bottom left).

if you dont want to go the mold/casting route, look into cheap Chinese coins. This is part of my screen used Firefly collection: