The making of the Macklemore and Ryan Lewis belt buckles
Over the summer of 2013, we fabricated some really cool aluminum pieces for Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ stage sets.
We were glad to have the opportunity and wanting to do something extra for them, we recycled the scrap aluminum from the job, melting it down in our forge to cast custom belt buckles.
Take a look at these slides to see the process from beginning to end.
We started by making a primary pattern. We refined it by hand, and then made a mold. Once the mold was made, we cast plastic patterns. After having made a half-dozen or so, we further refined those patterns and used them as sand-casting patterns.
After having sand-cast our parts, we separated and polished them to remove any irregularities from that process.
Then they were ready for applying a patina and more polishing.
We’ve sent a couple of buckles over to “the fellas.” Maybe we’ll see the buckles on stage sometime.
