A little over two years ago Jason Franklin of Ohio USA began a journey to finish his basement as a mid century retro getaway. A place where you could transcend in time back to a different era. It is through this journey he had developed a love for atomic age and MCM decor. So much so that he began designing and casting aluminum starbursts and other MCM inspired decor to share with other vintage collectors.
Check out a quick transition of his basement here:
Today, Jason is a highly sought after retro revival artist. Below we briefly run you through Jason’s process of hand crafting his starbursts for his midcentury modern hardware.
This first video Jason places the starburst pattern into the flask. The flask is the aluminum case that hold the sand around both sides of the pattern design. Once all the sand is packed and pressed the flask is removed:
Jason then fills one side of the mold with sand and packs it down. Next, it will then be flipped over to fill the opposite side:
Here, the opposite side has been filled with sand and now in the process of being pressed:
Next up, Jason makes the hole where the aluminum will be poured into the sand mold. in the words of MC Hammer, you can’t touch this. The aluminium pour is hot.
This next clip shows Jason removing the pattern between the two halves. You can see the imprint of the starbursts left in the sand. He then sets the top half back on the mold and is now ready to pour.
Once complete the starbursts are removed. Here are rough castings before he starts the task of grinding:
One by one Jason grinds and sands each casting by hand:
He then details each point and all by hand.
These are all ready for the polishing process:
Now complete, they then move on to be polished and are now are now ready for clear coat:
He then attaches to several products to make stunning mid century modern hardware for your bathroom and for your doors.
Lets check out just a few of Jason’s finished products. I’m stoked to say I have just about everything in his production line for our Retro Revival Bed and Breakfast Studio Build 😌 It’s going to look epic
A few happy customers:
(I totally have this trio set..)
Jason of Vintage Revival Art Co is located in Ohio USA and you can catch him on his site: www.vintagerevivalartco.com , his Etsy page, on the shmacebook or Instagram. Ships worldwide. Be sure to message him if you’re outside of the USA. ✌🏼♥️🌍
