If I was a museum curator this is an excellent exhibit piece. It’s fascinating to see it like this and such a great visual for kids and adults to enjoy and learn from. ❤
All I can say is....WOW, that's amazing! Ants are super impressive engineers. The time and their ability to work together is mind blowing. Great job guys!!
Thank you, we have a few more mounds this size plus video of our new furnace we are building. It will allow us to cast these large mounds easily with fewer pours.
I don't understand how the 2nd 3rd and 4th pour could also sink into the anthill when there was already (at least somewhat) solidified aluminum on top. Doens't it plug up the hole? I'm also wondering where the ants and all their larvas end up. I understand that they get completely annihilated as the burning hot metal reaches them but they do leave some ash behind don't they? Why doesn't that leave some visible impurities? If you melt the cast down again, does all this organic material turn into slag??
WoW! Amazing questions. So what you don't see in our videos are all of the failed attempts. Sometimes the first pour does plug up the holes and we are left with a large base and small sculpture. There is an art to pouring the aluminum at the right flow. Too fast or slow causes less than desired results. Aluminum is great for transferring heat and has a relatively low melting temperature so it bonds to the previous pour very well. We open the top of the mound and expose many holes. Each of the 4 pours were in a specific place on the mound so they flow down. If we open up a small area and expose a few holes, we will only get a single pour before it plugs up. Ants and larva perish quickly. At temperatures well above 1200F / 649C, they more or less disintegrate instantly. It does leave a visible pit and dark spot on the sculpture that can be seen. We clean the dark spots, but the pits are there forever. Thank you for bringing this up, it gives me ideas for future videos. We melt down our failures and broken pieces frequently. Any residue from the ants, dirt, or impurities get melted down. Either it floats to the top or sinks to the bottom as slag. We have a new video coming very soon!
Your not far off. It is determined by the soil they build the mound in. Soil that contains more clay make the perfect casting, but difficult to dig up. Soil that contains more sand has a better chance of collapsing, but much easier to dig up.
Beautiful. You have a lot of confidence in your grip holding on to a bucket of molten aluminum with pliers. If ever there was a case for genetic engineering to get rid of an insect, fire ants take 1st place.
We are very proud of it. It is amazing and hope to find another one this size or bigger. We have our eye out for the perfect mound to cast. Thank you for watching our videos!
@kathleenmann7311 - We really wished we had a termite mound here in Texas that we could cast or at least somewhere near. The termite mounds we have seen in Australia are epic!!!! Would love a chance to cast them.
Such an impressive system of tunnels. I would suggest you turn it around and display it right-side-up, the way you made it, by going downwards into the ground.
@bernhardwall6876 - We have heard this suggestion from a few and we agree. We will be starting our second season soon and it will have plenty of our castings in the right side up position. Thank you for watching and supporting our channel. And a big thanks for the suggestions!
Amazing! Absolutely fascinating. Great work. I am concerned, however, about your not using leg, arm and chest protection in the event of splatters or explosions. Stay safe while you have fun.
Two ants, a boy and a girl, in love with an entire future ahead of them. On the first pour, they look at each other one last time, frozen in immortality.
@@furn2351 It's actually not true. All the ants in the nest are female. The male drones are only produced at mating time. They have wings and mate in the air outside the hive with the new queens. So any courting would take place outside and escape the holocaust. Inside the nest, it would only be true if it was two lesbian worker ants!
@Chris Kenney - Thanks, we appreciate you watching them. Check out our last video and enter a chance to win one of our sculptures. We are giving it away free on November 5th.
VERY impressed by the portable furnace that you made. It seems so much easier than what the other “ant hunters” use. Your final results were stunning!!! Did you paint the piece white?
@enaidyeltneb369 - Thank you so much!! We really appreciate you watching our videos and supporting our channel. We too are amazed with the things we can make like this furnace. Anyone can buy a furnace off Amazon, but we want others to see that there are practical and affordable ways to build it. You have to learn how to operate a furnace that someone else built, but you already know how to operate a furnace you build yourself. It is pure aluminum and was not painted. We spend many hours to remove soil, roots, grass, and other debris. It takes a while for us to get it polished to perfection. Please check out some of our other videos and let us know what you think of them.
On top of that it's pitch black in there. How do they know which way is up? I have watched many videos and most are speculation. Some say its like a pheromone that bees use to help guide them to the surface. Others say they know because the queen is at the deepest part of the mound and the juveniles are closest to the queen. The older worker ants are closer to the surface, and only the oldest of ants are at or on top of the surface. I have many more hours of pondering this topic.
Hello! We try to capture the entire process so anyone interested in making this type of art has a better understanding start to finish. The trash on the top is caused from all of the impurities. Cleaner the aluminum is the less we have to scrape off the top. Thank you for watching our videos!
That stuff is called dross, and like they said it is just other stuff in the aluminum. Anything with a lower melting point will solidify first/melt last and thus can be removed to make the aluminum more pure.
@@SonOfIrak I am robot. I will correct your sentence semantically to make it more comprehensible. You could have said "I feel like you're a robot-user.", or "I feel like you're a robot." As currently worded, "I Feel Like You're Robot User" what is being conveyed here can quite easily be misinterpreted as if you are stating that you believe said RUclips account, "angelafranklin9134", is someone who uses robots . . . when you intended to communicate that you believe the account is controlled by a robot. Eagerly anticipating the singularity with great expectations!!! Good riddance!
Fire ants may be heartless evil bastards from the pits of Hell, but I have to admire their engineering prowess. I've watched several of this type of video, and fire ants always make the largest and most intricate nests
@VTdarkangel - They are a work of nature and the engineering wonder they create is beyond amazing. Yes, they are evil to no end. Anyone that has encountered them knows the pain and devastation they have caused. They have changed our natural ecosystem here in the last 50 years. Many of our ground dwelling birds like quail or reptiles like the Texas Horned Toad Lizard have become non existent because of the imported fire ant. None the less the intricacy of their mounds is something to stop and take notice of. Thank you for watching and supporting our channel. Please watch some of our newer videos and let us know what you think of them.
Thanks! We appreciate you watching our videos and supporting our channel. It's a low budget hobby that is very rewarding. We are jonesing to get back after it. The cold weather has the ants dormant. Spring is coming soon and we will be ready.
Great question Jim! Usually a minute or two is all it takes for it to start solidifying. Since aluminum is not like steel, where you have to quench it in oil, we can get the water hose after it just a few minutes after pouring to hurry the cooling process and start digging. If we let it naturally cool down it would take a few hours.
What amazing sculpture. So beautiful. Do you sell these? Brave work, be safe. Thankyou. If these ants are as bad and painful as some I've encountered, it would not hurt me so badly to end their lives. And so quickly as well. I hate the thought of anything suffering.
@erynnlongenecker2672 - Thank you, we do sell the sculptures in our videos if we still have them. Reach out to us by email - antz.pantzcastings@gmail.com - Fire ants are very painful and not native to our ecosystem. It does not bother me to exterminate them and we prefer our method over poison. Poison is a slow painful death, we take care of them in a few seconds. We really appreciate you watching our videos.
@B. Chaney - Well...actually...The mound moved over 18 inches and popped back up. We most likely didn't get the queen which means this one may have been a little bigger. We appreciate you watching our videos and hope you subscribe to our channel. We have new videos coming out soon.
My first time seeing this amazing art form. This may be a dumb question, but does this get all the way to the queen? Basically obliterating the entire colony, or do the tunnels actually go deeper than what is cast?
@user-ti7os8nm8j - That is a great question. The queen travels the entire mound laying eggs. Most of the time we get the queen. In the winter months she is closer to the surface because that is where the most heat is. In the summer here it reaches 105 degrees frequently, she is buried deep trying to stay cool. The tunnels sometimes go much deeper than our casting. Once the mound is disturbed the worker ants go into defense mode and starts blocking the tunnels to protect the deepest parts of the mounds. We have found the best results pouring directly after we disturb the mound since they have not had time to close up the tunnels stopping the flow of aluminum. Thank you for watching and supporting our channel. We would really appreciate you watching some of our newest videos and letting us know what you think of them.
@DSS - What a great idea. Thank you for the input. I think we will try and capture the natural position of the sculpture for our final end screen shots in one of our new videos we have coming up. We appreciate you watching our videos and encourage more advice like this.
How did this idea come about? This is the first time I’ve ever seen this on RUclips! The castings are beautiful, amazing and so intricate it almost looks like a marble sculpture when it first comes out of the ground. Humans could learn a lot about building and structure from these little creatures. 😊
@nancyaylward1176 - We had seen one of these castings many years ago and it sparked our interest. We never knew there were videos of others on RUclips making these. In 2021 we randomly seen a RUclips video and said "we can do that". 9 months later, here we are, we learned how to RUclips... Thank you for watching our videos and supporting our channel. 😊
I don’t know who came up with the idea for aluminum but entomologists have been pouring substances like concrete into termite mounds and such for ages. Aluminum is probably more practical for smaller scale nests like these fire ants
@@platedlizard - We have heard many decades ago some used dental casting material to cast ant mounds as well as concrete. Aluminum is practical, affordable, and flows through the tunnels perfectly. Thank you for watching our videos and supporting our channel.
@Doug Alexander - With fire ants the oldest ants in the colony tend to be closest to the surface. Queen is usually in the deepest part of the mound with the youngest closest to her. Some have theories that they put off a hormone and it gives them a since of direction and tells them what to do and where to go. It is impressive. Thank you for watching. We released a new video this morning and would really appreciate you watching and telling us what you think of it or if there is something else you would like to see us add to them.
Seen it, done it. All it takes is a drop of sweat to ruin the day. Most of the time PPE is a good idea. Other times its more dangerous when you use it. Thanks for watching and we appreciate you supporting our channel.
@ellenl.5581 - Thank you, we appreciate you watching our videos. We have many others you may like. Please check out our channel and tell us what you think of them.
A much more impressive sculpture of fire ant nest than the bull ant nest sculptures I saw in another video from Australia. Easier to extract the sculpture from the ground than the bull ant nest sculpture too. Although fire ants are part of nature---- I'm sure Texans won't be missing them any time soon.
@John Horton - Where are you located? We love road trips. The ants create the art, we just capture its beauty and share it with everyone. Thank you for watching our videos.
We have tried many different methods of making them shine. I think we found a quick and cost effective way. Now it's time to polish the old castings. We appreciate you watching our videos!
@MrBswaj - Totally agree. The true beauty is suspending it in its upright position. We are thinking about something like this soon. Thank you for watching our videos!
Nicely done. I have Carpenter ants here. The hills are 6 ft + across and some up to 18 inches high. These would be interesting to see if there is much difference compared to these nasty little ants.
@josephastier7421 - Yes, we have so many new ideas thanks to viewers like you. Please watch our other videos and let us know what you think about them.
@bohica snafu - Thank you, it was some work getting this one done. This one weighed a little over 64 lbs. We have not sold this one. It is special to us and will probably not part with it. We appreciate you watching our videos and supporting our channel.
@tommyhunter1817 - I have personally been covered in fire ants on more that one occasion. The pain is intense and I have no problem killing them. Thanks for watching our videos and supporting our channel.
I like it. I wonder if you could make it into colors? I don't know what anodized aluminum means, but it has great colors, can you do that to your castings?
@julieisthatart - Oh, believe me we are thinking the same!!! We have plans for casting Nordic gold, silver, brass, and copper. These all make beautiful sculptures with unique colors. Check out our RUclips channel. We have a video where we casted some ant mounds using jewelers gold. Pretty colors. Thanks for watching!
@Jaydaydesign - Hi, it's a gold alloy that jewelers use to fix and repair with. Usually has a mixture of real gold, copper, and sometimes tin. What we are using has small amounts of pure gold in it. If we were to dissolve and refine the bars, we would end up with a small amount of pure gold.
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
If I was a museum curator this is an excellent exhibit piece. It’s fascinating to see it like this and such a great visual for kids and adults to enjoy and learn from. ❤
We agree. We know of some that have made these and donated them to a museum. I would be honored to donate one for display.
as a plastic surgeon / skin graft specialist , seeing that much molten metal , and canvases deck shoes, had me shuddering .
I am an art curator. This is not art.
@@antznpantzcastingshighly doubtful, with the possible exception of a natural history museum. But that still doesn’t make it art.
Obviously you are not an art curator. Stop being such a negative Nancy. You should seek help for your anger and depression.
All I can say is....WOW, that's amazing! Ants are super impressive engineers. The time and their ability to work together is mind blowing. Great job guys!!
lot of dead Engineers RIP
I hope he doesn't come for human engineers next........... :0
@@JonathanGillies LOL
What a fascinating process! He never knows what amazing things will be found on the internet. It is a work of art.
Thank you.
No ants were left unharmed in the filming of this AWESOME sacrificial event.
Thanks for watching our videos. We are very proud of this sculpture.
Imagine destroying an entire civilization for art. Awesome.
@@neosharkey7401 shut up dude
@@jgarcia.9807 fuck you. But in the nicest way possible.
@@neosharkey7401 an invasive annoying unwanted bug....
Impressive. With nests that size available it would be interesting to see what the result of a single large pour would be.
Thank you, we have a few more mounds this size plus video of our new furnace we are building. It will allow us to cast these large mounds easily with fewer pours.
Antz N Pantz Castings p
Zczs
Biggest i seen on youtube was a 1.2+- tonne monster, it becomes pretty complicated.
@@antznpantzcastings how does the air escape, or does it entirely?
@@rickritco9815 There was smokes coming out. So I guess smokes and air are coming through smaller tubes or pores in the soil
I don't understand how the 2nd 3rd and 4th pour could also sink into the anthill when there was already (at least somewhat) solidified aluminum on top. Doens't it plug up the hole?
I'm also wondering where the ants and all their larvas end up. I understand that they get completely annihilated as the burning hot metal reaches them but they do leave some ash behind don't they? Why doesn't that leave some visible impurities? If you melt the cast down again, does all this organic material turn into slag??
WoW! Amazing questions. So what you don't see in our videos are all of the failed attempts. Sometimes the first pour does plug up the holes and we are left with a large base and small sculpture. There is an art to pouring the aluminum at the right flow. Too fast or slow causes less than desired results. Aluminum is great for transferring heat and has a relatively low melting temperature so it bonds to the previous pour very well. We open the top of the mound and expose many holes. Each of the 4 pours were in a specific place on the mound so they flow down. If we open up a small area and expose a few holes, we will only get a single pour before it plugs up.
Ants and larva perish quickly. At temperatures well above 1200F / 649C, they more or less disintegrate instantly. It does leave a visible pit and dark spot on the sculpture that can be seen. We clean the dark spots, but the pits are there forever. Thank you for bringing this up, it gives me ideas for future videos.
We melt down our failures and broken pieces frequently. Any residue from the ants, dirt, or impurities get melted down. Either it floats to the top or sinks to the bottom as slag. We have a new video coming very soon!
So much question
The extreme heat of the following pours heat up the previous solidified pour
From blocks of aluminum and an ant infestation came a modern art masterpiece. It's awesome.
Thank you!
I watch a lot of videos like this on here and this one is by far the coolest and best looking one I've seen, totally awesome!!
@Evolution - We appreciate you watching our videos and supporting our channel. We have some new videos coming out and want to know what you think.
I’m amazed at how huge the nest actually was.!
@Vegan4life1 - We were amazed too. We never know what is under the ground until we get started. Thank you for watching our videos!
Yeah, no wonder you can never get rid of them.
It amazes me that the dirt doesn’t just collapse on all the tunnels instead of the aluminum finding it’s way into every crevice!
Your not far off. It is determined by the soil they build the mound in. Soil that contains more clay make the perfect casting, but difficult to dig up. Soil that contains more sand has a better chance of collapsing, but much easier to dig up.
If only there were a way to make it transparent and hollow, then run lights through it. Super cool work you all do!
There is you use resin instead of aluminium
Beautiful. You have a lot of confidence in your grip holding on to a bucket of molten aluminum with pliers. If ever there was a case for genetic engineering to get rid of an insect, fire ants take 1st place.
Thank you, we appreciate you watching.
Mosquitos are probably responsible, though indirectly, for about 1 out of 4 human deaths throughout history...I think they have it coming first.
@@furtim1 I think that's already started if I'm not mistaken.
Not confidence.... stupidity.
Loved the music 🎶. Amazing sculpture.
yes.......... so monotonous and soothing.......
That's awesome. Ants plus molten aluminum created a beautiful art piece. ❤
Thank you. We want to get rid of the ants, and we can capture the beauty of nature while doing it.
Unbelievable! Thats one of the best ones I've ever seen.
We are very proud of it. It is amazing and hope to find another one this size or bigger. We have our eye out for the perfect mound to cast. Thank you for watching our videos!
Imagine the parties the ants had in that badass ant house
That turned out extremely beautiful.
Thank you!
That is so awesome and I like the rocks that are in it too
Thank you, we could probably remove the rocks, but we see it as adding to the beauty!
Looks like y'all got the new up and running. Nice cast keep em coming
Toward the end, these ant's realized they had turned their backs against God. And when the brimstone was dug up it was a Volks wagon engine.
Brimstone isaac refrence???777
@@graycatsaderow kind of sorta, but not!
lolololol!
Lol 😂😂😂
🙄🙄
thank you for sharing your time and artistic experience
@Howit Starts - We appreciate you taking the time to watch our videos and comment on them.
That's just magical. Beautiful ! do a giant termite mound next !! 😁
@kathleenmann7311 - We really wished we had a termite mound here in Texas that we could cast or at least somewhere near. The termite mounds we have seen in Australia are epic!!!! Would love a chance to cast them.
Such an impressive system of tunnels. I would suggest you turn it around and display it right-side-up, the way you made it, by going downwards into the ground.
@bernhardwall6876 - We have heard this suggestion from a few and we agree. We will be starting our second season soon and it will have plenty of our castings in the right side up position. Thank you for watching and supporting our channel. And a big thanks for the suggestions!
Amazing! Absolutely fascinating. Great work. I am concerned, however, about your not using leg, arm and chest protection in the event of splatters or explosions. Stay safe while you have fun.
Two ants, a boy and a girl, in love with an entire future ahead of them. On the first pour, they look at each other one last time, frozen in immortality.
Wow... The way u said it.. it's true tho.👏👍😭😂👍
@@furn2351 - Actually it's more like a few hundred thousand ants, many males and one queen, all converted to steam.
Poor colony, but awesome art work 👍👍
@@furn2351 It's actually not true. All the ants in the nest are female. The male drones are only produced at mating time. They have wings and mate in the air outside the hive with the new queens. So any courting would take place outside and escape the holocaust. Inside the nest, it would only be true if it was two lesbian worker ants!
Vesuvius and Herculaneum
That's absolutely huge abd so beautiful. Hope to see more if your videos.
12:24 looks like something of Scorn videogame. Amazing
Wow, cant imagine how much time it took the ants to build this
@ruby - We estimate this mound was 3-5 years old. Typically fire ants can build a large mound in 1-2 weeks.
Wow just beautiful and admiring to look into ...
Thank you, we like it too!
Beautiful. The ants do beautiful work.
They are amazing engineers of mother earth. Thanks for watching!
I love Ants My first time On This You tube Channel I loved Everything about it Awsome Awsome Awsome
@Chris Kenney - Thanks, we appreciate you watching them. Check out our last video and enter a chance to win one of our sculptures. We are giving it away free on November 5th.
Just found your channel. Great video. Awesome ant hill.
We appreciate you watching. We have more videos coming soon.
Absolutely Stunning.!!
Thanks, we appreciate you watching!
VERY impressed by the portable furnace that you made. It seems so much easier than what the other “ant hunters” use. Your final results were stunning!!! Did you paint the piece white?
@enaidyeltneb369 - Thank you so much!! We really appreciate you watching our videos and supporting our channel. We too are amazed with the things we can make like this furnace. Anyone can buy a furnace off Amazon, but we want others to see that there are practical and affordable ways to build it. You have to learn how to operate a furnace that someone else built, but you already know how to operate a furnace you build yourself. It is pure aluminum and was not painted. We spend many hours to remove soil, roots, grass, and other debris. It takes a while for us to get it polished to perfection. Please check out some of our other videos and let us know what you think of them.
Aluminium is a reasonably reactive metal, that white layer on the outside is Aluminium Oxide from the metal reacting with the air.
That is pretty awesome. Great job.
Thanks!
Wow four pours that thing was like a castle when it was done. Big ant community. Thanks for the share
Terrific! That was pretty cool.
Thanks!!
This is art at it's finest
Thank you
That's one of the best I've seen, stunning peice .
@user-yd1fu5yj1o - Thank you. Check out our new video coming up this Saturday. It will be an amazing casting.
Amazing cast !!!
Just beautiful work .
Thank you, we appreciate you watching!
Amazing stuff man! Keep up the great work! :)
Thanks, we appreciate you watching. We will have more videos soon!
Not only was your work impressive, the background music was delightful -- & I speak as someone who normally *mutes* background sound. Kudos to you!
@cathryncampbell8555 - Thank you!!! check out some of our other videos and let us know what you think of them. We appreciate your support.
Ants brains must be super huge.. what a place to navigate around
On top of that it's pitch black in there. How do they know which way is up? I have watched many videos and most are speculation. Some say its like a pheromone that bees use to help guide them to the surface. Others say they know because the queen is at the deepest part of the mound and the juveniles are closest to the queen. The older worker ants are closer to the surface, and only the oldest of ants are at or on top of the surface. I have many more hours of pondering this topic.
So cool ty for sharing!!!! So amazing!!!!
Thank you. We appreciate you watching our videos and supporting our channel.
Of all the anthill casting videos I’ve seen I never knew you had to remove the stuff from the top of the aluminum
Hello! We try to capture the entire process so anyone interested in making this type of art has a better understanding start to finish.
The trash on the top is caused from all of the impurities. Cleaner the aluminum is the less we have to scrape off the top. Thank you for watching our videos!
That stuff is called dross, and like they said it is just other stuff in the aluminum. Anything with a lower melting point will solidify first/melt last and thus can be removed to make the aluminum more pure.
What amazing work the fire ants made but one less ant pile with thousands ants. Great job guys! How tall is it? And whats yalls plans on this one?
I FeeL Like You're Robot User
@@SonOfIrak
I am robot. I will correct your sentence semantically to make it more comprehensible. You could have said "I feel like you're a robot-user.", or "I feel like you're a robot." As currently worded, "I Feel Like You're Robot User" what is being conveyed here can quite easily be misinterpreted as if you are stating that you believe said RUclips account, "angelafranklin9134", is someone who uses robots . . . when you intended to communicate that you believe the account is controlled by a robot.
Eagerly anticipating the singularity with great expectations!!!
Good riddance!
Fire ants may be heartless evil bastards from the pits of Hell, but I have to admire their engineering prowess. I've watched several of this type of video, and fire ants always make the largest and most intricate nests
@VTdarkangel - They are a work of nature and the engineering wonder they create is beyond amazing. Yes, they are evil to no end. Anyone that has encountered them knows the pain and devastation they have caused. They have changed our natural ecosystem here in the last 50 years. Many of our ground dwelling birds like quail or reptiles like the Texas Horned Toad Lizard have become non existent because of the imported fire ant. None the less the intricacy of their mounds is something to stop and take notice of. Thank you for watching and supporting our channel. Please watch some of our newer videos and let us know what you think of them.
Surely the prettiest way to get rid of an ant colony 🙂
Holy $h1t! Thats massive...
It's Interesting, awesome and so beautiful...I want one...!
You did put alot of work into it. Good work. And final product did look astounding btw.
That was freaking awesome as hell I've been wanting to do one for a long time. Watching this got me jonesing for one
Thanks! We appreciate you watching our videos and supporting our channel. It's a low budget hobby that is very rewarding. We are jonesing to get back after it. The cold weather has the ants dormant. Spring is coming soon and we will be ready.
Amazing!
How long does it take for molten aluminum to cool off and solidify?
Great question Jim! Usually a minute or two is all it takes for it to start solidifying. Since aluminum is not like steel, where you have to quench it in oil, we can get the water hose after it just a few minutes after pouring to hurry the cooling process and start digging. If we let it naturally cool down it would take a few hours.
What amazing sculpture. So beautiful. Do you sell these? Brave work, be safe. Thankyou. If these ants are as bad and painful as some I've encountered, it would not hurt me so badly to end their lives. And so quickly as well. I hate the thought of anything suffering.
@erynnlongenecker2672 - Thank you, we do sell the sculptures in our videos if we still have them. Reach out to us by email - antz.pantzcastings@gmail.com - Fire ants are very painful and not native to our ecosystem. It does not bother me to exterminate them and we prefer our method over poison. Poison is a slow painful death, we take care of them in a few seconds. We really appreciate you watching our videos.
That should relieve the ant problem, because that’s a big nest.
@B. Chaney - Well...actually...The mound moved over 18 inches and popped back up. We most likely didn't get the queen which means this one may have been a little bigger. We appreciate you watching our videos and hope you subscribe to our channel. We have new videos coming out soon.
Stunning!
Thank you! 😊
ABSOLUTELY AMAZING AND BEAUTIFUL! Wish I could buy it lol
@CassieSmart365 - We would have a hard time parting with this one but we would consider an offer. Its's one of our best castings. 😊
Thank you for not speaking. Wonderful video!!
One of the best I’ve seen ❤️
Wow! Amazing that little ants made that!
@Debbie Nye - Unbelievable that they can build a sophisticated colony like this underground and in the dark. Thank you for watching our videos.
My first time seeing this amazing art form. This may be a dumb question, but does this get all the way to the queen? Basically obliterating the entire colony, or do the tunnels actually go deeper than what is cast?
@user-ti7os8nm8j - That is a great question. The queen travels the entire mound laying eggs. Most of the time we get the queen. In the winter months she is closer to the surface because that is where the most heat is. In the summer here it reaches 105 degrees frequently, she is buried deep trying to stay cool. The tunnels sometimes go much deeper than our casting. Once the mound is disturbed the worker ants go into defense mode and starts blocking the tunnels to protect the deepest parts of the mounds. We have found the best results pouring directly after we disturb the mound since they have not had time to close up the tunnels stopping the flow of aluminum. Thank you for watching and supporting our channel. We would really appreciate you watching some of our newest videos and letting us know what you think of them.
Very sad to kill living creatures just for amusement. 😥😥😥
I would love to see your stunning creations, by such tiny critters, suspended upside down as they would naturally look.
@DSS - What a great idea. Thank you for the input. I think we will try and capture the natural position of the sculpture for our final end screen shots in one of our new videos we have coming up. We appreciate you watching our videos and encourage more advice like this.
How did this idea come about? This is the first time I’ve ever seen this on RUclips! The castings are beautiful, amazing and so intricate it almost looks like a marble sculpture when it first comes out of the ground. Humans could learn a lot about building and structure from these little creatures. 😊
@nancyaylward1176 - We had seen one of these castings many years ago and it sparked our interest. We never knew there were videos of others on RUclips making these. In 2021 we randomly seen a RUclips video and said "we can do that". 9 months later, here we are, we learned how to RUclips...
Thank you for watching our videos and supporting our channel. 😊
I don’t know who came up with the idea for aluminum but entomologists have been pouring substances like concrete into termite mounds and such for ages. Aluminum is probably more practical for smaller scale nests like these fire ants
@@platedlizard - We have heard many decades ago some used dental casting material to cast ant mounds as well as concrete. Aluminum is practical, affordable, and flows through the tunnels perfectly. Thank you for watching our videos and supporting our channel.
You should know that ants have the highest brain weight to body weight ratio, higher than humans and dolphins.
Amazing! 😊
Thank you!
WOW! That thing is HUGE!!!! That looks like Guiness world record stuff there.
ruclips.net/video/lFg21x2sj-M/видео.html
@@ThinkerOnTheBus That's crazy huge!!! Thanks for sharing that
Impressive the ants can navigate the tunnels and rooms to take care of the colony.
@Doug Alexander - With fire ants the oldest ants in the colony tend to be closest to the surface. Queen is usually in the deepest part of the mound with the youngest closest to her. Some have theories that they put off a hormone and it gives them a since of direction and tells them what to do and where to go. It is impressive. Thank you for watching. We released a new video this morning and would really appreciate you watching and telling us what you think of it or if there is something else you would like to see us add to them.
Badass man!!
Beware of explosions sending molten aluminium upward and outward. PPE is a really good idea.
Seen it, done it. All it takes is a drop of sweat to ruin the day. Most of the time PPE is a good idea. Other times its more dangerous when you use it. Thanks for watching and we appreciate you supporting our channel.
Incredible !!!
Rotorua, New Zealand 🇳🇿
Thanks!
beautiful
@ellenl.5581 - Thank you, we appreciate you watching our videos. We have many others you may like. Please check out our channel and tell us what you think of them.
How can this be art
Art can be something beautiful that you can not recreate.
A much more impressive sculpture of fire ant nest than the bull ant nest sculptures I saw in another video from Australia. Easier to extract the sculpture from the ground than the bull ant nest sculpture too. Although fire ants are part of nature---- I'm sure Texans won't be missing them any time soon.
It’s truly beautiful. What species ant produced this? Thanks!
Red Imported Fire Ant
Awesome! A bit of an Alien movie feel with this music ).
I got some ant mounds in my yard. If your interested. The art you make is very beautiful
@John Horton - Where are you located? We love road trips. The ants create the art, we just capture its beauty and share it with everyone. Thank you for watching our videos.
@Antz N Pantz Castings I live in Arkansas. Your welcome. When I was in junior high in Texas I had an art teacher tell us art is all around us.
you know how many times I spilled milk or something coming from my refrigerator? THIS GUY!!? Well done sir!!
That's insane!
Thats (Beautiful),you should get a Dremel and polish a few of the cones just to add interest points.
We have tried many different methods of making them shine. I think we found a quick and cost effective way. Now it's time to polish the old castings. We appreciate you watching our videos!
So cool, but it really needs a steel frame to hold it upright.
@MrBswaj - Totally agree. The true beauty is suspending it in its upright position. We are thinking about something like this soon. Thank you for watching our videos!
Them ants were living good 👍🏾 man!
Nah, they were asking for it
Wow, no wonder I can never get rid of them.
You have created Star Trek's next new enemy ship configuration.
@russ bilzing - It would make a great spaceship. Thanks for watching our videos and supporting our channel.
Nicely done. I have Carpenter ants here. The hills are 6 ft + across and some up to 18 inches high. These would be interesting to see if there is much difference compared to these nasty little ants.
I wonder if most stand, balanced naturally and if so, what can we learn from it?
Amazing
Thanks
It would take it to the next level if you could anodize it in silver or gold. It would be a showstopper! Great job!
@henrymorgan3982 - Thank you, check out our other video where we took jewelers gold and made a small casting.
You could anodize it any color you wanted. That's a new idea in aluminum ant nest casting. Brilliant!
@josephastier7421 - Yes, we have so many new ideas thanks to viewers like you. Please watch our other videos and let us know what you think about them.
Beautiful!!!!
Thank you!!
my god! what a huge and intricate ants’ nest - and it’s just gorgeous!! :) 🌹🌱
@feralbluee - Thank you. We appreciate you watching our videos and supporting our channel.
Nestelvania: Symphony of the Ants.
What's worse than ants in your pants? Uncles.....
🤣
What’s worse is no ppe. He’s playing with the devil.
very cool looking and a lot of work for the ants and you. I might have missed it but, how many lbs is it? Did you sell it and how much?
@bohica snafu - Thank you, it was some work getting this one done. This one weighed a little over 64 lbs. We have not sold this one. It is special to us and will probably not part with it. We appreciate you watching our videos and supporting our channel.
Great structure, you cold lost in it. Respect to the little ants. 🙏
They are amazing engineers! Thank you for watching!
was the nest empty of antz or did you fry them to death?
Fried
@@VickiJacobAas - then vaporized.
The thought of sending all those ants to a painful, literal hell makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.
@tommyhunter1817 - I have personally been covered in fire ants on more that one occasion. The pain is intense and I have no problem killing them. Thanks for watching our videos and supporting our channel.
@@antznpantzcastings my dad is from south Georgia so I can relate.
How does the heated metal melt the already poured and starting to get hard metal?
I like it. I wonder if you could make it into colors? I don't know what anodized aluminum means, but it has great colors, can you do that to your castings?
@julieisthatart - Oh, believe me we are thinking the same!!! We have plans for casting Nordic gold, silver, brass, and copper. These all make beautiful sculptures with unique colors. Check out our RUclips channel. We have a video where we casted some ant mounds using jewelers gold. Pretty colors. Thanks for watching!
@@antznpantzcastings jewellers gold?
@Jaydaydesign - Hi, it's a gold alloy that jewelers use to fix and repair with. Usually has a mixture of real gold, copper, and sometimes tin. What we are using has small amounts of pure gold in it. If we were to dissolve and refine the bars, we would end up with a small amount of pure gold.
@@antznpantzcastings thank you.
Imagine casting that in resin and making a table out of it... and lit with an under glow effect.
@Boyd Appraisal Svc - That would be amazing.
I am curious, how does this work exactly? Once you’ve poured the first lot of molten metal doesn’t it block the hole for the second pour?