Here the patterns are mounted on the casting tree and ready for investing. Note the runners on the rings are attached to the inside diameter. This was to prevent loss of my pattern and texture on the OD when removing the runners.

The small pieces of red wax you are able to see behind the dragon are secondary runners designed to get the molten Silver to the thin section at the head and bail before the metal froze off.

The black rubber base is designed to fit tightly to the OD of the casting flask to prevent leakage of the wet investment. The bulbous area you see under the patterns forms the sprue in the casting. The spur is required to hold the extra silver after the mold is full. You always want extra silver available.

To calculate how much silver will be required to fill the mold you weight the wax tree and multiple that weight by 10.5. The wax has a specific gravity of 1 and silver has a specific gravity of 10.5.