Week two saw the completion of my mobile furnace.
This was made in an old gas cylinder – spent a morning filling it with water and then emptying it again to make sure all the gas was out. Then I cut it up to give it a lid and holes for air. Finally I lined it with clay and dried it out.
These are the chaps playing about with a gas flame thrower to dry out the clay. (George, Eden and Uist)
The first firing was a bit of a learning process, I struggled to keep the charcoal out of the crucible and I found that two blowers cooled the crucible and blew the charcoal about.
The pic shows two blowers going into my wee furnace. I made the housing for the blower on the right too. I managed to pour a small part of a rim,
it is a very pretty colour.
I used a horse-poo-mix crucible lid, which was pretty successful, but it melted a bit, so I’m not sure I’d use it for a crucible. I rather like it though.
Eden and Uist are making a temporary sauna and have whisky barrel staves for cladding. I thought these would make a good local sandbox material and cut the pieces for a small box that will make a spoon mould. This is it screwed together and ready to use.
Uist did a copper pour (he and Ben had pieces to cast) I added in a couple of sand ring moulds as I don’t like to miss a pour.
This shows the two wee bowls cast in copper and a mass of copper that mis-poured into the sand pit. I am keeping that for enameling sometime.
juliacowie 