I finished the wee pewter bowls this morning and one is off to Germany with its new owner.
The wee silver bird earrings are off to new homes too.
I shall make up some more of these earrings for tomorrow, which use my silver bird charm and so are only available from my Open Studios (until Pittenweem, White Fox and London!)
ENOS artists (East Neuk Open Studios) will have some work at Cambo House ENOS Hub this weekend – 21st/22nd May. I’ll have this charm bracelet and some pewter shells at Cambo. But do visit me at my studio in Cellardyke for a wider choice of jewellery and metalwork.
I’m open the first weekend only.
I cast silver into the sand box (on the right) which has been drying for over a week. If the sand is damp the silver spits because the steam gets into it, not fun.
I heated the silver to 1026 degrees – this picture shows the ‘button’ – the silver cooled in the funnel into the sand mould.
When the metal cooled I opened the two-part mould and checked that the casting had worked (it has) The holes are to let the air escape as the metal is poured in.
This is a side view of the piece, showing the button/funnel to the right. The spikes are more air escape holes, mainly in case there is steam trapped when you pour metal in.
So that is where this piece is up to. Tomorrow I’ll post pics of the piece with the sprues and button removed.
I hope that it will be cleaned and ready to admire by Open Studios this weekend 21/22 May.
I’m making some new wee pewter bowls for Open Studios this weekend. These are sand castings and have a flow of metal through them.
I’ve also made a few pewter seashells – they still have the sand on, but I will clean them for Open Studio on Saturday. I sell the shells for charity (Imperial College’s Schistosomiasis control initiative).
If you visit my studio you can find out how I make them.
I went up to the Scottish Sculpture Workshop last week with my three large mould boxes and here are the two bowls that were cast. One sand mould didn’t survive the journey, but these two bowls should look good once I’ve cut off the pouring cup and generally given them a bit of a clean and shine.
They looked a bit like satellite dishes on the beach today, enjoying the Scottish sunshine, but they are more tactile and a prettier colour.
