Hot stuff

A few months ago, I had plans to start casting all sorts of things in metal including poems, leaves and possibly even some Troll currency. However, my experiments on the kitchen stove melting solder and pewter weren't that successful and were a bit dangerous and in the end I bought a proper little furnace.

After the addition of some empty beer cans and a hair-dryer to the burner, it will now get hot enough to melt brass and copper. The next experiment will be to cast a brass plaque by melting down lots of old plumbing fittings. This picture shows a plaster mould with lettering cut into it. (The photograph isn't backwards - it has to be carved like that for the casting to come out the right way round!) The poem about a wolf was written by the eccentric Island poet Michael Bryant. You could spend a happy two minutes deciphering it from the mould.

I've no idea how it will turn out, but I'll post a picture of the result, whatever it is.