my pewter hoarde

Remember when I was carving a mold for pewter casting? Last night I cast my pieces. Now I see why it is worth spending the time to make a "perfect" mold. I cast 36 little coins in less time than it took to carve the soapstone mold.  And in another hour I could have doubled my count. But, since my intention is to give the coins as tokens at Pennsic A&S, I think this will be enough.

 

(I don't know why the computer has rotated my image, but I can't seem to fix it.)

pewter casting

There is a reason why I call this blog meandering - today I learned a new skill, totally unrelated to spinning. My friend Ignacia is teaching me pewter casting. I've barely scratched the surface (no pun intended) of all there is to learn, but I think I made some good progress tonight. I am making little wool comb tokens.

First I carved a circle, then I scratched the design into the soapstone. Everything has to be done in reverse. Each time it looked to me like I had carved the figure deep enough, we made a test. By my fourth try I was happy with the image. At the next class I will carve the sprew (I don't know how to spell it), and pour some tokens. I can't wait!