Halloween skull charms

Mold for pewter skull charms. With clay original,

Ive been casting some bracelet charms today for Halloween, heres some pictures of them being made. They are cast in lead free pewter into silicone molds that I took from clay originals that I made.

Filing the skull charm after casting.




A bunch of Pumpkin & skull charms waiting to be cleaned.

 

Heres the finished charms made into a bracelet.

Been working on this Mermaid of Zennor Bench , getting it waxed up and in the shop. Its made from driftwood and reclaimed wood found locally. Its based on the local legend of the mermaid of Zennor

The original is found in Zennor church and dates back to medieval times,the story goes: Long ago, a beautiful and richly-dressed woman occasionally attended services at St. Senara's Church in Zennor, and sometimes at Morvah. The parishioners were enchanted by her beauty and her voice, for her singing was sweeter than all the rest. She appeared infrequently for scores of years, but never seemed to age, and nobody knew whence she came, although they watched her from the summit of Tregarthen Hill. After many years, the mysterious woman became interested in a young man named Mathey Trewella, "the best singer in the parish." One day he followed her home, and disappeared; neither was ever seen again in Zennor Church.

The villagers wondered what had become of the two, until one Sunday a ship cast anchor about a mile from Pendour Cove. Soon after, a mermaid appeared, and asked that the anchor be raised, as one of its flukes was resting on her door, and she was unable to reach her children. The sailors obliged, and quickly set sail, believing the mermaid to be an ill omen. But when the villagers heard of this, they concluded that the mermaid was the same lady who had long visited their church, and that she had enticed Mathey Trewella to come and live with her.

The parishioners at St. Senara's commemorated the story by having one end of a bench carved in the shape of a mermaid. A shorter account of the legend was related to Bottrell on a subsequent visit to Cornwall. The mermaid had come to church every Sunday to hear the choir sing, and her own voice was so sweet that she enticed Mathey Trewella, son of the churchwarden, to come away with her; neither was seen again on dry land. The famed "mermaid chair" was the same bench on which the mermaid had sat and sung, opposite Trewella in the singing loft.

Pewter Casting

Heres a simple way to cast pewter, this is my way of casting, theres more info out there online aswell. This is an ancient technique that allows the casting of basic shapes without the cost of expensive mould materials. Cuttlefish wash up on the shores all the time, all thats left when found on the beach is a white oval shape with a soft side and a hard bony side. What you need: A few cuttlefish( can be found at the beach or pet stores have them for Parrots!) Small off cut of hardboard. Leadfree pewter. Blowtorch or small camping stove. Sanpaper. files. Hacksaw..

Step 1: Make the mould. So get hold of a nice dry cuttlefish bone, if its damp it wont take a mould and the hot pewter will spit. Cut off one end of the cuttlefish bone with a hacksaw, so that you have a square end. There are two ways to make the impression in the mould, you can carve away at the soft side with small files and nails or you can use a simple piece of jewellery you have around and push this into the soft side of the mould, so that when its removed it leaves an impression. (see photos) Flatten the soft side of the bone with some sandpaper wrapped around a bock of wood. Then make the impression about half inch or so down from the top of the flat end of the cuttlefish, then with a file make the pouring sprue from the top of the mould. This is where the molten pewter will be poured in and when finished it gets cut off. Take a small piece of hardboard that will fit over the back of the cuttlefish, this will become the back of the mould, rub this board lightly over the soft side of the bone so that it sits flat.

Step 2: Clamp the mould: File a groove in the top of the smooth side of the hardboard to match the one in the cuttlefish. Now place the smooth side of the hardboard onto the softside of the cuttlefish so that both slots line up, this is where the molten pewter will flow into the mould. I use a couple of metal clamps to hold the mould together, but soft wire can be used aswell, make sure the two surfaces of the mould fit well together or liquid pewter will escape during pouring

Step 3: Melt the pewter Support the mould upright with the pouring slot at the top, make sure its on a heatproof surface. A couple of blocks of wood or bricks will stop it from falling over. A few warnings at this point, wear leather gloves and a pair of goggles or a face mask to protect against burns, if the mould isnt quite dry it may spit back hot metal. Also any gaps around the joint in the mould will allow hot pewter to run out, so theres an obvious fire risk, also protect your skin from burns and you might like to have a fire extinguisher handy. Melt a small amount of pewter in your spoon or whatever you want to use thats heatproof and pour slowly into the slot in the mould, which will fill quite quickly, stop when pewter is seen at the top of the slot. Let things cool for about ten minutes or so and then carefully open up the mould and pick out the piece with a small file. You will get marks on the surface of the pewter from the cuttlefish but these can be polished out. You should be able to get a few casts out of each mould if you repair the surface after each casting. Which is fine because the cuttlefish are cheap (or free) Cut off the sprue with a hacksaw and then file off any marks and polish with a dremel or polishing wheel

Heres some hairslides cast in Pewter

Seahorse handles

Started work on the handles for the Mermaid of Zennor treasure chest. I decided that I would make handles shaped like seahorses, rather than the copper shells I was going to make. I start by drawing the head shape onto a piece of flat steel and then cutting out roughly with a hacksaw. Then I use files to refine the shape more and add a bit of detail. I then welded the head to some round bar having drilled a hole in one end to take some steel wires which I twisted and welded together.


filing the seahorse handle

 Next its a case of grinding the welds down and then cleaning up and polishing.

cleaning up the seahorse handle

Managed to get more work done on the Mermaid of Zennor box today.

I had already made the tin panels for the lid and have attached them with metal rivetts to the metal strapping. Next I need to clean up the tin a bit to see what its going to look like, the dark colour around each seahorse and the mermaids face is just some black ink that I used while working on the tin so I could see the tool marks.




 
As you can see the metal is starting to clean up using a sander then a wet/dry sanding sponge and then a polisher mop on the orbital. So Im now working out what style of handles to make for the sides, Im thinking of a shell design perhaps in copper which should work well against the polished metal.

Mermaid of Zennor treasure chest

Been working on a metal treasure chest, I wanted to use reclaimed tin and steel.

Its based on the Mermaid of Zennor

a legend dating back hundreds of years in the nearby village of Zennor Cornwall.

Legend has it that a mermaid would visit the parish church every sunday to listen to the choir sing, she was so taken by the voice of one of the choir that it is said that one day he vanished with the mermaid into the sea in the nearby cove.

In the above photo Ive started to tack weld the frame together for the box, its made from angle iron and 1 inch steel strap. The metal panels let into the front are made from reclaimed sheet tin and have been hand beaten with the mermaid and dolphin designs.

Hoping to get more done tomorrow.