A busy day at Gene and Chrissie's

Today was the first day since we began our journey that we didn't get on our bike.

After breakfast we got done to having a mini-shindig. This included some bronze casting and copper embossing. Gene had an investment of an indian axe/peace pipe belonging to a friend that had been waiting for some time to be poured. We also had some small wax "doodles" that Chrissie, Wanda and Chris made the previous night whilst chatting, so Chrissie sprued those up so we could cast them. Gene used this to demonstrate making an investment using silica sand bound with sodium silicate, which he hardened by flooding with carbon dioxide. Fascinating stuff! This went into the burnout kiln to remove the wax we had carved.

We had to get a bottle filled with gas before we got started, but we soon had the casting kiln glowing red with green flames shooting out the top.

The bronze took about an hour to melt. First pour was the axe. This all went very smoothly, and we soon had the crucible back in the kiln and loaded with more bronze for the next pour.

While this was melting Gene made a pattern for a plaque using his computer controlled laser cutter to engrave MDF board. This was to be sand cast, so we could learn how that was done.

When the first pour had cooled down sufficiently, Gene broke the mold open to reveal a perfect casting.

In the meantime Chrissie and Wanda were busy embossing copper in the shade of the deck.

With the temperature soaring into the high 80's, we all made an early raid on the fridge.

It was getting fairly late by the time the laser printer had finished the master pattern, so we ate dinner before attempting the pour.

This did not go so well as before: Gene burned his hand making the pour for the plaque, with the result that a fair bit of the bronze spilled - into a catch tray, fortunately - but that meant that when we went to cast the small waxes, there was not enough bronze, so we never got those. I have to keep details of the plaque under wraps for another day or two, so more about that later.


Once again, when it was time for bed, we simply crashed.