High temperature art
by Tony Peters on March 31, 2011

Well today was Bronze day......we poured liquid metal.....I made a belt buckle and a pendant for my wife very fun and just a bit scary...I'm the one pulling the crucible out of the blast furnace. Chelsea and Darren did a great job of pouring and it looks like everyone's objects came out. We used the very ancient "lost wax" method which while it destroys the mold yields good results
Six Replies to High temperature art
Scott Hardie | April 1, 2011
Neat!
Tony Peters | April 1, 2011
This is only the second time my school has poured bronze (or any metal) we learned some valuable technical things today. BTW though it doesn't look it the crucible weighs about 50lbs it's fragile and it jiggles like jello when you move it..
Tony Peters | April 1, 2011
here are my pieces out of the molds and at the beginning of cleanup/polishing
Jackie Mason | April 10, 2011
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Tony Peters | April 10, 2011
It was about 35lbs of molten metal and a 10lbs crucible....the weird thing was we added about 20lbs of metal after we started so the crucible was heavier coming out than it was when I put it into the blast furnace. it's also 1800 degrees which adds a whole level of heavy to it
vagabond-punk
The musings of Tony Peters, a perpetual child, no matter where I am I will find a way to climb something or go skateboarding Read more »

more liquid metal
My sculpture Professor decided that the burner we use for melting metal wasn't working out well, since it was designed for a forge and not a furnace he had a furnace burner made.....it used to take hours to melt 20lb of bronze, it took us 40 minutes yesterday. I have never seen the crucible as hot as it was. Go »
got a new drug
2 weeks ago I sold my BMX cruiser with the intention of shedding a toy to buy a bike better suited to commuting to work, at one time I rode a racebike and i really wanted to start riding one again except with the simplicity that I enjoyed on my cruiser....so I bought a fixxed gear, no not going through a mid life crisis I have ridden a fixxed gear before and I know what's involved, it arrived last friday and after a scramble to assemble it (and switch the brakes to motostyle) I rode it to work, I have ridden to work every day for the last week (because it only rains on my day off) and my legs are just starting to adjust I have aches in places I haven't felt in years but I feel better and judging by the way my pants feel I'm sure I'm starting to look healthier too. No riding a fixie is not for everybody, I have people who give me terrified looks when they realize what I'm riding but it works for me and thats what is important, besides when the weather is nice I can leave after work and ride down to the beach and back on a 20 mile loop and still get home in time to make dinner for my wife and I. Go »
books and rolling
It always seems that 2-3 books that I have been patiently are all released by the publishers at the same time...such was the case for me with Wrath of a Mad God and the latest Dresden files book Small Favor...unsure which one I wanted to read more I switched from day to day reading one and then the other. Go »
problems within problems
I read Daily Beast for mush of my news because I like the tone and because there aren't many conservatives left who don't deal exclusively in hate (Hannity Rush etc) I actually used to consider myself a conservative but I can't reconcile their embrace of ignorance nor their dismissal of a changing word. Anyway Meghan McCain wrote an interesting piece on the old guard's disregard for the internet Go »
Under water and leeching
yesterdays rains have lead to a flooded power station, 24 hours of no power, a river that looks like class 6 rapids and me sitting in the parking lot of my local Midas drinking DnD coffee and leeching Wifi trying to find out if I've got school this afternoon.....I hope we have power by tonight I would really like to cook diner instead of take out again. Go »









Kelly Lee | April 1, 2011
Wow. I really want to do that.