Pewter Spoons

This weekend, I went to a pewter casting workshop run by the talented Ella McIntosh of This is Pewter at Manchester's Craft and Design Centre.  I've been to one of Ella's workshops before where I made a pewter beaker.  This time we were learning about casting pewter into Cuttlefish bone.  I've not tried Cuttlefish casting before and I really enjoyed it - though admittedly I did go home smelling slightly of burnt fish!!

During the workshop I made two spoons.....

The Cuttlefish was surprisingly easy to carve into - once I'd cut the bone in half.  I'd brought a small bird bead along with me to the workshop and I pressed this into the Cuttlefish and then designed around it - I was going for a tree design for my bird to sit in.....

Once the design was complete I carved a sprue to the pour the metal into and put it back together again with the other half of the Cuttlefish bone......

The Cuttlefish left a lovely texture on the metal which I wasn't quite expecting - but I think that it only added to the tree-like effect.  Pewter melts at a low temperature so it only lightly scorched the Cuttlefish on the first pour so I could use the mold again.  Because I had the scorch marks from first pour I could carve into the other half of the Cuttlefish to get a 3-D back to my cast - in the photo below the one on the right is my first pour (with the flat back) and the one on the left is the second (with a 3-D back).....

I completed the spoons by cutting and doming a bowl and soldering this onto the cast section.  I really loved this workshop - Ella is good fun and very knowledgeable - will definitely be trying casting with Cuttlefish again.

Pewter

At the weekend I went to a Pewter workshop with Ella McIntosh in Manchester at the Craft and Design Centre.  It was a revelation - I really enjoyed working with Pewter.  A lot of my silversmithing skills did still apply but there were some differences too.  Pewter melts at a much lower temperature than silver so I did end up with a few 'Pewter puddles' until I got used to how much heat I could use - however it does mean that you need a smaller torch (I think it would be more practical to use this smaller torch in my house).  Other advantages are that Pewter doesn't tarnish - and it is also a lot cheaper to buy than Silver.  We were making Pewter beakers during the workshop - here is the one that I made.....

I was pleased with how it came out - particularly because it is the largest metal-working challenge that I've taken on.