OK.. So today I was bored and looking for something other than stuff I had to do to play with, so I dug out the partially completed mould I started for my challenge of making a fully cast pewter chain. The mould makes 2 links linked together, with a place to then put those pieces so that the next ones can be cast in place. This mould was fairly ambitious and only really survived one casting, as removing the pieces from the second casting showed that the mould had broken and allowed molten pewter to encompass the previously cast links.

Whilst this attempt was more of an experiment to see if it could be done, I am very tempted to try a slightly different way of doing it so that the mold might last longer and therefore be capable of producing a decent length chain, as well as be able to link the chain back onto itself, which isn’t possible with the current mould.

The Technique uses period technologies in a soapstone mould to create Large linked chains… But it can also be used to possibly create linked tokens, badges or other periodesque pewter items. The produce might be documentable in the sense that the techniques and technology used to create them are period and documentable, however the produced items and the linking in a single casting are not. As always… I’m open to suggestion or discussion on this topic. :)

I have been asked a couple of times if I do Commission work… With my current financial situation, I can’t afford not to be, so I have devised a simple costing scheme for commission quoting. I value my time at around $20/Hour and making a mould for a commission is what takes the time. For my own stuff, it’s easy for me to charge a price per item, but for commissions where the mould is kept only for that customer, then I need to charge for that time. A mould can take from 1 to 8 hours to make, but is usually only 2-3 hours, for a more detailed one, maybe 4-5 hours. Once made, That mould can’t be used for anything else… Sure, I can use empty space on the mould to carve another mould, but I can’t sell someones commissioned work to others. So for commissions, I’ll charge a Mould making fee, and a then charge per token/casting after that. The Per Token/Casting cost will depend on the size of the item, and will range from $2 to $5.
I think this is a fair fee for personalised commission work, however I’m always open to Bartering as well.

Their Excellencies have given me permission to sell the Rowan Tree Badges. These badges are an excellent way for you to show your support for your Barony, or even just a nice shiny badge to spice up your garb. They come with a loop at the bottom so that you can hang something from them, wether that be a hanging badge, a ribbon, or a lock of your true loves hair is up to you. These badges have a normal dressmaking pin behind them to reduce damage to garb, and are Available for $5.00 each at any event I’m at. If you want one, just ask me.

Today I found myself making a belt mount for someone and wanted to include integral rivets into the back of it. Because of the semi random nature of the rivet locations, it wasn’t feasible to create a multi part mould so that the rivets could be made and the casting removed easily. So instead tapered hole were drilled into a flat soapstone mould. These holes had the distinct problem of trapping air which stopped molten pewter from actually getting deep into them. To rectify this issue, the holes were drilled all the way through the soapstone, providing an easy path for the air to escape…. Though this also allowed the pewter to escape the same way. So what was the solution to this issue? How can you drill holes all the way through soapstone, and also stop the pewter from escaping whilst allowing the air through?

Bamboo skewers. Yes, bamboo skewers were used to make small little plugs that also allowed air through them. With careful trimming the skewers can be used to provide the correct length rivet too, by altering the length of the skewer filling the hole, you can adjust the length of the rivet on the finished casting. It works well, and is a method I shall be using for future belt mount with integral rivets.

It’s been a long time between posts… A lot has happened in that time that I wasn’t very open to discussing. Some of it life stuff, some of it Pewtery goodness. The life stuff just isn’t worth discussing, however the pewtery goodness is.

Baronial Officers Badges
I was commissioned to create some hanging badges for the officers of Rowany (Yay, I get one!!). The badges consist of two parts, with a small round link between them. the badge consists of a Rowan tree, with a frame around it, though the tree sits out of the frame slightly, making the frame just there for symmetry. These were cast so the back of them has a spot to mount a pin which is crimped in between two pewter lugs, with the third stopping the pin from sliding out. This method of holding a pin was stolen from Anzac badges I have seen in the past, and seemed to work quite well.

A side project stemming from this has been an attempt to get the Barony to allow me to sell the Rowan tree separately as a badge. The idea being that I remove the roped frame from the tree, attach a pin and sell these as a separate pin. These would be sold for around $5 each At any event I am at… however I have yet to get approval for that, so we shall see what happens with that idea. There is talk about the Barony using them as such as a populace type livery badge.

Indexed Moulds
I finally tried it!!! Yes, Sveinn has gone from using the basic two slabs of soapstone hand held together in roughly the right place, to using a 3 part mould with a total of 6 indexing nodules. Using the method described to me by Master Crispen, I have created a 3 part indexed mould. Now, I must confess, I cheated here… and used modern tools… After drilling the first hole by hand, I opted to use a Dremel tool to drill the holes for the other 5.

After casting using this mould… I have no idea why I hadn’t tried this method of mould preparation sooner… It’s amazingly easy to do, though it does increase the time taken to prep a mould. For flat one sided stuff, it’s really not worth the time, however if you are reliant on getting two halves of a mould to match spot on each time, it’s well and truly worth putting in the time.

My only issue with making moulds this way, is that I can’t preheat my moulds the way I used to with indexed moulds. Previously I used to plonk the soapstone in the direct flame whilst waiting for the batch of pewter to melt, however with an indexed mould, this would ruin the indexing.

Flying Monkeys
A week or two ago, Stanzi in St Florians put out a call on the Lochac list for willing participants in an A&S club type thing to get projects for Bethan and Berenger’s coming reign as the Crown of Lochac ready. I’m not sure if I can spill what I will be working on, or even show you pics, however just thought I would let you know to look out for pewtery bits on their royal highnesses during their coming reign.

An Interesting and slightly evil challenge
This evening whilst thinking in the manner that sometimes works well… I set myself an interesting task… One that requires some interesting puzzle manipulation, and careful planning. I think it can be done… and I think I know how I can do it… I’m hoping I’m right. Want to know the challenge? I challenged myself to create a soapstone mould in which I can pour a cast linked chain. Each link in the chain is cast already linked to the previous one.

What got me thinking about this project was the Knights chains, those big chunky chains that in some cases are nicely forged, and in others they are just decorative chain bought at hardware store. Thinking about them, I was trying to remember if I had ever actually seen one that stood out amongst them all… and whilst there are some very different ones, I couldn’t remember any very special ones… then I thought about a chain with detail on big chunky links, and how cool would it be to make one that didn’t have a single join on any link… So that’s my challenge to myself… And hopefully I think I can get it done.

Feel free to take up the challenge if you are game. ;)

Anyway, That’s it from me for the very pewtery post. Oh, other than to let those of you who care know that I am mobile again!! Have van… Won’t travel far, cause I have to work out how to pay for the repair….

Mmmm sleep…

A world of beauty,
A world of pain,
The world in which my love remains,

A gift of life,
A gift of rain,
The gift in which my love sustains,

A life of trust,
A life of pain,
The life in which my love inflames,

A heart so true,
A heart so mine,
The heart which beats my love for you.

Copyright ©2007 Syridian.

If booze doth talk, as booze doth will
then booze doth talk a hefty swill
for thrice one night doth booze say
“You will be fine the very next day”
That next day come, and I’m rather ill
So booze doth talk some hefty swill.

Copyright ©2007 Syridian

The world about me swirls
chaotic in nature just like pearls
Thoughts of lust and of love
Of the freedom of a dove

The world about me swirls
As a leaf on the breeze twirls
Thoughts of women and of wine
Dreams of one who isn’t mine

The world about me swirls
Just like shaved chocolate curls
Desires pull, hard to repel
Yet I must or go to Hell.

Copyright ©2007 Syridian

Lately I have been having difficulty with casting a certain mould that in the past had no issues casting at all… It took me ages the other day to cast 4 of these tokens and even then, the 4 that I had cast were not the best quality. It took me a while to work out what exactly was causing the issue and when I did, it didn’t really help the situation.

The issue is that at the moment the humidity in Sydney is very high… This humidity seeps into the soapstone moulds, and normally just preheating the mould would be enough to expel this moisture and creat reasonable castings. However with the humidity so high, it’s seconds before that moisture is back… It’s in the mould instantly, as it’s in the air that is expelled when the molten metal is poured in. What it does to the casting process is cause miniture steam explosions which make bubbles in the cast metal. This is an issue that I’m at a loss to get around at the moment, other than picking nice low humidity days to do my casting.

There is a method of using steam as a means of pressure casting, however it still requires a warm dry mould to provide a decent casting. I have only heard this method talked about, and have yet to see it in action.

I’m all over the place emotionally these days…  So if I seem more depressed than I really am…  you’ll just have to take it that I’m not really that depressed.  I have a lot going through my mind, car issues aside the time spent on public transport and getting around…  walking to work and such is giving me too much time to consider my life as it stands…  where it’s heading and such.

Recently close friends have also given me reason to question who I am…  and whether I should be the person I am, or whether change would be for the better (not in a bad way either, just that kinda thoughtful kinda thinking kinda way).  I used to think that I knew who I was…  And I was happy being me…  Now there’s a small amount of doubt, a small amount of questioning whether the real me is who I really should be…  or whether I should change just a touch, and try and keep up appearances…  and fit in with the “Norm” more.  Mind you…  it’s only a smidgen of doubt…  and I seriously doubt it will change who I am…  but it’s doubt all the same.

With these issues bouncing around in my head…  and other things in my life giving me reason for concern, I think I probably come across as more depressed than I really am…  Not sure if it’s my subconscious trying to tell me, and others to seek out friends and attention, or if it’s just me thinking that sympathy is always good…  either way…  I am not really as bad as I make out subconsciously.  If you care enough, you won’t ask me if I’m OK…  you won’t panda to my subconscious mind seeking attention…  you’ll just give me a quick hug, and say, “Get over it Sveinn, you are better than this and you damn well know it.” ;)

“As the sand passes through the hour glass, these are the days of our lives…”

Seems life has a different idea about where it intends on taking us….

The Feast of the Four Winds was a lovely little affair.  The food was great and the company greater.  I enjoyed being there for part of the preparation of the feast, it helped me see what will be needed if I run Newcomers.  Which is a bid I should be preparing this afternoon.

After a few days of not knowing, I finally received notification this afternoon that my Ampullae did actually win their category at November Crown.  So I have now officially won my first Kingdom A&S Comp…  Just letting those of you who were interested and hassling me for the results know.

EDIT:  OK, I have just received notification from a second source that I came second, not first.  Now I’m back to being just as confused as I was before. 

Oh my! A Whole week has gone by and I haven’t added anything… I’m such a slack bastard.

OK, so the November Crown Ampullae haven’t gone so well… I have been busy with social engagements and haven’t really had the time to experiment as much as I would have liked. However if I add up the many hours of work I have already put into them and then document that, I should have a reasonable “Work in Progress” document to send in just for the fun of it. As the whole idea with attempting the Ampullae was the recreation of the Slush casting process so little reference to the chosen design is made. The design was chosen intially for it’s simplicity and ease of carving as well as it’s look and possible appeal, however little reference to period and significance was researched.

So what has been the process with this whole thing? It started early October when after recieving a book I had on order, I discovered that a fair number of period Pilgrim souvenirs were actually Ampullae that were hollow and crimped shut to hold usually liquid contents. Not much was said about how these were actually made, however thinking about it for a bit brought me to the conclusion that the molten metal was poured from the center of the mould. I created a rough mould to attempt this process so I could see if it was viable. I made several attempts using this mould and they were all rather thick-walled but the idea seemed to be right. Further research online confirmed that the method for hollow casting was called slush casting, and that it was exactly as I had theorised.

Discussions with Tanw one evening brought into light the possibility that the modern pewter (commonly called ‘Britannia’ as it contains no lead and is designed to mimic pewter) is nothing like what was used in period examples. So I began researching what was a typical pewter alloy for what I was attempting. As it turns out, period examples of pewter had a reasonably high lead content which changes the pouring consistancy of the metal. Period mixes of of pewer were generally around the 60/40 mix of tin/lead however were widely varied and there are examples varying from mostly tin through to mostly lead. As it stands the more common mixes were around the 60/40 mix, which happens to be what we call solder today. The next session of casting I had planned to attempt to cast with a variety of mixes. It is worth noting here that the alloy mixes varied depending on the type of casting required.

After purchasing some plumbers solder of a 40/60 mix of tin/lead, I roughly mixed this in equal parts with modern pewter to give me a guestimated 66% tin, 30% lead, 1% copper and 3% antimony. This mix however tended to shorten the time between pouring the metal into the mould and when it sets, causing more failures. A higher lead content was also tried by using the plumbers solder without adding any ‘Brittania’, however this also seemed to have the same issue (where the molten metal turns from a liquid into a solid very quickly), the higher the lead content the quicker this seemed to happen. Much frustration was had at this point, causing me to put the project aside for a few days.

Whilst researching more slush casting techniques on the internet, I came across a more modern referance to using a chilled bronze mould. This reference once again inspired me to tinker, first back to trying with the period style pewters and later, when it was confirmed that the lead content actually made the chilled slush casting process harder because it shortens the window from liquid to solid, the more modern high tin content pewter was used. Whilst the actual pouring technique still requires some practice, the examples I have created show that this method is indeed valid. Future attempts will start proving more fruitful, however a method of increasing the cooling rate of the moulds would ease the whole casting process.

So, in summary… Using an extremely high tin content pewter and chilling the mould to a sub-zero temperature are the two main keys to creating nice thin walled period ampullae. Of course these techniques are probably fully documented elsewhere, however I have thoroughly enjoyed rediscovering them through research and experience. Now that I have worked out the technique… finishing the mould and creating a number of finished samples is the next step. Stay tuned for photo’s of this later. :)

With the start of the new Worlds Greatest Shave fundraising season, I have decided to actively promote sponsorship by doing a series of photographs of my hair in various styles, weird, wonderful or wacky!  Each photograph will have a suggested value,depending on complexity, impact and well…  silliness. ;)  If you like the photo, then you are requested to vote with sponsorship based on that value.  Maybe you think they the photo is worth more than the value, sponsor for more…  Maybe you think it’s a little over priced, then sponsor for less. 

I will be organising parties to get a few series of photo’s done for each one…  if youhave a weird and wacky idea, and want to style my hair for a photo, then contact me.  Parties will be on a semi irregular basis, but friends will be notified. To keep in touch with my WGS fundraising check out My Shave Page, and the news that I update on Syridian.com.

I have just spend a few hours shuffling stuff around on Syridian.com; making a better space for projects and adding some of the old projects. Check it out if that sorta stuff interests you.

Yay!

It seems picking your battles works really well.

Yet another A&S competition entered… yet another bell for my trophy box. Here’s a pic of the entries finally, I wanted to keep something as a surprise. Sorry about the slight blur, I need to do some research into how to light shiny things to reduce the shine, and also work out the optimal focal length for my crappy camera.

OK, so personally I think I cheated with this competition, but my opinion isn’t the one that matters as I did everything correctly. Why do I think I cheated? Pewter casting is something that is quick and easy, and can produce a fantastic result with a minimal effort. It also has a large amount of WOW factor, people aren’t aware of how easy it can be to produce reasonable looking tokens.

To put it into context, lets examine the process of this entry. There was a hell of a lot of procrastination involved in just starting it. Even to the point that a friend had to hassle me to start it. Once started, it took around 90 minutes to carve the initial mould, that includes the design on paper of what I wanted it to look like. Once to a point I could pour, there was a few sample pours, to test the mould, and tinker with it to get it pouring correctly. This process took about another 60 minutes, probably less. Then it was just a case of pouring 20 odd castings, filing the flashing off, tinkering with a couple of the castings to work out how to finish them, and even doing an after pour, to create a sample of a casting straight out of the mould. All that took yet another 60 – 90 minutes. So all up to get the 23 tokens that were sent down to Polit, it took me a total of about 4 hours, then there was another maybe 2 hours in preparing the documentation. If I started on a Sunday afternoon, I could be finished for dinner.

OK, so winning competitions isn’t what doing all of this is about, but I can’t deny it’s certainly fun. The fact that I am picking the competitions I enter has a great deal to do with the success rate I’m having… Which kinda goes against the whole idea behind A&S competitions, which I believe is to encourage people to attempt stuff they haven’t done before. So does me actually knowing and admitting to this actually mean I might try and change my ways, maybe enter different A&S Comps? Probably not, but it helps me to understand that my three wins for three entries isn’t anything to be hugely proud of. After all… that’s only 3 entries in about 18 months of being involved in the SCA.

Item: Pilgrims Badge Award token for the Baronial Bits box. An Entry in the Politarchopolis Baronial Championship A&S Competition.

Made By: Sveinn inn kyrri Grimsson, mka: Steven Worthington.

Documentation: Many Pilgrims badges have been discovered along the Thames river in London since medieval times, frequently being dug up by kids and adults alike looking for something of value. Over the years these treasure hunters became know as Mudlarks and have been frequently seen trolling through the mud on the banks of the Thames and between the grounded barges at low tide. The Thames Mudlarks have uncovered many thousands of pilgrims badges over the years, showing us a huge variety of designs and styles.

For this competition I wanted to create something that would be useful to the Barony of Politarchopolis as an award token, as well as utilise my pewtercrafting skills. A Gryphon’s wing token seemed to me to be the ideal token, and after a little research I discovered that there were indeed outstreached wing tokens made. Though these tokens were suspected to be part of a larger multi-part token for the Blessed Virgin, the individual parts were discovered seperately and it’s not inconcievable that they were possibly used individually.

Materials & Methods:The period technique for creating pewter tokens was to carve a mould from a small grained stone of some sort such as mudstone, slate or soapstone. Having access to soapstone I opted for this medium. Using tools that I created from small bits of steel wire shaped into various small carving tools I slowly and delicately carved out the shape of the wing. During the carving process the artist needs to be constantly aware that the shape of their finished product will be the shape of the missing bits in the mould material. The mould is also a mirror image of the finished product, and if left to right direction is important, then this needs to be right to left on the face of the mould. Whilst this example contains no text, if text were needed it would have to be carved as if mirrored so that when cast the text is readable.

After carving out most of the mould, I took the opportunity to cast a sample piece, however it is possible to view a representation of the finished product by pushing some blutack or playdough into the soapstone. The process of sample casting allowed me to test how easily the mould accepts the molten metal, as sometimes the flow of the metal into the mould is impeeded by air trying to escape. During carving it is often a good idea to concider how the flow of the molten metal will navigate the intricacies of the mould details. A smooth flow of metal is desired as this will prevent the metal setting and preventing further metal from getting into the mould. Tweaking the details of the mould, and adding more detail such as feathering help to produce a cleaner and more detailed pour. When the casting process was consistantly producing the required results, a casting run of 23 castings was produced.

Period castings show little signs of being post-worked, ie; filing, and removal of flashing. The competition entry piece, and the 20 pieces provided as a gift to the Baron and Baroness have had minimal flashing removed to maintain a period look, however 2 samples of what can be achieved with post filing and polishing have been provided purely as a sample of the differance of a basic casting, and a post-worked piece. All post-working was done by hand with a file and sandpaper, though to speed up the process one could use a mechanical means of abrasion.

Source: Pilgrim Souvenirs and Secular Badges by Brian Spencer. Page 7 – Information about moulds and metals. Pages 159 to 161- Information on the Winged Piece [Item 177].

Yes, that is part minus 1… Why? Cause I have a week to get something down there, and I still haven’t worked out what I’m doing…

So, the Competition is a trinket for the Baronial Bits Box… Something they can give out as a token of thanks I’m guessing… Though it could also be a token for one of the Baronial awards I guess. I just can’t seem to decide on a particular award or token…

It needs to be something that it very much Polit… Which in my mind leaves me with a Grifon, or a grifons wing. A grifons wing would be far easier, but there would need to be alot of detail. I have found a nice wing token in Pilgrim souvenirs and secular badges (Item 177). It will be the starting point and referance for my Polit tokens which I shall possibly start work on tonight.

Documentation has never really been my strong point, so I think I shall attempt to do a better job on the documentation for this entry in practice for the November Crown Entry.

Syridian.com is the reason that my LJ when viewed directly is very very basic. I have wrapped my LJ and various other web resources into one website that allows me to access everything from the one place. Check it out if you are interested, or just stick to having me in your friends list and you will still get all the LJ goodness that I occationally add. ;)