Pewter Cast Pendants -- Pewter Casting Tutorial

[AeonGoddess]

That is a fantastic tutorial! I've cast silver with the lost wax casting technique before, but it never occurred to me that it would be so easy to modify casting to do at home. Thanks so much for posting. Your pendants look fantastic, and it's so inspiring! You have a very fortunate group to have such an artist in their midst.

[punkmandi]

I love this!  I was just telling my cousins how i wanted to learn how to make charms from pewter, and thanks to you, i can try that now. 

I think the word you were looking for (for when the pewter holds itself in the spoon thinger) is "meniscus"  (I THINK).  Or the skin of the pewter... or. OHH!! its the surface tension!!!  YAY!  (I <3 Science).

Anyway, these are amazing.  Nice work!!

[Weezie13]

I want to THANK~YOU for taking the time
to write this up first, there's alot of work put
into doing those......

Your work is beautiful...

Someday, when I don't have so many pokers
in the fire, so to speak, this is the very first
thing I want to get into..
I love this work...

Cudo's to you for everything./

[andi_sunrider]

Thanks for the compliments, again, everyone!

As far as supplies go, I don't know about the America(s) but in the Nordic countries we have a New Year's tradition where we melt tin in a sauna or on the electric stovetop and toss the molten metal into cold water where it solidifies into different shapes, then tell fortunes for the next year from the shadows made by the tin blobs and their shape and surface patterns (a boat means you'll be taking a trip, and if the surface is rough, that means money, etc.). New Year's tin is often sold in horseshoe shape (for luck!), and I'm thinking it could be used for this kind of projects, at least for practice as you can get it for cheap. Tin is really soft. Of course, you always need to be careful of the fire hazards when handling extreme heat and molten metal!

What a neat custom!! The lead-free pewter is actually usually around 90% tin, depending on the type, so that might work really well! If they're straight tin, like you said, it might be a bit soft, but give it a try!

I had no idea it was so easy to melt pewter! OMG! This tute is fantastic, I can just imagine all the possibilities, suddely custom Christmas ornaments come to mind... lol. And I love pewter anyways, especially as jewellery.

Your tokens and pendants came out beautifully, and I love the detail you have achieved

Make sure you've got a sturdy tree, for ornaments!  It's surprisingly heavy. That would be really neat, though!

As for the detail: I want to try making molds with, I think it's called a vulcanizing compound, it's like a clay that you press designs into, and then it sets, and you can cast into it. I haven't tried it, but want to! I did carve three little pomegranate seeds into the first mold (on the same piece as the owl), but they didn't cast consistently, so I made the other three without it. The metal has to be really hot to get the small details, so I got some with it, but casting so many, I grew impatient!

[Saturn]

Beautiful work!
And thank you so much for breaking down this process in such detail! I'll have to attempt this in the future :-)

[I Sew Cute]

Fabulous!!! Love the owl best! You're so kind for sharing the tutoral with everyone!

I like knowing how things are made whether I'm ever going to try it or not...it's like solving a mystery for me!

[KiSKi]

I did some casting years ago and have been wanting to get back into it, but figured it would have to wait until I had a bigger place with a dedicated workshop (and the $$$ to go with it, lol), but wowwwww!! Thanks to your tutorial I can get back into it NOW!! Thanks!!

[SweetPeaDesign]

I am a bit late reading this but THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for posting this. 
I am in the enviable position of having about 100lbs of reclaimed pewter at my disposable for about $1 a pound (which I KNOW is lead free) and can not wait to try this.

[DeepSeaPurl]

Can I just say how incredibly generous you were, in taking the time to put together that amazingly detailed tute??  I, for one, am totally inspired, and plan to embark on this before the end of the year - it's actually perfect for what I'm trying to achieve w/other media.

If you don't mind, I have a few more questions, just for clarification.  I want to make sure I'm understanding everything when I start!

1)  What purpose does the melted wax serve?  To clean?  As a sample cast?  If you need to clean the just-carved stone, can you use say a used toothbrush and water, then super-dry it (like w/a hairdryer, to ensure no molten drops spatter when vaporizing water)?  I can see using polymer clay to check if the carving's coming along, although one would have to clean the stone to make sure none of that oily residue lingered.

2)  I have some of that 2 part RTV silicone putty - is that what you're talking about ("vulcanizing" mold)?  If so, will it really stand up to that amount of heat?  I'm amazed!  But it sounds like the pewter would have to be heated super hot to get fine detail - which is what I'm after.  Do you know how high the molten pewter would need to be?  Wonder if a candy thermometer would be good to get an accurate temp - maybe just a regular digital probe?  Would the molten pewter stick to those things?

3)  How could you get that oxidized look on pewter?  Can you use liver of sulfur, or Win-Ox?

4)  Have you noticed shrinkage, and if so how much?

I know, so many questions!  Sorry to bug you, but you seem like the most accessible/knowledgeable person out there re: this topic.  I googled, but was only able to find one other page on pewter casting in soapstone (or anything else for that matter) for the layperson, and you had already covered the vast majority!  So again, THANK YOU!!   

P.S.  SweetPea - if you need to unload ANY pewter, please let me know, I'd be more than happy to barter/buy!

[DeepSeaPurl]

Alright, I'm a dork - just didn't know the magical Google words to get better search results.  Still!  Your tute's the best I've seen for layfolks. 

I'm still curious re: questions 1 and 4.  I'm figuring if there's copper in the pewter alloy you can use a chemical oxidizer, but not sure if the alloy doesn't contain copper what will happen - just have to try it!