Hot Metal Pour

Last weekend Offspring #2 and I spent 3 hours designing our sculptures by digging into sand/resin blocks with spoons and dental picks. I tried to make a design of a chickadee with the words "Hope is a thing like a feather" below it.  Offspring #2 went for an image of a raven.  We came back yesterday for the big pour at Franconia Sculpture Park.  The weather was awesome so we didn't mind standing around for a couple hours watching cast iron being melted and poured into our molds.  Some of the people working the big pour are interns here at Franconia Park and some are metal art students at the University of Minnesota.  This event is the largest metal pour in the Midwestern United States. For safety reasons the work area was roped off to keep the visitors away.  I'd say there were a couple hundred visitors at Franconia today.  I could not actually tell which mold was mine because I was so far away.

Here are the students lifting a bucket full of molten cast iron off the stove.  They move in unison like dancers.  Any trips or falls today could be disastrous.  They wear protective clothing include heat shields for their faces.  I could feel the heat from those iron melting cookers from 20 feet away.  I can not imagine being the one who has to climb 3 stairs to  pour more coke or more iron chips into that contraption.

My mold turned out pretty good for a first try.  My chickadee looked pretty good and I could read all the words I etched.  None of the letters came out backwards.

Offspring #2's raven came out very well too!