Ok, back to tonight's Work. I just spent a long time making something really ... primitive. But I likes it.In the hour of Mercury, on the day of Mercury, I conjured Raphael, Archangel of Mercury to help me with this work. I was trying to make a simple round talisman to the Archangel to use with my Box, but then I got an inspiration. I looked over and saw the huge plaster brick I'd made for the Pentagonal Seal of Solomon, the project that had failed miserably, and thought about how easy it would be to carve using a grinding bit on my dremel tool.
So I carved out a rough figure of the symbol of Mercury, and melted up some pewter, some silver, and a dash of more tin. The mixture of metals, per Aaron Leitch, makes it a mercurial metal when it solidifies. The pewter came from my daughter, who had broken a cheaply soldered fairy's wings right off. I tried to fix it, but I failed, and she said I could have it. I told her what I wanted to do with it, and she said "Cool." That works for me. I just realized it was an Arial spirit that it had been molded into, and Mercury is associated with the element of Air. "Cool."
I melted the metals, and poured them into the rough mold, cleaned up the edges as best as I could, and engraved it with the name Raphael, RPAL in Celestial Script, the Archangel seal of Mercury from the Magical Calendar, and the Sigil of the Planet Mercury, also from the Magical Calendar. Some parts are prettier than others.
Now, I've said before that "ugly works." It's a good thing. This isn't fine art, by any means. It shows two things about me. One, I'm an amateur metallurgist. Two, I don't let that stop me; my passion for communing with the spirits far outweighs any worries I have about how I look while doing so. It's the communion that counts.
Now I wanted to test it out on my Box, but it's now the hour of the Moon. No time, no time. It took far longer than anticipated. The next Mercury hour isn't until 4:08 AM my time, and man, that's frickin' early. Or late. I don't think I'll be using it this week, unless ... Well, I'll check Trithemius and see what he says.
That looks good! From one amateur metalurgist to another...
ReplyDeleteHow did the plaster mold go? Did any of the plaster get into the metal? What sort of plaster did you use?
Beth recently put in an order for a love heart key ring. She said "you could make that for me mummy, you make metals" so now mummy needs to find something to use for a love heart mold...the plaster might work but I recall having trouble with plaster in the past, maybe it was only it deteriating at the really high heats for iron, which of course might not be a problem if I just pick up some Tin/Copper alloy solder to use for it.
LOVE Kathy
Hmm, I have no idea what sort of plaster I used. I'm pretty sure it's like wall-plaster. It's not that slurry that you're supposed to use for casting metals. I have to get some of that.
ReplyDeleteAh, here it is... WHITE. White plaster. ;-)
The plaster mold went really well. I poured the molten metal in, and the metal kinda clumped on the Mercury horn-head area, and didn't fill the bottom. I tilted the top a bit, and hit it with the MAP torch. It melted the metal, and cracked the top layer of plaster. No plaster got into the metal.
BTW, the plaster was about 6" square by an inch or so deep.
I heated the mold first by hitting it with the torch a few times in bursts, then poured the metal. it bubbled, as air or steam in the plaster that I didn't know about was coming out. The second time I hit it with the torch and melted it into the crevices, there weren't any more bubbles. It took a while to cool. I had to clean it up with some tin-snips and my handy rotary tool. Your grandpa's (iirc) should do the trick, or a grinding wheel would go better.
The mixed metal was porous, not like pure tin. It looked like pot iron, and was brittle. Could have been how I quenched (dropped it in a bucket of water that was at garage temp., around 45 degrees).
But yeah, you should have the skills and talent to get at least a roughly-heart-shaped hunk o' tin put together, and then grind and sand it to perfection. I've seen your work, and this is much easier than the Paracelsus talismans.
Very nice Rufus. Plaster huh? Most excellent:)
ReplyDeleteI'm still waiting on one of the ingredients for my molds. Company I bought everything from backordered it (zinc oxide powder)and says it will be next month before they get it in.
Its used to make a rock like paste that I'm going to mix with some other stuff.
Here is a link to a place that sells 'plaster' in many different grades. Some are really tough.
http://www.plaster.com/SuperX.html
I'm going to order a pound of the HydroStone X. I'll let you know how it works. I'll probably use it to reinforce the cuttlebones so I can cast a larger size coin in them.
RJ...