Swinging the lead

Week 7

My research revealed that the Norse recognised several gods and that these gods had been portrayed in their art as both human and animal form.  The sags also inferred that man could align themselves through life and death to theses gods, e.g. a warrior may revere Thor while a mother may honour Freyr.  I wanted to develop an idea that would allow me to visualise this alignment and portrayal of the gods so I will create some maquettes.

I have chosen to make one of Dall's Sheep, or the god Thor in the form of a ram.  I started by making a model from clay which I affixed to a section of plaited twine (more on that much later). I then cast this in plaster using an old drink cup for a mould form.

I wanted to try another material for casting with so I tried lead.  I can remember, as a young boy, making lead fishing weights with my dad and brothers and I had a source of scrap lead came from my stained glass window making, so why not.

Melting any metal requires a lot of heat and generates a lot of fume so always plan how you will execute this.  A risk assessment is a must!

For me, my kitchen seemed an ideal place.  I made sure that all work surfaces were covered, that I had good extraction of air along with a plentiful supply of fresh air, hand protection, vapour face mask, a fire extinguisher (you can never be too careful), water and a cooling area (outside the house).

I used an old tin can as my crucible which I heated until all its coating had plumed off.  I then dropped small pieces of lead in until they had fully melted and then added other small pieces.  This is slow but it stops any thermal change reaction which can stint the melting process.  Once all of the lead had melted I warmed it until it was liquid and a scum had developed on the surface.  The scum is just impurities that have separated out and this was scooped out using an old spoon.

During this process I had been raising the temperature of the plaster mould by placing it in the oven. This is an important step as a cold mould would crack, potentially explosively, when the lead is poured in.  The lead was slowly poured in to avoid any air locks or bubbles.

The mould was then placed outside until it was cool to the touch.  I took it inside and left it sitting for 5 minutes to see if the plaster temperature increased significantly.  If it did then the outer surface had merely been wind cooled while the inside could will have remained very hot.  In this case everything was okay so I didn't have to place it outside again and could proceed with the divestment. 

I hadn't poured enough lead to create a full head however this wasn't important as it was the process that I was seeking to test.  The finished head was very shiny however because it is lead I could brush it which dulled it down to a leaden or pewter colour.  

I was very pleased with the result although it was larger than I could have realistically used in my design and was also significantly heavier as a result.   I will progress this idea further and will model  more animal heads form clay subject to them being incorporated into the final piece.