On the way to the Soapstone & Pewter Practicum

Today, Ástriðr and I are on our way to Windham, Maine to attend the Soapstone & Pewter Practicum led by Stefan of Silverforge.

Pewter casting has been around for a while and it seems that Medieval Pilgrim Tokens may have been among the first mass-produced souvenirs in the industry (pre-dating the popular snow globe ¹.)

Photo from http://www.johngraycentre.org – Pilgrimage medals have been used since the medieval period as souvenirs of a trip to a shrine or church.

Today in the SCA casting is often used for event and personal tokens, which interest me the most today.

This is intended as a roundtable discussion of technique and a hands-on shop day of working on molds and doing casting.

1) Historical and modern examples, design thoughts and mold carving tips.
2) Carving of soapstone molds. Please come with at least a concept to execute. Designs can be finalized in phase 1.
3) Casting and refinement of molds. It ain’t gonna be pretty the first time.
4) Cleanup of cast pieces.

I am debating my ideas for #2 and won’t know until I put chisel to stone which one I’ll go with however right now it is a toss up between something with a Boar motif or a Hunters Horn for the foresters guild.

Speaking of tools – we picked up these from Harbor Freight, which should work great.

Purchased at Harbor Freight – here’s to hoping they work well.

More updates later in the day (if service allows.)

Be sure to check out Stefan’s Portfolio at https://silverforgeportfolio.wordpress.com/

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¹ – Snow Globes seem to have originated around the 1900’s in Vienna Austria – http://www.bbc.com/news/business-25298507