New Art Medium: Western Cast Iron Art Conference

This weekend, the Western Cast Iron Art Conference is being held on the University of Wyoming's Campus. Our ceramics teacher was telling us about it in class and all the students are welcome to attend. So Friday night, they held a Night Pour Performance. 

The Pours Were Like Fireworks!

This event was super cool! Marc arrived from Jackson just in time to head on over and see the action up in full process. There were an assortment of groups all doing their pours at the same time. It was really fascinating to see all the people in their heat protective wear and all the coal and fire going on.

There were all sorts of molds taped up all over the performance and poring area. As the night went on, you would see groups putting coal into their tanks to heat up and melt. When the ore was ready and melted, they would carefully pour the molten hot, liquid metal into their molds. As the liquid poured, the surroundings lit up with the orange, reds, and yellows into the night atmosphere. It was really beautiful, looking like fireworks!

Glows in the Night

Continuing to Pour!

The next day, we went back and were able to make our own cast irons! For $5 the give you this sandy, grit mold that you are able to scratch out your design in. The key to this is making whatever you want to pop out the deepest in your scratch block. Marc was doing a summer beach scene, while I of course, scratched out a moose.

Marc Carefully Scratching Out His Piece
He is so Incredibly Talented!

Mine! Pretty Proud of My First Mold!

Our Finished Pieces!

We then turned in our scratch blocks, coated them in this liquid to prevent sticking. We were then able to watch the cast iron people take our molds and pour the iron into the molds from a safe distance. The next day we were able to pick up our cooled pieces and we were so impressed with how they came out. It was such a cool experience to see the night performance and then come back and try it on our own.

So glad I am slowly getting back into the art world. It is bringing me such happiness and a great brain break from school. Maybe art is a true calling of mine. I guess I should get more immersed into it and I'll be able to find my answer.

TheChristyBel