An Ohio Metalsmith in Dresden

One of the many things nice about working with pewter is the speed at which you can realize a design.  Without having to continually reheat the work hardened metal, then throw it in the pickle to clean off the firescale, what might take you weeks to accomplish in silver can be done in half the time.  Plus with a little polishing it will be just as shiny!

A good example of this is my following giant spoon project.  Since this may get somewhat picture heavy, I'll keep the commentary to a minimum.  

First cast some ingots from scrap pewter you have lying around.  An ecologically friendly use of waste material.  It melts fast and pours like a dream.

Then run the ingots through a rolling mill.  Kind of an industrial metal version of the home kitchen pasta maker.

Once the ingots are lengthened and compressed.  You'll need to beat them until they are flat.

Keep on beating them until they are even flatter, but focus on the one end that will be the bowl.

Make sure to evenly beat on both sides of the piece.

Here you can see the growth and progression of the spoon, some design ideas I was kicking around, and a quick cardboard model.

There that was easy!  I've left out a few of the intermediary step, (filing to make the form, planishing with a small hammer to make smooth, sanding to get rid of hammer marks, and polishing), but you get the idea.

I've titled this piece "Soft Ice Cream Trowel"...... for several reasons that should be self evident.