Casting my lead hands, 7-13th July 2021
Working with molten lead is definitely a process of alchemy. I'm very grateful to Si for his help with this. Needless to say, he had to do the melting and pouring, because of health and safety, so I was able to marvel at the magic and video it. It does make me think of the scene in Macbeth with the 3 witches. Definitely hubble bubble.
It was a hot process, which we did 3 times during in July and August. We secured the moulds of my hands with wire and then I packed them into a metal bucket with special, sieved casting sand. We clamped the metal connectors I'd made into position in the opening and then the alchemy began.
It was fascinating to see the lead melt. It became like mirrored reflective water, and poured like water. Lead is obviously very heavy so the cauldron was heavy too. It's also very poisonous so we had to read about health and safety of touching the metal and breathing the fumes. Si and I also had a number of interesting conversations about melting points and where lead has been used throughout history - roofing, lead paint, lead lined coffins, organ pipes, toy soldiers.
We poured 3 pairs of hands on 3 different days. These videos are of the third cast, the images are of the second. The big reveal was fascinating each time. It was interesting to see the discolouration of the mould. I had expected the mould to deteriorate, but actually it didn't. It did leak a little though, the second and third times.
The most intriguing thing I think is the pockmarks on the surface of the hands. We think this was caused by the presence of the conncetor which made the top of the poured lead cool too fast so that air bubbles were trapped inside, creating a vacuum, which thus resulted in pocking. I decided I really liked that effect. They definitely look like decomposing hands. I think if I had drilled tiny holes in the slicon it might have remedied the situation, but I decided that the pock markets add to the abjection of the pieces.
It was a hot process, which we did 3 times during in July and August. We secured the moulds of my hands with wire and then I packed them into a metal bucket with special, sieved casting sand. We clamped the metal connectors I'd made into position in the opening and then the alchemy began.
It was fascinating to see the lead melt. It became like mirrored reflective water, and poured like water. Lead is obviously very heavy so the cauldron was heavy too. It's also very poisonous so we had to read about health and safety of touching the metal and breathing the fumes. Si and I also had a number of interesting conversations about melting points and where lead has been used throughout history - roofing, lead paint, lead lined coffins, organ pipes, toy soldiers.
We poured 3 pairs of hands on 3 different days. These videos are of the third cast, the images are of the second. The big reveal was fascinating each time. It was interesting to see the discolouration of the mould. I had expected the mould to deteriorate, but actually it didn't. It did leak a little though, the second and third times.
The most intriguing thing I think is the pockmarks on the surface of the hands. We think this was caused by the presence of the conncetor which made the top of the poured lead cool too fast so that air bubbles were trapped inside, creating a vacuum, which thus resulted in pocking. I decided I really liked that effect. They definitely look like decomposing hands. I think if I had drilled tiny holes in the slicon it might have remedied the situation, but I decided that the pock markets add to the abjection of the pieces.
And finally, here are some images of the first pair of lead hands, pocked and poisonous.