Water-Casting Fun!

For my birthday, my parents bought me a Groupon to take an art class at the Saw Dust Festival in Laguna Beach.  It was actually my idea so I asked for it :)

I finally used it this weekend to take a Water-Casting jewelry class. Basically, you melt down metals (silver, copper, gold if you are lucky) in a crucible using a very, very hot torch.  Once the metal is molten you dump it into a pot of water.  That is it!  I got to dump it into a can of water and broomsticks.  Yes, broomsticks.  It created some really rad shapes.  Here is a basic tutorial I found online.

I volunteered to go first because the rest of the class was scared. It was a really big torch (That's what she said! --OFFICE JOKE, can't help myself).  I've had some experience with metal-smithing and water casting so I thought I could go first.  My first attempt went well and this is what I got:

This pieces is a 50/50 combination of sterling silver and copper.

On my second attempt, I got this:

This piece has more copper in it, about a 40/60 combination.  I added a pearl on this one too.

If I access to a torch again,  I would totally make more.  It was a lot of fun and really easy.