Ugh, Part One of Infinity

So after experimenting with brass and looking into reticulation, I have discovered the extremely obvious. Reticulation is a surface treatment only (which I should have known) and one cannot melt brass into a blob with out its surface tension pulling it into a round button and then try to reticulate that back into an irregular shape. Since nothing in the above picture looks remotely anything like an asteroid its time for a complicated plan B. Plan B hinges on the fact that one can cast in brass. The downside is having to come up with 17 or so wax asteroids to go through the process with.

I had thought about a technique demonstrated in class of making a water based clay asteroid, making a negative plaster mold from that, than pouring hot wax in for an asteroid in the correct material for casting. The problem with this is that it's not the greatest method for handling objects that are meant to be fully three dimensional with out a flat side; although it gives me a great idea for pins to mass produce, sell and have nothing to do with science fiction. So, I am left with carving the asteroids straight from wax. It's a long task more than anything but, I have an entire four day weekend to do it.

Other parts of my project have barely gotten underway. The 12 gauge silver wire I ordered a week ago has finally arrived at my house, although the ingot the professor poured isn't quite ready to be soldered to it.

Here it is earlier in its life, when, after it was poured, I had to hammer it into a square rod. It has since been sent through the rolling mill twice and been hammered back into a round "wire" of sorts. What the professor has planned for it next I don't know, but without her help this project would be going nowhere. Still it is now impossible with the wire showing up late and needing to cast to make next Wednesday's deadline. Hopefully the next project won't wind up as complicated as this one has...