Carving Basic Soapstone Molds for Pewter Casting

Conde Fernando Rodriguez de Falcon

 

 Greetings, 

 

This web page is a link to my handout for my introductory soapstone mould carving class.  It is an overview into the materials, tools, and layout and carving techniques that a newcomer will need to turn a simple piece of soapstone into a mould ready to use for pewter casting.  It should provide the necessary information to create a simple one sided mould for items such as award medallions, basic pilgrimage badges, event tokens, or belt buckles – essentially, any basically "flat" object.

 

Why use a soapstone mould?  First, it’s cool!  It’s period!  A single mould can make hundreds of castings, and its fast - most soapstone moulds allow the pewter to cool in a matter of seconds.  With most arts you work a long time to get one finished piece; with soapstone moulds and pewter casting, once you’ve completed the carving, you can make a number of finished pieces very quickly.  That’s very satisfying to me.

 

Give it a try – I bet you like it!

Downloads

I met Conde Fernando Rodriguez de Falcon while I was in Calontir, He introduced me to the wonders of pewter casting and has kindly consented to let me reproduce this document here.