Belated Hallowe'en and a word from Fran and Anna

I wanted to have this piece finished for Hallowe'en but things got in the way, so here is my Spoon Skull Cross, a bit of fun made from iron wire from a building site in Brighton, a rusted bolt, some flat ground tool steel from a derelict workshop, a silver souvenir teaspoon, silver, copper, rubies, sapphire, garnets and carnelian:

This was quite interesting to make as I cast the needles in place, having cut grooves in them and then filled the grooves with soft wax. These were then pushed into a wax model which I had milled to fit. The whole thing was invested and cast and the needles hold firmly in place, surviving barrel-polishing and manual polishing. After quenching the flask to remove the plaster, I tempered the needles to stop them being brittle.

The front of the cross is properly inlaid with copper, using undercuts and a hammer:

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 I've also finally posted the Call for Entries to the Crafthaus exhibition, "Scotland the What?", which ought to be fun to put together. I'm curating it with my good friend Jeff Zimmer, a glass artist based in Scotland but who originally came here from the USA.

Jings! Crivvens! Help ma boab!!