Chasing the Lids

Not quite right, the brass was too soft and the chasing was too aggressive.  The edges deformed and the marks were too deep and thus didn't resemble the originals very well.  Off to start again

The next step was to make many blanks that would become the masters for the casting and do the chasing on the lids.  This wasn't as easy as we wanted, the brass that shapeways casts is softer than the hardware brass so the tool marks are deeper.

We reviewed the existing photos for all the inkwells I have seen in caskets and discussed what was common to them and what versions were rare.  We decided to go with some of the common patterns and tool marks.  This includes a rocking chasing mark that looks like a V.

The first set weren't going to work as they were too deep and even deformed the blank some.  So several more blanks were ordered.  Each time that happens, it is about a month or more to get!  And they are pricy as well since their are so many steps with the 3D printing of the wax, lost wax castings, polishing, etc.

The second time the chasing looked much more the depth of the originals and we thought it was worth sending them on to England to have the first batch of 10 pairs cast.  We needed to run through the assembly process with the batch braising and see how that worked and get good numbers on labor to assemble.

Much better the second time around.  

No edge deformation.  The piece isn't assembled yet as we needed them to be the blanks for the castings.

I can't tell you how excited I was to get a set of them - in tin coating and non-coated brass last week and slip them into the casket for the first time!  I left my casket open for a week to admire them!

Final versions, here a brass set (in a tin./silver casket).

Tinned version of the inkwells.  Looks fabolous!