Sand-cast bronze belt buckle. My 'Errant/Errant Productions' logo on the front, and an angled pin on the back to close.

Visiting a smith and all-around awesome artisan in Switzerland, we had an afternoon of bronze casting, using objects he had on offer, a seahorse I carved as quickly as I could from a scrap of wood, and one of my coconut necklaces (Change, if you're interested). Well, we didn't have much time, and I was too excited when casting Change to remember to put in vents - stupid, stupid me, the left-most point was almost entirely missing), but I did manage to make this.

As I didn't have a positive model to work with, I compacted the sand into the frame as usual, then carved the negative shape into the sand with a tiny trowel-shaped knife and a piece of wire with a melted blob on the end - hence the imperfections and the granular texture of the cast surfaces.

Oh, the excitement of opening the cast and stripping away the burnt, clinging sand to reveal - my logo, clear and whole! I now wear it whenever I can get away with it.

I'm definitely up for trying more casting experiments - apart from problems caused by overhangs in the design and lack of vents, my coconut design looked fantastic in metal and I'm raring to have at it again. Now I just need a crucible, and lots of fire....