[Repousse] Melting the chaser's pitch

INSTRUCTIONS FOR MELTING THE PITCH

Purchase the Red German Pitch from Allcraft, New York City, Allcraft
Tel: 212-279 7077; 1-800-645 7124* Purchase the medium grade pitch
from the Northwest Pitchworks. Northwest Pitchworks Tel: 360-715 1772

Put the Chasers pitch in a plastic bag, break into small chunks and
put it in the cast iron bowl.

Set your kitchen oven at 350F for the Red German Pitch, and at 250 F
for the medium grade pitch from Northwest Pitchworks. Put the bowl
with the pitch on the middle rack of your oven, over a sheet of
aluminum foil. In approximately 30 - 40 min. the pitch will melt.
Depending on the actual temperature in your oven, the melting could
take a bit longer. Wait until the surface of the pitch becomes
smooth and level. Strike the side of the bowl several times with a
piece of wood to let the air out of the pitch.

Do not overfill. Add more of the chunks if necessary to fill the
bowl up to about 1/8" from the top. Avoid any spills on the outside
of the bowl.

Do not attempt to handle the hot bowl and pitch. Do not leave the
pitch bowl in the oven unattended.

*For all of our students: when Shopping at Allcraft, identify
yourself as a student at the Valentin Yotkov Studio for a 10%
discount on your purchase.

Classes and Workshops schedule at the Valentin Yotkov Studio:

June 4 - July 23, 2003: Chasing and Repousse Class

October 16-20, 2003: Advanced Chasing and Repousse, Workshop

November 6-10, 2003 Chasing and repousse for beginners, Workshop

Another trick is to fill the lower half of your pitch bowel with
cement. Add the pitch to the top. Saves a lot of pitch and works
just great. Thanks to Marsha Lewis for the idea.

Here is another suggestions which I learned from Marcia Lewis
regarding melting the pitch. For those who don’t want to lug the
pitch into the kitchen and move their nice roast out of the way so
that the pitch can be melted. just use a heat gun to melt the
pitch. . It works beautifully, and can be done in your studio. Alma

   Another trick is to fill the lower half of your pitch bowel
with cement. Add the pitch to the top.    Saves a lot of pitch and
works just great.  Thanks to Marsha Lewis for the idea. 

And yet another trick is to use lead instead of cement. Drill two or
three holes in the lower part, cut a thread in them and thread in a
screw in each to secure that the lead does not get loose from the
bowl. It saves pitch and gives you a wonderfully heawy bowl. Regards
from Niels Loevschal on Bornholm, Denmark, where the summer is over
us.