Cosmeston Medieval Village 25 - 27th August 2007
So, we got ourselves set up in a semi shaded corner and set to work. The major achievement for us was that the big bellows are now working 100% as they should be. This means we need to give a big thank you to a splendid chap called Neil who came over and very kindly offered his knowledge of bellows and with a few tweaks straightened out our errors producing one big airflow out of the bellows. We had been close but Neil got us over the last hurdle and apart from becoming incredibly easy to use the efficiency is very good. Melting brass and bronze for casting now takes at best twenty minutes, so not too long for the crowd to wait.
Casting was something we did through the weekend, a job that seems to really catch the imagination of the crowds and people will stand around for a quarter of an hour or so watching as we work the bellows, and do some forge work, whilst waiting for the melt. The crowd also join in the excitement of watching the metal be poured and then the tough bit of waiting for the moment when you can open the mould and see whether it worked or not. As always, we had successes and failures which got us a round of applause and a few ahhhs.
It is worth keeping an eye out for events at Cosmeston, they have several throughout the year, it is a very pleasant setting and worth a visit, we are certainly planning on going back there again.
