Thank you so much for the interest and enocouraging remarks!
The sun shines inside as well as outside today
I clamped the brass to a heavy piece of square steel on top of my workbench and went at it with two small straight chisels. I borrowed a light chasing hammer (28 grams) from my girlfriend, and made up the chisels on the spot. The achantus pattern is a slightly modified version of one I noticed on an early 12.c illustration. It was easier and a lot more fun than I imagined it would be. I suspect I would have gotten better results if I had worked on pitch or lead, but I did not bother this time.
I started out with a 40 cm diameter disc. The helmet is now 19 x 22,5 cms at the rim.
Yes, Ralph I like working in 3mm - but I plan to step down to 2.5mm soon.
At least until I experiment and possibly fall in love with the other raising technique that we have discussed before. The problem with 3mm, as Per is onto, is that it turns out a bit heavy. Six hours with an angle grinder to reduce the weight to an acceptable 2.2 kgs could have been spent in a better way. I had the opportunity to really enjoy my favourite metal bands while working though - so it was far from boring.
As to bowl itself I believe I used pretty standard technique, well described in Eric Things article on anvilfire, except that I used a vertical stake rather than a T-shaped one.
I wrote a little about the forge in the thread I linked to, it really just a box with legs, held together in the corners with mortise and tenon (?). Good bellows are more of a challenge.
Thanks again for the good words, and keep asking if you have any questions!
I have to go play in the sun with my girlfriend
Anders
ps: Patrick, I take orders....
