What Is Your Dream?
What, You Don’t Have One Yet?
Well, the chances are, that at some stage or other you will dream of something you’d like to cast.
It doesn’t matter what it is, everyone involved in hobby metal casting will have a dream or vision of something that they would like to create from molten metal.
Yes, even the writer had a dream many decades ago of casting metal, but it was several years before actually becoming involved in the hobby, it took awhile for that dream materialise, but it did become a reality when the “How To” knowledge and techniques required to make it happen began to make sense.
And would you believe, it is more than thirty two years since becoming involved. But, for a long time, the foundry dream were just thoughts in the mind.
But then, something clicked and the learning began in earnest and things started to happen on the foundry front.
But The Reality Is That Your Dreams Just Won’t Happen In An Instant!
It does require some work and effort, but it is an enjoyable learning process.
Unfortunately, in today’s instant coffee world, people have been conditioned from childhood to expect things to just happen with the snap of the fingers, nothing worthwhile ever happens with an “instant wish”, the real world will dictate that its not quite like that.
But don’t let work scare you away from the practical fun.
So How Big Do You Want To Dream.
We get emails on a regular basis from people who are just beginning to dabble in hobby metal casting, they want to know how to cast automotive, or motor cycle cylinder heads, or they want to know how to cast a small engine block!
Hey, there is nothing wrong with having a dream or vision, without a dream many things wouldn’t happen. (We have one client in the USA how travelled down this path, and has had a huge amount of success.)
But generally, a more realistic approach is required; the aim should be to take up the challenge to create simple objects first, lay a solid foundation to advance your skills and hopefully help to make your future metal casting dreams come true.
Begin and live your dream… but conquer the small things first, call this the base camp where you begin your climb to success, and when the small things have been conquered, you’ll move forward and your confidence level will grow enormously; you’ll get to learn many of the skills which you can use to apply in the future to the bigger things (Or the BIG dream) you eventually want to create.
It may even take several months, maybe a year so to build the required skills and confidence to finally take on that project you set your heart on in the beginning. I can tell you from experience that attempting something beyond your skill and knowledge will only lead to disappointment, heartbreak, and thoughts of giving the hobby away.
I’m sure this happens to a few people, and yes, problems can rear their ugly head at times, and the solo hobby worker will find it difficult to discover the right answer, (A coach or mentor could help you) but often with just a little more practice, trial and error, the answer can be found.
And when you do find the answer; make sure that you write down plenty of notes about the method or technique for future reference, so that you can repeat the process again when you need to.
Keep that dream alive by constantly working towards your goal, remember; each little step you take will lead to bigger steps and your future success, it is never too far away. And that about sums up hobby foundry work!
We do hope you can keep your dream project alive, and perhaps we can help you to achieve success, just as we’ve helped and encouraged thousands of other people.