Making aluminium ant hill castings has been on my Bucket List for over a year. Alas, I lack the very necessary forge.
Two friends, professional farriers, arrive March 11 with theirs!
Mark and Spencer also bring 150 lbs of old shoes. I supply fire ants.
The aluminium shoes melting in the forges.
Then carefully poured into unsuspecting fire ant mounds.
Die, you vile invasive species!
After sufficient cooling the digging can commence.
Mark can't contain himself, he jumps in the hole to pry out the first sculpture, indifferent to the very upset half of the colony that survived the molten metal attack.
Their sting is painful and the toxins they inject leave you with a reminder of your encounter. Heinous creatures.
Several pours are made, some less successful than others.
Takes experience judging if a mound will be deep enough, or not...
Then the soil trapped in the sculpture has to be removed.
Here I capture the professional photographer in his natural habitat.
Seeing as myself and my battered Droid camera can't pay such homage to the works, all following pictures are Mark's.
Incredible how the molten metal fills all the ant's passages and chambers.
This one is mine.
This one is Mark's, still in its raw state.
After he meticulously polished it all with a Dremel tool. I'm scared to ask how long it took. Mine has yet to be pampered in any such manner! I'll get around to it eventually...
Meanwhile, I acquiesce to one picture taken of myself.
... as long as at least two of my animals can be in it. Say cheese for the patient man behind the camera (Mark Rikard Photography, Birmingham, Alabama). Cheeez!
