whitewater iron pour

On Saturday, Noah and I went down to Whitewater for an iron pour. I used to take Noah to these a lot when I first started working at UWM, but it had been many years since I had attended a pour at Whitewater. We got to Whitewater a little late since we didn't have any molds to pour, but once we arrived we got to work helping Chuck with a broken mold and visiting with Mark on the side. It was good to catch up with several of the people that I started work with at UWM who now teach or work at other places. Chad had brought down two molds of some parts for his "drill press turned 3D printer". He cut the patterns in foam on the DCRL CNC router and I really wanted to see these pieces since he's working on the final year of his MFA. I didn't plan on pouring, but had brought my gear just in case. As it turned out, Teresa asked if I could assist and I did. I ended up pouring quite a bit and I had a great time; it felt like old times again. The last time I had poured iron was when Eric and I went to Sloss several years ago. I felt a bit rusty and was worried that this might irritate my recent back ache, but all is well so far. Noah worked the camera the entire time and took all of the shots you see above except for the first and last picture. I am super proud of him for doing this so Chad would have some pics of his molds being poured. He has grown up a lot since the last time he came to a pour; I'm just bummed that we didn't get an image of him at the pour like we had when he was little.  Noah did manage to make two scratch blocks with the help of Robin. His iron tiles came out great. It was so good to hang out with Robin and Chad and I am happy to report that Chad's pieces came out perfectly. Wait until you see the pieces mounted to Chad's drill press...