It's gettin' hot in here!

We've been busy. There's been a good deal of dinner attending and imbibing of alcoholic beverages. I rather enjoy free alcohol. It's a good way to supplement the alcohol that I pay for. We've somehow managed to squeeze in good CO adventures in, though. We went to the Denver Art Museum for the "Making Metal" event. They had a good deal of metal related art events throughout the museum and out front they had professors and students from the University of Colorado doing live pourings. We watched the bronze pouring, which was both freaking cool and terrifying.

You can see here the furnace being removed from around the crucible, which is insane hot. I can't even believe they let us stand as close as we did. If you look close you can see a woman holding her child in terror, while a child holds a man's neck in similar terror. Little did they know there would be more and with each new development, things would get hotter.

Here you can see two men of the huskier variety trying their best not to burst into flames. It was a tricky business. In mere moments this hot glowing cup filled with molten bronze being held by salad tongs was to come far too close to my face. It was a bit exhilarating.

Do you see? Things were on fire! This was maybe a foot from my person. There were children standing next to me openly discussing moving beyond the magic rope that divided the crazy people from the lookers on. They wanted to go help these people pour. Even the flames couldn't convince them that touching anything on the other side of the rope was a bad idea. Children are often not as smart as I think they are. Perhaps they're just more adventurous than I am.

Again, do you see? The bronze is HOT! I also like this one student's desire to stand out in the crowd by going with the space suit variety of protective clothing. I appreciate this kind of gusto, especially here in CO where brown leather is so popular. Little did I know this student would later disappoint me.

They put a penny in the hot bronze to teach the kids some chemistry. All of us grown ups already knew what they were trying to show us. *Cough* You can sort of see the green in it, which was the copper burning off and then there was a flurry of smoke created by the zinc, I believe. I wasn't taking notes, although I should have been. Isn't it illegal to destroy legal tender? Does it still count if it's just a penny? I also learned that bronze is about 96% copper. This was the professors gentle way of telling her student not to smash at the plaster too violently lest he hit the actual casting and make an unwanted mark in it.

All of those cylinders are the casts from the students. I found myself imagining amazing things. I thought a bit about Jeanie in the bottle waiting to come out. Inside all of that wax filled plaster would be beautiful busts or hands or stunning examples of pure form or of pure function. Something.

Imagine my disappointment when I was greeted by none other than ... The Lion King.

That's right, folks. There was an adult Simba looking me right in the face. I know it's hard to tell in the photo, but in person there was no mistaking it. You can sort of see the mouth opening for a roar. This student in the space suit confirmed that it was indeed his vision of Disney's beloved Lion King. I immediately left and went for a beer at Pints Pub, which is just a block away. They have nice cask conditioned ales and a sick number of scotches. They also have fries covered in curry and gravy. I like it there. It's a nice place to knit. This made me feel better about Simba and his space suited creator. I hope that he can come up with more than that in the future or else being an Art major might not be the right path for him. Maybe he should take up knitting.