On September 23rd & 24th, graduate students of the Art Conservation Department, under the supervision of faculty members Jonathan Thornton and Aaron Shugar will conduct an experimental pyrotechnology weekend. Activities will include reproducing an Iron Age smelting furnace, Bronze Age copper melting and casting, ancient glass bead manufacture, and cooking Iron Age foods.
The furnace will be built on Friday September 23rd and the smelt will be conducted on Saturday September 24th. The weekend will culminate with the extraction of the iron bloom late Saturday. We will also be making lime from seashell and limestone in a lime kiln.
Please feel free to drop by to experience this ancient practice under the tent next to Campus House. For more information, please contact the Art Conservation Department at (716) 878-5025.