Yesterday I learned [sand casting](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand_casting) which I was happy to learn since the cuttlefish and I weren’t getting along. Since I was studio monitor today, I decided I’d jump right in to sand casting.
I took a vintage glass bead and cast it and the results are below. The original bead is on the left. You can see that the wings didn’t fully form. That’s due to the placement of the piece. I should have put the wings below so the silver could flow better. Still, he looks pretty cute!
I also did a huge piece, but it didn’t form fully for the same reason as the bat. However, it’s cool so it might appear here in the future. Btw, the sand contains glycerine and smells like burning crayons when it’s being cast. So far I haven’t found a casting method yet that doesn’t stink.
Pretty Pretty Bang Bang 
Cute! Glad you got to move away from cuttlefish and into something else. Buring crayon smell would remind me of my time in Brownies/Girl Scouts. A short-lived period in my life, but we melted crayons to make all sorts of crafty stuff.
Clever title for this post.
I too seem to remember crayon-melting from childhood, but I think it was in art class trying to do batik.
Yes, the smell is similar to batik. However, when the piece is cast, the sand around it burns so you get a burning smell along with the crayon-y smell.
Yesterday I also torched a plastic piece to test it for another casting method. Oddly enough, it smelled like burning roses. Weird.