Last night, I learned how to sprue. What a funny little word. No, I am not talking about the tropical disease that ravages the gi tract, rather I'm referring to the piece of wax that when attached to a carved piece, acts as an umbilical cord of sorts, giving life to my jewelry. It sticks out from the carved wax like the hair on Alfalfa's head and acts as a funnel for the molten metal that will be poured into the investment.
I attached 4 sprues to 4 different pieces (I now consider myself an expert spruer) and will hopefully be able to cast them next week. They are all rings, three of which will be cast in silver, and one heavier piece, will be cast in bronze (my first sculpture - watch out michelangelo). I will post pictures of the pieces soon.
If you are inclined to read more about it, I found this website:
http://www.peninsula.wednet.edu/classroom/hummelj/Jewelry/Jewelry%20Assignments/casting.htm which gives a great explanation of the lost wax casting process (and of course, spruing).
Lighting the torch - GOOG (on: gas, oxygen; off: oxygen, gas)
Heating the crucible before adding the silver. You can see the flame shooting out of the spout on the right. This is where the melted silver will flow out into the mold.
Stirring the molten silver just before pouring into the mold. Silver melts at just over 1700* F. Once the metal was poured, we let the mold sit for about 30 minutes and then quenched it in a bucket of water. 
The finished castings! The three rings are all attached to a large "button" (the center ring) which will be recycled and used in another cast. The silver is dirty due to the firing process and needs to be cleaned up. The sparex in the pot will remove most of the oxidation, but these rings will still need a little TLC before they are wearable. Next steps: clean, buff and polish...
