Making a Cast Iron Skillet Using Recycled Brake Rotors | Cast Iron Gypsy at the Windy Hill Foundry

Way back before the Covid 19 Pandemic began, Windy Hill Foundry hosted its first Invitational Iron Pour and Mold Making Workshop. I was honored to be invited by Clarke Easterling and his wife Jose Easterling. During the workshop I learned from Clarke how to make a sand mold with his mixture of green sand and I cast this iron skillet. The text on my skillet is my name, my fiance's name and our scheduled wedding date. Rob attended the invitational with me and plays a large supportive role for me and this channel. I affectionately refer to him as my “Bearded Wonder”, and he films most all of the handheld footage that you see of me! Even if he does not appear very often in videos, without his love, support, and hard work behind the scenes - this channel would not exist!
I cannot fail to mention that I owe a special thanks to Adam Booth of Abom79, who recently endorsed me on his KZbin channel. His spotlight on my channel has effectively introduced my channel to the Online Maker Community!
Again, great thanks to:
Adam Booth - Abom79 - / abom79
Clarke Easterling - Windy Hill Foundry - / @windyhillfoundry5940
If you're new here welcome! My name is Laura Elizabeth and I am an iron casting metal artist. Being a cast iron artist is an interesting, and at times tough journey, but the rewards far exceed all challenges. While working with cast iron to create my art I am exposed to an amazing community of artists who are as dedicated and passionate as I am. The cast iron art culture is a major influence in my life and on my work and I want to share this artistic adventure with anyone who is interested in seeing hard working people make amazing art with a hot and dangerous material. To do this, I make vlog style videos on this channel that chronicle the artwork that I am currently making and my journeys in iron casting. In between casting and metal art videos you may also see some behind the scenes footage of me roaming around the heart of the Midwest and the Ozarks.
As always - Thanks for watching, I love you and I'll see you at the next pour!
Info about ordering your own custom cast iron skillet: castirongypsy.com/custom-skil...
Send me an email! - [e-mail]
Learn more about me! - the Cast Iron Gypsy at www.castirongypsy.com
Support the Cause! - / castirongypsy
Follow me on Instagram! - / castirongypsy
Video Editor: Laura Mullen
Music Credit: Epidemic Sound
Quick Safety Note: The act of creating cast iron art is dangerous, participants are exposed to extreme heat and possible explosions. Some must lift heavy ladles of molten iron or other heavy objects while fully suited in safety gear, hardhat and face shield. Every single person you see footage of in my videos had signed liability wavers and attended a safety meeting where they were made aware of all potential hazards they may be subjected to.

[@dulalidhalibala9944]

The dates may not be set in stone, but it's definitely cast in iron. It's poetry😌😌

[@TheCharleseye]

A good dog is one who has to be right in the middle of what you're doing. You've got a damn good dog there.

[@joshuaespinoza534]

This is definitely an important trade to learn. Who cares about else, but to learn farming, building, hunting and creating survival tools to live a loving peaceful life with your loved ones. Thank you so much for sharing and thank God for blessing us with a wonderful man to teach us all a valuable trade.

[@ht2941]

Great job! I love the casting videos, and the finished skillet was awesome. Shout out for Rob and Bones, great support crew!

[@richardreynolds9389]

That skillet project came out outstanding! You do have a good skill in metal work. Thanks for sharing.

[@pauldevey8628]

THats a lovely project. You and Rob will look at it for many, many decades to come.

[@hippie-io7225]

Nice pour! and nice to know that there are people like you, Rob and Clarke,Jose and fellows in this world. For whatever reason, watching cast iron being poured makes me want to be a better human being.

[@annkoehler8017]

I loved this!!! So friendly, informative, and encouraging!

[@scrappinfam12]

I really liked how that turned out! I like cast iron skillets!

[@Mistertbones]

Clarke is such an invaluable source when it comes to cast iron.

[@alwaysbearded1]

Congratulations! What a great way to memorialize your wedding.

[@thathobbitlife]

Hell yes! Love seeing women working with metal 👏

[@planecrazyish]

WoW ! Absolutely brilliant!!! That’s a work of art 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👍👍👍👍

[@justanothercanuckian]

very stinkin' cool! thanks for the good watch, and congrats on your upcoming hitching!

[@Mubbs99]

Congratulations on your wedding tomorrow, all the best.

[@andywindy]

Congratulations Laura, both on the Skillet. and of course, the occasion that is the reason for it!

[@adrienst.journy4652]

This video was fun to watch ! Thank you for showing us a little bit of how castings are made.

[@TheCristo68]

Those would make a great wedding gift . great idea .

[@jasonallison5121]

Robs a lucky dude! Congratulations to you both

[@helensnay9964]

Omg! Love this idea! That is super cute and functional!!! ❤️❤️❤️

[@GazinGeezer]

Clark and Windy Hill are fabulous people and places. I think he actually loves teaching others because, in my opinion, the fount of all knowledge for casting. Congratulations on your upcoming wedding and best wishes for a fabulous future together.

[@johnrisher3007]

Great to see you Clark. God bless you always 🙏❤

[@robertconklin3322]

Genuinely enjoyed watching this project, and what a super cool way to commemorate your marriage. Was awesome to see you hanging out with Adam and Keith too!!

[@joshdrexler8773]

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding. May your marriage wear like iron, and feel light as a feather.

[@SuperAndersound]

I'm Brazilian foundryman. I love this!

[@nashguy207]

Rob is one lucky man. Hope you have a great future together! Turned out beautiful.

[@christurnblom4825]

lol maybe. This is my first time on this channel so I'm just talki...typing out my ass but hopefully they've been dating and/or engaged for a couple of years or so. It's extremely hard to hide the crazy longer than that. haaa. verbal vandalism is fun.

[@c0mputer]

Nice work! And good to see Adam doing his first pour there!

[@llapmsp]

Awesome video. Just can't get enough of casting.

[@dogleg6669]

Amazing. Love it!

[@castingtechnology3338]

Just fascinating! I have not poured iron yet. That turned out GREAT!

[@Atouk]

I went to HS in the 70's, and we learned how to do castings in shop class. Also did lost wax casting in a jewelers class. Love this stuff..nice work.

[@frankhoose]

Me too. Can you imagine: they let us pour molten metal in school!! And use dangerous tools!

[@hilltopmachineworks2131]

@@frankhoose Yeah we had a foundry in our metal shop in High School. I poured aluminum castings all the time. That was back in 1983.

[@jerrycoleman2610]

Laura, your cast iron skillet really turned out great, I enjoyed watching your video, &. thanks very much for sharing your video.!.!.!.

[@mwechtal]

Very nice! I like that you're so calm around molten iron. Like hey, this one's leaking. Not a big deal! Congrats on the upcoming wedding!

[@DoronAlgamvegan]

Loved it!!!

[@jimad]

Excellent video - best wishes to you and Rob for a wonderful life together!

[@unclebobsbees4899]

Congratulations on the wedding! Nice work on your pour.

[@W4ABN]

That's a really cool one-of-a-kind skillet. Really nice how it came out. Been looking up info on casting. Thinking to make things out of bronze. Interesting to see how to do it.

[@barbvermilye778]

You did a great job Laura! Love your video and skillet.

[@garyc5483]

Nice job on the skillet it turned out nice. Have a great wedding day. ATB Stay safe. regards from the UK

[@Svideoplayer]

Wow, you made a super interesting and professional video of this project Laura. Love your voice over! Nice to see you already created casted memories of your future wedding, I wish you every luck and happiness towards this special day.

[@cristianpopescu78]

Very exciting !

[@petepeterson4540]

at least you did comments I had no Idea what you had cast on that day so cool and thought outside the box.

[@leeroyholloway4277]

A transformational event (for you) in many ways. I enjoy your work very much. Happy Nuptials to y'all.

[@ryebis]

Nice work, thanks for sharing! Also "I'm helping from right here ..." 🤣

[@ralphmourik]

WOW!!! This was awesome to watch. I do some metal casting myself, Copper is the maximum I can melt and cast, Iron is at a whole other level! Buttons clicked and bell rung! 👍👍👍

[@brucemcgeehan8255]

Kicking the cat not good

[@e.elsibea1518]

@@brucemcgeehan8255 It was just a strong nudge from a country boy. I'm sure he didn't mean any harm. I noticed that too and had to stop the negative thoughts from vibrating in and look at it from the perspective of the cat. He's actually keeping it from getting in the way and possibly getting hurt. At least, that's what my heart tells me.

[@timjones9206]

That looks like a really fun weekend

[@karenrobb9612]

That was awesome!

[@chuckwiller1638]

So cool Laura. Thank you for the video.

[@doughill4237]

WAY Awesome ! - Thank you for sharing

[@robertdikes7722]

Congratulations on your wedding! Cool idea!

[@robinbrowne5419]

Interesting. Thank you. Lovely little frying pan. Cheers from Canada :-)

[@jamesspinks716]

That was great, keep it up. Enjoy your day. I came here through Abom and now I’m here to stay.

[@MachiningandMicrowaves]

So pleased the pour wasn't a disaster, I saw the earlier footage with all the flames and didn't know if it was a success. Now I do, and it was. Good trick with the linseed oil finish

[@alfblack2]

awsome. I love it! dang, thats good sand. Also, might be the biggest crucible I have ever seen!

[@eddielane9569]

Awesome job !

[@avoirdupois1]

Good to the the start to finish of this project.

[@ronwhite6719]

Awesome Laura! Keep em comin....

[@stompbuilds5416]

Awesome work. Love to see the finished product.

[@gregwenderski9147]

Just awesome! I'm so excited to watch more of your videos! I've cast aluminum and bronze, but you've inspired me to go to an iron pour sometime.

[@MJ-iy4fb]

That casting turned out very good. Nice work.

[@LordWillyGee]

Well, Hope you had a happy wedding, And make every day enjoyable.

[@DoctorMangler]

What a great project!

[@johnedwardculp6621]

I almost always use an iron skillet. Now you're bringing creative potential to the idea range to me. So far I have never done anything like this. Exciting to see! Thanks

[@robinparkes988]

Brilliant result

[@howder1951]

Great casting, it's fun to get your hands dirty, cheers!

[@MARVELOUSMETALS]

Excellent story, awesome collaboration with windy hill... Oh and bones is a pretty doggy.

[@telswood]

This is badass! Great video - thanks!

[@robertoswalt319]

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding. If you both can make it through 2020, the rest of your lives ought to be a piece of cake.

[@tinybigbus1873]

Beautiful job. It's something I've always wanted to try. I can't believe anyone would give a thumbs down to this video

[@sabledriver]

Congratulations on your wedding! My wife and I celebrated our 35th this July, good luck to you! Cool video, skillet came out great.

[@the_hate_inside1085]

You can coat cast iron with pine tar, and heat it up for a really nice dark finish. Then you can apply boiled linseed oil for a bit of shine, and rust prevention. My favorite KZbin blacksmith did this on some of his work, and it looked super.

[@whateverrandomnumber]

Boiled linseed oil? With reactive metals for accelerating the curing process? I think that's a terrible idea. Also, how can you be sure brake rotors don't have lead in them?

[@ryanhoyt2210]

Can we get name drop for that KZbinr so they can get the proper recognition and a new subscriber(s).

[@the_hate_inside1085]

@@ryanhoyt2210 Absolutely, his KZbin channel, and real name is Torbjörn Åhman. Both his craftsmanship, and video editing is top notch, in my opinion.

[@frankthewrench340]

This is way cool. Kudos!

[@peterhodgkins6985]

It's wonderful to find your channel and Clarke's as well via Adam's channel... I've found all this neat stuff to look at in retirement... Now I just need to be young again so I can play too! ;)

[@paulorchard7960]

Very ,very nice. I would love to give that a go!

[@FKreider]

That came out awesome!

[@chrisscutt4197]

WELL DONE!

[@iowaunemployment]

Love this, won't try this at home, but had to watch the whole video. Well done.

[@PEdwardDiMarco]

Way-cool beans !!! 👏👏👏👏👏

[@kimcurtis9366]

WOW! Cool! You got married on my birthday! Congrats! Great video! Good info to know!

[@molleywood]

That’s awesome,so interesting to watch

[@blhtml]

Beautiful!

[@yuppiehi]

Congratulations on your marriage! I just saw this video today, and saw the 7/12/2020 date on the skillet. I thought, wow, that's today!!!!

[@donaldswink6259]

Great looking cast iron pan.

[@mohabatkhanmalak1161]

Very much impressed, the skillet turned out nice. I would like to have one.

[@ceciltarver6211]

I watch Adam all the time but did not see his mention of you. I am shut in so watch a lot of youtube. I was looking for new ones and saw yours and tried it Great program!!!! Am looking forward to seeing all of yours. Adam is a great guy and always entertaining .You are in good hands with him . Good luck and thanks

[@euclidallglorytotheloglady5500]

Wonderful work as always! Congratulations! And best wishes in your future together!

[@amtb70x7anunkwn9]

Congrats !!! That is AWESOME !!! Excellent Craftsmanship. :-D

[@halyenwe]

Hmmm, if I were to tell "the supervisor" to GO! GIT! I might be looking for another job. ;-D It's ok Bones, we all saw you approved of the casting. Enjoyed seeing your side of the pour Laura. Keep em' coming. Whatever you enjoy doing we'll enjoy watching.

[@threepalmsmarinellc]

I watched Adam's video of this. You footage is very cool. I am starting to save brake rotors for melting. Wish you the best on the upcoming wedding. Stay safe during the pours.

[@Physhi]

Abom's arrival for *you*! Also that boy is the bestest of boys.

[@kenadams3951]

wow bring me back to high school.. thanks be safe

[@LordCarpenter]

Awesome video! Thanks for sharing.

[@topphemlig1191]

Absolutely awesome, I'm glad I stumbled across your video - you're very talented!

[@robaldridge6505]

congratulations on your wedding, nice cast....

[@laineysilva3146]

This is absolutely amazing, Now I want to make a skillet!!!! Thank you for sharing!!! #love

[@CastIronGypsy]

If you end up making one please let me know, I’ll love to see how it turns out!☺️❤️

[@HELLAARTSYDUDE]

So Cool !!!

[@nikond90ful1]

Thanks for the video. Keep safe and stay well.

[@ctjctj2]

I was laughing because my lady would have taken that and put it on the stove and used it to get that beautiful black. Nicely done. You make me want to get back to doing some more casting. I use petrobond and aluminum, attempting to make simple machines such as dividing heads and such. It is such a rush to pour molten metal and come back hours later to find what surprises are in that sand.

[@paulhunt598]

Laura, Found you because of Adam Booth. I enjoyed this video. Congratulations on the wedding. I have been happily working on mine since 1976. My youngest daughter just married 5/23, making us empty nesters. I fill up my time being grandfather to 32, playing in my shop and church labor. I watch too much instructional KZbin. Because of Abom79, I now have added Cast Iron Gypsy to my watch list. We live not very far from you. I wish you all well.

[@girlmastergeneral]

this is awesome!