Dont worry, I've been in your shoes regarding other subjects before, so I do understand the feeling. As for the question I posed, lost wax casting was actually what prompted me to think about it and go "since you melt/burn the wax out of the mold, can you go backwards and directly melt the pewter into the mold?" I do know, and understand, that there's more than just "mold, melt, pour, enjoy" to this stuff, so more reading and research definitely will be done. Though half the time it feels like my brain's just a cat stuck in a room with a laser pointer aimed at a disco ball. So many things trying to get my attention so I often pick something to deal with before I forget about it.
Regarding the type of pewter I meant, at the moment I've been waffling between the R92 or R98 alloy pewters offered by Rotometals. Both are lead-free with melt points around 470F and a pour temp about 100 degrees above that. They also offer a Britannia pewter as well, but it's melt point is roughly the pour temp of the other two pewters they have.
As far as mold media, plaster came to mind first as something that might be more affordable to use when first starting out, as it's likely to be more forgiving to mistakes, whether because of the material itself, or by the fact that it's not as expensive as silicone molds. Currently planned ideas, for keychain medallions (2" dia, 1/4-1/2" thick), would use roughly 4 ounces each pour, and wouldnt involve much in the way of fine details (like filigrees for example) so much as having simple patterns either engraved or embossed, whichever may involve less work in the end. I'm also thinking of making, or having made, wood positives made to allow easy reproduction of molds if necessary.
It's something I can look into, but for reasons I wont into here, is probably unlikely to happen any time soon.
