cello bending iron

[John in Oly, WA]

I agree Frosty. It's a craft you need to have all the major points covered as well as the details. And best to have instruction from experienced practitioners.

[Nobody Special]

Raven, if you're still around, the dangers above are very real, (I still have my scars from learning, and consider myself lucky) but you can learn casting if you want to.  What you are planning is not only very dangerous, but also almost certainly going to be expensive and unsuccessful. We would like to explain why and how to fix it, but you don't have the knowledge base yet. The short version is that you are risking several types of violent explosions, mostly steam, around molten metal, which I can tell you from painful experience, goes everywhere.  

The safest, not to mention easiest way to do learn casting is to find someone experienced in casting and learn from them.  Try around your local blacksmithing group, or sometimes people teaching sculpture at colleges. There may be someone doing iron pours in your area, and they often start with non-ferrous metals like copper or aluminum. 

Failing that, I would reccomend reading the David Gingery books on casting, and checking out whatever backyardmetalcasting.com has changed its name to. Invest in good PPE, use good ventilation, work from small projects up to the more difficult stuff, and above all, avoid learning casting from YouTube. Those people are downright dangerous, especially the "King of Random." I remember hearing after one of his more spectacularly stupid experiments, "Wow, I really thought that would explode." This while pouring several pounds of 1400 degree aluminum into a watermelon he was kneeling over while wearing flip flops and shorts.

Good luck, and above all, stay safe.