A Second Life
This was once a living mouse, I managed to purchase it in a reptile shop, it was already dead and packaged with 9 other dead mice and stored in the freezer, they are used to feed snakes and large reptiles. Just how these reptiles would live if they were in the wild, but slightly less humane, rather that the mice being killed by the reptile, they are probably bred and culled purely to be reptile food, that it their only purpose.

With this dead little mouse, I decided to give it a second life, I turned it into bronze through a very time consuming process. First the dead frozen mouse was connected to a long wax structure using smaller pieces of melted wax, then it was placed in the fridge. once the wax had cooled the mouse and wax structure was dipped into a yellow liquid called 'slurry' and quickly after silica beads were sprinkled over the wax, mouse and slurry, then this is left to dry. Up to eight laters of slurry and silica beads are needed, and once completely dry everything is fired. The silica and slurry turn into a ceramic shell and the mouse and wax on the inside burn and melt away, so all that's left is a hollow ceramic shell. Once the ceramic shell is ready bronze is poured inside flowing through all the once wax tunnels and getting into every little detail left behind.

When the bronze is cooled down the ceramic shell is hammered off leaving just the bronze figures, an angle grinder is used to cut the mouse away from the bronze structure and then air tools are used to tidy up all the imperfections, then the mouse is polished and complete.

This time consuming process is absolutely worth it. By doing all of this I have given this lifeless mouse a new purpose, rather than it being eaten by snakes, it will now probable outlive me, its indestructible and beautiful and it can now be admired by everyone to sees it.
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