Papal Bullae

So this summer (2022) I had the opportunity to recreate some incredibly rare Papal Bullae that were found during the the recent excavations at St Albans Cathedral. The original bullea will be kept at the Cathedral and the replicas were reburied with their original owner, Abbot John of Wheathampstead.

Creating the replicas

I made a mould of each of the bullae using a high temperature two-part silicone to capture the detail without damaging the originals, and to resist the heat of the molten pewter. I mounted each of the bullae on a 3d printed support stand that was designed to slot into the existing ribbon holes without damaging them. The stand will form the pouring basin for pouring the molten pewter later.

Original bulla on 3d printed stand
Moulding the bullae
The mould after removing from the temporary casting box
Side of the mould with zigzag cut to ensure an almost seamless casting.
After cutting the mould and removing the original bulla and support structure.

Pewter Casting

Once the moulds had been prepeared with a little talc to help with separation, the bullea were cast in a lead free pewter. There is something quite magical about a saucepen with molten metal in it.

Ready for the pewter
Liquid metal
Cooling down
The cast bullea, ready to tidy up

Finishing off

I removed the pouring basin and the risers and tided the castings up with a file. The castings were then treated with some blueing compound to age them.

Before aging
Replica Bullae

I really enjoyed this project, it was a bit different to my normal work, and I certainly learned a few things along the way, mould release spray and a hot glue gun are your friends.
It might be a few hundred years befor the next pair of hands hold these.

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Published by patholio