Well, my experiment was a total failure and it will take too long to get all the kinks worked out, but I have some other cool things to send out to my person. None as cool as the Zinc Space Invaders key cap I'm trying to fab, but still some cool stuff.
Pictures of the failed experiments. And crappy cell phone pics because only winners get real pics.
Not sure if it was the fault of the mold, not getting the metal hot enough, bad sprues, or something else. Right now I'm looking for powdered clay so I can try it again with green sand instead of a plaster of pairs/silica mold.