The idea here was simple and appealing: take copper all the way to a finished bar as a first pour. The maker melted the metal and ran an open pour straight into an ingot mold, which is a classic way to get a first copper ingot on the shelf quickly. What came out is a solid copper bar with a lot of character on the top face.
The top surface is the eye-catching part. Instead of staying flat, it formed ring-shaped ripples circling out from an uneven ridge in the middle. The sides came out smoother, though they carry small irregularities that look like they came from the casting or the cooling. In the deeper grooves of the texture there is a darker purplish-black oxidation, and honestly that coloring in the crevices is one of the nicer details of the whole piece.
The open question is whether the ripples count as a flaw or just what an open-faced mold does. The maker admitted being unsure whether the texture was an imperfection or something caused on their end, and asked for tips on keeping the surface smoother next time. Advice that came up included switching to a closed mold, grinding the bar down, or covering the ingot mold with something insulative right after pouring, though the insulating idea was not confirmed to actually work and one member felt it might be overkill.
The maker's reaction seems healthy: no need for the bar to be perfect, and relief at hearing a closed mold would solve it. For my part, I think the ripples give a first pour a story that a mirror-flat bar never would.