You've got some great advice so far. I will second what skeetbum said re: the bottom pour pot. They make pouring sooooo much easier. Another thing you might want to do is flux your lead to remove impurities. I use Marvelux flux from Brownell's MARVELUX® BULLET CASTING FLUX - Brownells
or CleanCast from Midway USA CleanCast Lead Fluxing Compound 1 lb

Clean lead makes a world of difference when casting, especially very small stuff.

Tom