Foundry: Creating a Bronze Sculpture

1. Beginning a Sculpture

I begin with photographs either of the actual subject or a model dressed up.

Subject or Model Subject or Model

2. Steel Armature & Clay Work

I weld up a steel armature and then apply the clay and begin sculpting.

Beginning Sculpting Completed Clay

3. Mold Making

The clay is 'painted' with a polyurethane rubber to catch the detail work and then backed up with fibreglass in segments. The mold is then complete and ready to be cut apart and emptied of the clay.

Clay 1/2 Rubbered

4. Wax Work

Melted wax is painted into the mold and when it hardens, it is taken out of the rubber/fibreglass mold and built up into a hollow, very fragile wax sculpture that looks identical to the original clay. It is then cut apart into workable pieces that will fit into the slurry tub.

Open Rubber Mold Hollow Wax Pieces

I attach wax sprues and a wax pouring cup to each piece.

Wax with Sprues and Gates Dipped in Ceramic Slurry

5. Ceramic Shell

Each wax piece is now ready to be dipped 12-15 times in ceramic shell.

6. Melting Out the Wax

The pieces are then taken to the burn-out furnace and the wax is burned out at 1800 degrees, leaving the empty ceramic shells as the new molds.

Melting out the Wax

7. Bronze Work

The bronze is melted in the crucible and the molten bronze is poured into the ceramic molds.

In the Crucible

When the bronze cools down, the ceramic mold is broken off of the bronze pieces.

Emerging from Ceramic

8. Building the Sculpture for the Third Time - This Time in Bronze

Sprues and gates are cut off, and each piece is welded back together using tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding. Seam lines are fixed and the entire piece is sandblasted.

Bronze Pieces Welded Half Way

9. Finishing Work

The sculpture is cleaned up, sand-blasted and coloured with a patina, which brings out different colours. It is then buffed and worked on until you'd never know what it has just been through!

10. Installation!

Finally, the piece is complete and ready to be installed! There is often a base, sometimes with plaques, that I can arrange as I work on the sculpture. I install the sculpture using tamper-proof hardware where necessary and provide a sculpture that is secure in every way against theft.

On Our Way!

Ready for Unveiling

Nathan with Reg, Unveiled and in Place

If you are an artist who are interested in having your work cast or molds made, I will give you a quote when I see the project. I have a variety of patinas that I'm able to implement as well, so if you show me what you're looking for, I can often use different techniques to achieve a variety of patinas.