How to create bronze sculptures
through lost wax casting (“cire perdu”)
- 234 photos of
the process -
The lost wax
casting method is extremely versatile
and can be used for casting bronze
projects too complicated for other
methods. A sculpture/model is created or
duplicated in wax, this will later on in
the process be ” lost”, during burnout
of the casting mould.
The method has been in use as early as
3500 BC in Mesopotamia and India, in
Egypt since circa 2200 BC, and later it
was used by the Greeks, Etruscans and
Romans. Direct casting methods has also
been practiced early in other parts of
the world. Renaissance masters, during
the 15th century, resumed the lost
pattern technique, after studying the
methods practiced by the Greeks and
Romans.
Bronze is an alloy, most often
consisting of mostly copper with an
addition of tin. Bronze are used for
sculpture casting, due to it's strength,
wear and corrosion resistance, as well
as for it's workability and good natural
colour and for easily taking on a
patina.
(Since the process varies – these photos
are just examples of how it can be
done.)
.
(Bronze founder, of the
casting occasions above, is sculptor Vladimir Stoces,
assisted by sculptors
Antonio Priore, Emma Ströde and Kerstin Merlin
Eriksdotter. Stone sculptor Ulf Johnsson shows
how to mount a finished bronze sculpture onto a stone
base.)
Photo: Photo: Merlin,
Håkan Emilsson, Johan,
Dan Henriksson, Vladimir Stoces
The
process can roughly be split into the
following steps:
1.
Creating
master patterns (in wax or other
materials)
2.
Reproduction
mould making using, for instance,
silicone and plaster
3.
Casting wax
copies of the master pattern
4.
Wax retouching
5.
Attaching
wax bars - runners (for feeding metal),
risers (for allowing air and gases to
vent as the mould fills with metal) and
a pouring cup
6.
Investment
mould (i.e. building up a heat resistant
mould) - in this case “ceramic shell”
7.
Wax burnout and
firing of the mould
8.
Casting of the bronze
metal
9.
Finishing:
removal of
investment (“knockout” of the
ceramic shell) and core mass (if
hollow sculpture)
cutting off
attachments such as runners,
risers and pouring cup,
welding pin holes and repairing
casting faults, welding together
the sculpture (if cast in more
than one part)
fine
finishing with a combination of
mechanical and manual tools,
surface
finishing like polishing and
preparation for patination,
chemical
patination and protective wax
coating.
and in many cases, finally
mounting of the finished bronze
sculpture on to a pillar or base
With gratitude to
Vladimir Stoces for showing the different steps
of the bronze casting process,
and to Ulf Johnsson for showing how to mount a
bronze sculpture safely onto a granite pillar.
Further information about cast bronze sculptures can, for
instances, be found
on Wikipedia (Bronze
sculpture;
Bronze;
Patina)
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