The Lost Wax Process and How Bronze Sculptures are Created and Cared for.
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How are bronze sculptures made?
The creation of a bronze sculpture is a rather long but rewarding process. First the artist takes his or her idea for the sculpture and makes a model or maquette out of clay or wax. The model may take days, weeks or months of work to finish. The model is then taken to the art foundry. Using the artist model, skilled workers make a rubber mold of the model. This rubber mold is backed with fiber glass or plaster to make it rigid. The mold is often composed of many pieces depending on the complexity of the model. This mold will also take days or weeks to complete. Wax is sloshed into the mold and poured out several times. This will create a hollow wax model that is an exact match for the original clay model. A wax cup, runners and sprews are attached to the wax sculpture to form channels for the molten bronze to flow through. A multi-layered ceramic coating, or shell, is applied to the wax. The wax model, covered in a ceramic shell, is fired to 2000 degrees F. This sets the ceramic material and melts out the wax. Now the hollow ceramic shell is filled with molten bronze and left to cool. The shell is removed and the cup, runners and sprews are cut off. The bronze sculpture is ground, polished and sand blasted. A patina, or chemical color, is applied and the surface of the sculpture is waxed and polished. After weeks or months of careful painstaking work the sculpture is mounted on a base and ready to present to the customer.
How do I care for my bronze sculpture?
Bronze sculptures have been found that are thousands of years old. Your statue will last into the next millennia with almost no care. The sculpture should be lightly waxed once or twice a year. Using a soft cotton cloth apply a thin coat of Johnson's Paste Wax or Kiwi Shoe Polish, Neutral. Let this dry for 20 minutes and gently buff with a clean, soft, cotton cloth.
What is bronze?
Bronze has been used for thousands of years to make everything from swords to jewelry. Traditionally it has been an alloy of copper and tin. Copper will usually make up 90% of the alloy with tin as the remainder. Modern art foundries usually use a mixture of 95% copper and 5% silicon.
What is a patina?
A patina is a color or colorful incrustation found on old bronzes. This color is formed by a chemical reaction between the copper in the bronze and elements found in the soil and air. This patina can be almost any color, from shades of green, blue, red, black and brown. Today to duplicate the colors or patinas of old bronzes, chemicals are applied to the new bronze statues.
Why do bronze sculptures cost so much?
Unlike plaster or cold cast bronzes, (plastic with the addition of bronze powder sometimes called bonded bronze) true bronze statues have survived for thousands of years. Bronze statues can be handed down from generation to generation. The process of creating and casting a bronze sculpture takes many weeks or months to complete. It takes the combined talent and skill of the artist and foundry worker to produce the final work of art. I hope you will agree that the final product is well worth the time and effort. Please see How are bronze sculptures made?, above, for more information.