Lost-Wax Bronze Casting Process

The lost-wax Bronze casting process is used to create our Most Detailed Beautiful Bronze Sculptures.

Creating these works of art is definitely a very labor intensive process, but the results speak for them selves.

Because of the Fine detail and undercuts in some Sculptures, this Ancient Lost Wax Casting Method can in some cases be the only way to successfully produce an almost exact copy in Bronze of the Original Sculpture.

If you simplified the Model a faster Cheaper method of casting could be employed, such as Sand Casting.

The list below is a brief outline of the steps involved, to achieve a highly detailed quality finished product, such as this NZ Kakapo.

1. 1. Make a sculpture – Materials – Steel Armature – Oil Based Modelling Clay + 6 Months
   2. Make a rubber mold – Silicone Rubber – FibreGlass
   3. Cast wax – Microcrystalline Wax – Mixed with another type of Wax – Not – Paraffin wax
   4. Tidy wax – Sculpting Tools – Heat
   5. Add Core Pins and Core – Secret
   6. Sprue and Vent wax – Wax Cup and Rods & Vents made from Original Wax
   7. Build ceramic shell around wax – Secret Ceramic Shell
   8. Dry shell – Secret
   9. Burn out wax – Fast with Heat
   10. Dry core – Secret
   11. Preheat ceramic shell – Secret
   12. Melt and pour bronze – 1150 Celcius
   13. Remove shell – Hammer
   14. Sand blast-WearDustMask
   15. Cut sprues and vents – Recycle Bronze
   16. Remove core and pins – Fiddly
   17. Weld holes – Tidy Welds
   18. Fettle bronze – is the Process of Tidying up any blemishes, welds, holes and to bring the,
   19. rough Casting back to how the original Sculpture looked once it was finished.
   20. Colour and seal – Chemical Patenas, Heat Treatments, Guilders Paste etc
   21. One finished bronze – Beautiful Aye !

 

 

 

Once our bronze item is completed, we then repeat the process all over again. Take a look at our gallery of bronze art made using the same or similar techniques.