Mold Making

Working from an original sculpted from wood, stone, clay, plaster, terra cotta, wax, etc., a rubber mold is created that is supported by a mother mold of plaster or fiberglass.

Wax Pouring

Hot wax is poured into the rubber and plaster mold to create an even, uniform wax thickness of about 3/16th’s of an inch. After the wax cools, it is removed from the rubber mold, leaving a highly detailed positive image of the sculpture.

Wax Casting

Using many of the same tools the artist used to sculpt the original the wax is “chased.” This gives Art Castings a wax replica of the original sculpture. The wax replica will be used to create a bronze sculpture that will be an exact replica of the artist’s original.

Spruing

Once the Wax Chasing is complete, sprues (wax bars) and the pouring cup is carefully attached to the wax pattern to insure the proper flow of metal and to control the metal solidification.

Shell

Up to dozen layers of ceramic are applied to the wax positive ensuring that sprues are fortified by an outer ceramic shell that becomes the final mold after the shell is fired and the wax melts away.

Metal Pouring

Art Castings uses electric melting in their bronze foundry because it is cleaner, faster, and offers more control over this important step. After the dewaxing, we pour the molten metal into the shell and allow it to cool. Art Casting pours bronze most every day.
Fun fact! The molten metal can be up to 1900 degrees, Fahrenheit!

Metal Chasing

The process of metal chasing is to remove the weld and replace the texture in the sculpture. Pneumatic tools are used to restore detail, resulting in an exact representation of the artist’s original.

Patina

Art Castings will apply various finished and chemicals to the surface of the bronze to ensure they create the desired color effect that the artist desires. Finally, the sculpture is mounted to the appropriate base and carefully packaged and shipped.

THE LOST WAX CASTING PROCESS

Art Castings of Colorado specializes in using the ancient lost wax casting process to create bronze and stainless steel sculptures. This time-tested method ensures precise, highly detailed reproductions of the original artwork.

While many other foundries also employ the lost wax casting process, Art Castings stands out from the competition according to their clients.

The basic steps for both stainless steel and bronze artwork are similar: creating a mold, pouring wax, refining the wax, forming a ceramic shell, removing the wax, pouring the metal, sandblasting the cast metal, welding the pieces together, refining the metal, applying patina, and mounting the sculpture on a base.