Mold Making Begins

Casting a sculpture into bronze is a long and fascinating process, and I'm excited to document the stages on this blog as my 3/4-life-size Holy Family is cast over the coming weeks. 

I sculpt my figures in an oil clay that can't itself be fired into anything permanent, so molds must be made into which the bronze is poured. 

Briefly, these are the steps of the casting process (the slideshow below documents the first two steps):

1. A silicone mold is made of the clay sculpture (see the slideshow below).
2. Hot wax is poured into the silicone mold to create a wax replica of the sculpture. The artist "chases the wax" at this phase, to make sure this replica is a perfect copy of the original.
3. A cement mold is made from the wax replica.
4. The wax is melted out of the cement mold.
5. Bronze is poured into the cement mold.
6. The cement mold is broken with a chisel and hammer to reveal the finished, bronze sculpture.

Every time a new edition of the sculpture is ordered (there are a limited number of editions or copies of a piece that I will sell), this process is repeated by using the silicone mold – the only permanent part of the molding process. Even the clay I sculpt in will be reused for future projects.

I've found that it is crucial to have have complete faith in the quality of the foundry. American Fine Arts Foundry is casting this sculpture, and Nick Nobe is an artist himself, and does excellent work.