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| 1. Castings is done in roughly three steps: a plaster and rubber mold is made; wax copies are poured and encased in ceramic shell; and bronze is poured into the resulting ceramic mold. The more complex the original, the more complex the mold. The original sculpture is the starting point, armature and all. Sculptor's wax is an excellent medium for both sculpting and the mold making process. It holds a high degree of detail, maintains good strength, and survives mold making relatively intact. | |||||||||
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2.
Plasticine
blankets and walls are built over the surface of the wax original defining
the space into which the inner rubber mold will be poured. For a typical two
piece mold half the original is virtually buried inside its clay jacket, the
face of the clay wall defining the seam of half the rubber mold
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| 3. Over the walls a thick coat of plaster is thrown to make the outer or mother mold. Usually the mother mold is in several interlocking pieces, so separator must be used in the seams so that the edges of the plaster mold sections do not bind. | |||||||||
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4.
When the plaster has hardened, the plasticine walls are carefully removed
leaving a space between the sculpture and the plaster mother mold
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| 5. Silicon rubber is poured in liquid form at room temperature into the gap between the plaster and the wax original, curing into the softer inner mold that will record the surface detailing of the sculpture. For some sculptures, the rubber mold may be painted onto the surface of the wax, particularly into details. | |||||||||
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6.
When the inner rubber mold has solidified and cured, the original wax can
be removed leaving a negative cavity into which the wax duplicates are poured.
If the inner mold is segmented, its seams will register with those of the
plaste.
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| 7. All but very small bronzes are hollow, which means the wax duplicate must also be hollow, preferably between 3/16 and 1/4 inch in thickness, uniform and as smooth as possible inside. As many wax copies are poured as there will be bronzes in the final edition. Each wax duplicate is retouched by the artist to ensure perfect detailing, and then signed and numbered. | |||||||||
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8.
Difficult areas may be painted with moltem wax first, with the mold open.
Then the mold is closed and quickly filled with molten wax, which is immediately
poured out again, leaving a smooth, hollow shell
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9. When cool, the wax is carefully removed from the molds and retouched, signed and numbered. The mold is reused to pour additional duplicate waxes sufficient to complete the edition, and is then destroyed. |
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