The original sculpture is created, usually in plastocene, oil clay, polymer clay or various kinds of wax, ours are made of plastocene. All of our designs are the crystal of artists’ inspiration and creation.  Have an idea or custom design you want?  We can do it!

When the sculpture is completed, it is time for rubber model. The rubber mold has an exterior plaster or fiberglass mold created (a "mother mold”) to help support the rubber when wax is poured into it. The original sculpture is removed, and now we’re having rubber model for next step.

A special wax is melted and poured into the mold. The mold is turned to make sure all the surfaces are coated, and then the wax is poured out. The process is repeated several more times until the correct thickness of wax is reached. Larger bronzes are usually hollow, with the bronze about 3/16" thick, depending on the size of the piece. The molds for monumental-sized bronzes are made in small, manageable pieces, and the bronze is welded back together after casting.

The wax is removed from the mold and cleaned up, removing mold marks and making the piece as perfect as possible. (Bronze picks up every detail, including the artist's fingerprints!) This process is called "chasing" the wax. Sometimes the wax casting has to be cut in pieces for the bronze to pour better. The finished bronze will be welded back together and finished so nicely that you'll never know it started out in pieces.

Once the wax mold is completed, it is time for our workers to add “wax spurs” to it. These rods allow the hot air to escape when the bronze is poured, so there will be no air bubbles on the surface of the piece. Other sculptures have the sprues added later after the wax has been cast in the mold. The design of the original sculpture is what determines when sprues are added. The process of adding sprues is called "gating up.”

The completed wax casting is dipped in a liquid ceramic material called slurry. The slurry changes color to indicate when it's dry. Once the wax has been dipped in the slurry, it's coated with ultra-fine zircon sand. This process is repeated several times, with at least two coats of the finest sand as the first layers, to capture all the surface detail. Coarser sand is used for the final layers. The coated piece (which is said to be "invested" -- the slurry and sand are the "investment") is hung to dry.

Once thoroughly dry, the piece is put in a kiln (oven) that heats to a very high temperature, melting out the wax (thus the term "lost wax process"). The ceramic shell ("investment") is now a cleaned-out mold for bronze.

Melted bronze is poured into the heated ceramic mold (still warm from the kiln, or heated so it won't crack when the molten metal is poured into it). It is ZCuSn8Zn4 Tin Bronze Alloys (88% copper, 8% Tin and 4%Zinc, lead free) that is equal to ASTM-C 90300 in USA.

When the bronze is cool, the ceramic shell (investment) is broken away, revealing the bronze.

The piece is sandblasted to remove every speck of investment. The spurs and pour spout are cut off and the nubs ground down, and any mold marks or other blemishes polished away ("chasing" the bronze). If the sculpture was cut into pieces to be cast, it is welded together and weld marks ground off. The welds create bumps and a dark rainbow hue on the bronze, and these nubs and color are also ground off. At this point, the bronze is a bright brassy color.

After surface treatment and heat treatment, all bronze sinks will be polished to remove any final surface blemishes.

Patina (acids which color the bronze and help define it) is applied and the high spots of the sculpture often rubbed with steel wool to keep the high spots light. The recesses are left with the majority of the patina and thus help define the shape of the sculpture. Molten clear paste wax is then applied, the piece is mounted on its base, and you have a finished bronze. Another technique we use to make the patina is: to bake the finished bronze items in the kiln with about 500-600 cent degrees, creating a patina that will last a very long time.