BRONZE CASTING PROCESS
Part one of a series of posts
One of the most compelling things about working with bronze is playing with fire! I like fire! It was clear to me early on that if I could make a living playing with fire, I should probably do that. It’s true that my interest in fire hasn’t always been universally appreciated, but it’s been many, many years now since I’ve caught a barn full of hay on fire. And anyway, that is another story. I’ve moved on, and so should they. So with the past in the past, maybe a little contemporary tour through the process of making a bronze sculpture would be in order.
My works are created entirely within my own facility, so I have a bit of a unique opportunity to document the process, start to finish. If you think that I would have done this, you would be wrong! I haven’t. But I do have photos taken by various people, of various pieces, as they progress through the various stages to completion. So for those who are interested, or can’t think of anything better to do, let’s just start at the beginning. And please forgive me that the object being created may change from one sort of thing to another as this tutorial proceeds. Over several postings I will try to cover the main points of making one of my sculptures, each post concentrating on a separate phase of the process, from initial creation of a pattern to the finishing touches of patina.