The bronze art casting is based on a millennia-old, almost unchanged, method.
From the sculpture, which was designed by an artist, a silicone mould is made in different operations in the bronze foundry of mould makers. From this silicone mould, a hollow, thin-walled wax model is then produced for each individual bronze casting by pouring out liquid wax.
Following this, the sprues (also made of wax), are added to the wax model and coated with mould ceramic inside and outside.
Subsequently, the now formed wax model is melted away carefully via slow heating in special drying ovens at about 700 °- 800 ° C; this process is also called the lost wax technique.
In the resulting cavity, 1250 ° C of hot bronze is poured inside. After cooling the bronze, the ceramic shell is knocked off. After removal of the ceramic, both inside and outside, the bronze sculpture is cleaned and the sprues removed. It is then carefully reworked by engravers using fine tools.
The last major step is patinating. A patinal solution is applied by brush or spraying with fire in several steps. After cooling, it is then partially rubbed again until the desired result is achieved. This process can be repeated several times. The patina then gives the artwork its individual mood and contributes significantly to the expression of the finished sculpture.
For this reason, I like to patinate my sculptures myself.
Eckhard Wähning