Recently, we spent some time at the Foundry that does our casting. Bryant Fine Art in Azle, Tx. It was so fascinating to see the entire lost wax process. It truly is a process that has not been touched by technology. I felt like I could have been in a medieval village! The above picture is a bar of bronze being warmed before it goes into the crucible.
Bronze bars await the pour.
Freshly cast horse heads–these are for another client of course.
Finished horse sculpture.
Melted bronze being poured from the crucible.
The poured bronze cooling.
Around the studio.
Pieces of a large horse statue that will be welded together later.
Removing the molds after the wax has been melted out of them. The molds will be put in a trough, and melted bronze will be poured into them. This is a very intense process, and everyone works very quickly. It looked a bit dangerous too–we stayed out of harms way.
Here is the “burnout.” This is when the wax is burnt out of the molds–you can see the very hot wax dripping into the pot. This is when the wax is “lost.”
Here is one of our freshly polished bug pendants that Bryant Fine Art cast for us. He, and many more are available on the site right now! Go here to shop.
We have really enjoyed working with Bryant Fine Art–If you should ever have any casting needs, I highly recommend them! Here is their contact info:
Bryant Fine Art-817 444 4341. E-mail Paul at Bryantbronze@yahoo.com
candice chu
December 14, 2010 at 6:20 pmi can’t tell u how awesome this post was. amazing to see the kind of work that goes into these castings. loved it! thank you!
CC
Atlantis Home
December 14, 2010 at 6:37 pmThank You CC!!
annawithlove
December 14, 2010 at 6:45 pmvery very cool! love the step by step process! x
http://www.annawithlove.com
Linda
December 14, 2010 at 11:26 pmI learned about the lost-wax process in art history. It really it amazing. It was first used by the Greeks, but not a lot of their bronze sculptures exist because they were melted down to make war weapons later on.
MotherofStyle
December 14, 2010 at 11:50 pmGreat photos 🙂
Lydia
December 15, 2010 at 12:29 amI love the result of the bug pendant! So shiny!
Prêt à Porter P
December 15, 2010 at 12:33 amThanks for sharing! It’s cool to see there is still incredible craftsmen in the USA. 🙂
Sarah M. Winchester
December 15, 2010 at 4:02 amFabulous. Thank you so much for posting a story about this. The photos are amazing. It must be even more amazing in person. I imagine it being loud, hot and steamy. So cool to see where the beatles are born. 🙂
Tonia
December 15, 2010 at 8:28 amI love to see artisans at work!
Tina
December 15, 2010 at 11:19 amThat’s really cool, thanks for sharing!
Style Odyssey
December 16, 2010 at 11:13 pmvery cool to see this post! i’m somewhat familiar with the lost wax method from my art school/art history days. now that you’re shown us the foundry’s process, i appreciate my click beetle even more!
Kazuko
December 17, 2010 at 7:23 amthe process of creating the beetles alone is beautiful. lovely pictures.
Pearl Westwood
December 17, 2010 at 6:42 pmAmazing post, so facinating to see this!