The Diary of a Bronze

by Pam Foss (sculptor) 

            When Mr. Jim Wilson Jr. contacted me to do the signature bronze for his new “EastChase” Life style mall, I was very honored.   The sculpture design he had in mind was Atlas holding up the world, and with the help of his architect, Jerry McWilliams, we were able to come up with a concept that would compliment the beauty of the project. 

I am frequently asked how an artist goes about creating a bronze sculpture.  In order to address this question I thought it would be a good idea to create a diary recording and describing the process of creating a bronze from the inception of a work to its completion.  This diary will take you from the original sketches to the final castings of the bronze sculpture I created for the EastChase mall in Montgomery, Alabama.

Sketches

My first order of business was to come up with series of sketches, showing the different concepts I had in mind for the project.  This is a very important phase of the project because it is at this point, where through a process of give and take with everyone involved in the sculpture project, that the design and scope of the sculpture is decided upon.  This is the point in time where a decision was made to create a life-size Atlas figure a little over four and a half feet tall in a kneeling position holding aloft a sphere six feet in diameter with three bronze rings and an arrow.

  The Armature

 

The armature for the Atlas life-sized sculpture was built using several large blocks of Styrofoam that were then cut and formed into arms, legs, head and torso before being assembled (glued & wired) to form an underlying “skeleton” for the sculpture.  Styrofoam is an ideal product for building armatures for large sculptures because of its strong, light and ease to work with.  The completed armature is mounted to a wooden base to give me a solid platform to work from.

 

Clay          

            The larger sculpture is modeled in “Classic Plasticine” clay.  The first step is to apply about a one-inch layer of clay to the Styrofoam armature.  When this is done, the detailing begins one muscle or feature at a time, building up or shaving down the clay previously applied until the desired effect is achieved.  If anything, I tend to dramatize the muscles to help my work convey life and movement.

Starting to apply the clay

My twin granddaughters helping me out

 

 

  Molds 

Rubber molds are made off of the clay model, which creates a negative of the sculpture.  The rubber mold is then surrounded by plaster to keep the rubber from shifting and losing its shape.   The clay is removed and replaced with hot wax.  We now have a model of the original sculpture in wax.

One of the many molds made off of the clay model

 

Wax Model

 

The wax is then cleaned and chased (a process where any detail lost in the mold-making process is replaced) to their original form before going to ceramic.  They are bathed in a ceramic solution, building five to six layers until you have a layer of ceramic an inch or more thick, creating a thick shell casing around the wax.  This is a very critical stage, because the shell casing has to be thick and strong enough to except the molten bronze when it is poured.

 

Casting Bronze 

The ceramic shells (also called investment molds) are placed in a conclave oven and heated to melt the wax out, hence the lost wax method.  The heated shells are now ready for the molten bronze.  The bronze is poured at 2,500 degrees and cools quickly.

   

 

  Completion 

After the pour, the investment plaster is painstakingly broken away, revealing the bronze sculpture within.  The bronze is then finely sand blasted to remove any particles of ceramic adhering to the bronze. The bronze is cleaned, welded together and then chased (polished) to remove the marks from the welds and prepare the surface for patination.

Patina is next 

The last step, which imparts color and final luster to the sculpture, is called patination.  The bronze is treated with chemicals and heat to produce a beautiful patina that is suitable for the sculpture.  Foundries value their patina secrets, so there are no pictures of this process.

Thank you for viewing "Diary of a Bronze"