Inspiration | Techniques

Bronze casting is a technique I use for the realization of my statues. A technique which has been used for centuries.

In the third millennium B.C., somewhere between the Black Sea and Persian Gulf, an artist crafted a vision in beeswax, covered it in liquid clay and cooked it in a fire.
In the flames the wax was lost, replaced by empty space.
Tin and copper - alloys of bronze - were gathered and heated.

atelierOnce melted, the metal was poured into the cavity of the fire hardened clay. The metal cooled and the sculptor knocked the clay from the metal. The first bronze was cast.

Ancient “Lost Wax” bronze castings have withstood the centuries, visually telling the tale of past cultures, their religion and their social structures.

atelierFor example, Chinese bronzes depicted ceremonial images; Egyptian castings symbolized deities and the Greeks re-created the human form.
Many of the cultures have grown obsolete, religions have evolved and societies have changed. Elements of the “Lost Wax” process have been refined. Yet today, bronze casting is essentially the same as it was in 2,000 B.C..

Modern sculptors who want their pieces cast in bronze depend upon a foundry. There, artisans skillfully apply the "Lost Wax" method to wood, stone, clay, plaster or any other kind of sculpture to transform it into bronze.

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© 2012 Evert den Hartog | Created by intris