Friday follow up

A while ago I wrote a post entitled, Creating great art.  It was kind of a walk through on the process of making a sculpture. From lump of clay, to a finished bronze. Today I actually have pictures of part of the foundry process.
Al has been wanting to learn how to make the molds that are used to do the casting. This is helpful in the sculpting process, plus it could save some money in casting costs. The charge for the mold is usually pretty close to the casting of any sculpture. Most of the cost in making the mold is labor, and now we know why.  
Al has spent the last few days at the foundry learning and taking pictures of the process. 
 
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Here is “I walk the Red Road” waiting for the process to begin.
 
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First, they cut the braids off. They will need to be molded and cast separately. Next, they decide where the mold needs to come apart and place plastic shims along the seam lines.
 
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Next, they begin painting on  the first coat of rubber. 
 
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The next day still more rubber was applied to make it nice and thick. Where the feathers are has to be reinforced say they will hold their shape through the mold process. After the rubber is thick enough, it will be encased in plaster. Then the mold will be in as many pieces as they need to make the wax cast.
The mold can be reused as many times as is necessary to cast the edition. Once the edition sells out, the mold is destroyed.  
Next Friday I will have more pictures of the mold making process, and hopefully a little on the lost wax cast too.
 

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