Bronze Casting Manual
Cast your own small bronze.
A complete tutorial taking you step by step through an easily achievable
casting project for professional sculptors and hobbyists.
A simple and affordable method to cast a small bronze sculpture by yourself.
Learn the lost wax, ceramic shell
technique.
If you are thinking of casting a
bronze sculpture yourself, please forget about the whole idea. Believe
me; it is incredibly difficult, very slow, terribly messy, cumbersome
and costly. You are much better off leaving that part of the creative
process to a professional foundry.
However, if you happen to be one of
those crazy individuals that insists on doing everything by themselves,
this
tutorial will show you a simple, safe and easy way to cast a small, fist
size sculpture in bronze at little cost and little effort.
The method described in this manual is called the
thin ceramic shell, lost wax technique. There are many other methods to
make a bronze figurine but the lost wax, thin ceramic shell method is the
easiest way for the home founder to make a small sculpture to a high
degree of quality at little cost and with easily found tools and
materials.
This is the same method implemented by
professional art foundries. We have simply scaled it down and adapted
some aspects of the process to make it easy for
anyone to complete successfully in a few days without any heavy equipment.
This manual is not attempting to delve into details
of all the principles and all aspects of the bronze casting technology.
We will rather focus
on a simple yet rewarding project that will allow the
novice to cast a small piece safely, quickly, cheaply and to a
high
degree of quality. More advanced casting techniques are
discussed in the second part of the book.
Numerous diagrams illustrate every steps.
Download now and get started today.
The manual is a 114 page downloadable PDF file. (29Mb).
You will need a PDF reader to open, view and print the file. If you do
not have a PDF reader, you can download one
here for
free.
Or order the paperback from
amazon.com.
What does the manual cover?
The tutorial takes you through all the steps necessary to make a small,
fist size bronze sculpture, from making the original sculpture in wax to
finishing the final bronze reproduction.
The manual will introduce you to the basics of wax working, "sprueing" a
wax model, mixing and applying a ceramic slurry, making your own
crucible and making an efficient yet affordable furnace, melting and
pouring the metal and finally chasing the bronze before
applying a simple patina.
More advanced casting techniques such as hollow casting are treated in
later chapters of the manual.Here is the
table of contents.
The entire process is documented in color photogarphs.
What tools and materials are needed?
Most of the tools and materials you will need are fairly easy to find,
you may even have them already. However you will also need some more
specialised materials that are more difficult to source:
Bronze metal. You will need about 3kg of
silicone bronze. This is generally sold in ingots by metal merchants.
Calcined kaolin,
or fused silica flour and stucco sand. A refractory material that is
the basis of the ceramic shell.
Zircon sand. Zircon is a naturally
occurring refractory mineral. It is used as stucco for the first layer
of the ceramic shell.
Colloidal silica. This is a water based
binder to be mixed with the refractory material. Ludox SM Colloidal
Silica is the most commonly found.
Wax. Used to make a wax pattern of the
sculpture. In our case we will make the original sculpture in wax.
Ceramic blanket. A refractory fibre
blanket used to construct a temporary furnace.
A LPG Gas torch. This is used a source of
heat to melt the metal. You only need the same gas cylinder as to fuel
your BBQ. You can borrow or rent the torch for one day.
To make it easy to find these tools and materials, an
appendix lists a large number of places where such
tools and materials can be purchased in different countries
around the world. (UK, US, Canada, ZA, OZ, NZ, France, Ireland and
more...) This will save you much time and effort and will allow
you to quickly gather all necessary materials and equipment.
How much will this all cost?
You should not have to spend more than $300 and perhaps as little as
$100 depending on what you already have and on whether you buy or rent
some equipment.
How many people are needed? All steps can be easily managed by one person
and no particular physical strength is required.
Only 16 US$
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Printed book shipped to your door
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by
Createspace
Publication Date:Apr 27 2010 ISBN/EAN13:145158475X /
9781451584752
Page Count:114
Binding Type:US Trade Paper
Trim Size:8" x 10" Language:English
Color:Full Color
The
tutorial will not have you establishing a complete backyard foundry.
The furnace is a temporary, fold away furnace and most tools and
equipment can be found in DIY enthusiast’s workshops or garden
sheds.
"Your manual keeps it to
the simplest means necessary to get the job done. My congratulations
to you for doing such good work." Ernie Jones
westgate-works.com
“I found your instructions and
video very clear indeed. The whole project was successful - much
better than I expected for a first attempt. This was due to the
excellence of your manual.”
Roger B, New Zealand
Body Casting Manual
A complete body casting instruction manual explaining in details how
to make a realistic, life size and very elegant plaster sculpture of
someone’s torso (or any other body part.)
Available in PDF or in print.
" I look forward to you next book. These are the
best I have seen on casting."
Kevin M, (Denton, TX USA)
“Very
complete coverage. I think a person with reasonable skills could
definitely accomplish the cast by following the instructions.” David Robertson,
Artist Blacksmith
“I am
a big fan of your work. I bought your bronze casting manual and I
must say that it is a very interesting read.” Vic du Preez, Foundryman, NZ
How much time is needed? The project will span over 5 days but it does
not have to be 5 consecutive days. You could work one day a week over a
5 weeks period if you prefer. The project consists of the following
steps:
Sculpting. You will first be making a
small sculpture in wax. It is essential that it is made in wax. Please
do not start making a piece in clay or other molding material.
“Sprueing” The wax figurine will then be
prepared for the mold. You will continue to learn the basics of wax
working.
“Shelling-up” The wax will then be
encased in a ceramic mold, called shell, which is painted in its
liquid form in several layers over the wax and then left to dry
“De-waxing” Once the shell is dry, you
will use a gas torch to melt the wax out of the shell. This is called
“de-waxing” or “burning out”. You now have an empty negative of your
original shape - a ceramic mold.
Melting and pouring. A simple temporary
furnace needs to be built and metal melted inside a crucible before it
is poured in the empty shell. This is the most exciting part of the
process. Do not be intimidated, our method is both safe and easy.
“Knocking-off” and “Chasing” Once the
metal has cooled and solidified, the shell can be knocked off to free
the newborn bronze sculpture. It now needs to be cleaned and any
imperfections smoothed out. This process is called “chasing”.
Patina. Finally, the new sculpture must
be given a surface finish. This is known as patina. Bronze will
naturally oxidize and acquire deep and rich colors known as “Patina”.
This is a very slow process that can be considerably accelerated. The
manual will demonstrate the most common patina techniques.
After having completed this simple
project, you will be familiar with the basic principle of bronze
casting and the manual gives some further advice and guidance on how
to take it further, use more advanced casting techniques and how to
set up your own small scale art foundry.
“I downloaded
your Bronze Casting Manual and was really tickled with your approach
to simplicity. I still get a smile when I think about it.” Ernie Jones
westgate-works.com
More advanced casting methods are described too.
Printing Instructions.
Although the Bronze Casting Manual can be read on your computer screen once downloaded,
it is probably preferable to print it for easy reference while working.
It's format is 8" by 10" and it prints one page per A4 or Letter sheet.
Depending on your printer capabilities, you can also print it double
sided and staple together a handbook.
You will need a PDF reader to view and print the file. Download one
here for
free.
Alternatively, you can save it on a memory stick and take it to your
local print shop.
“You have done a fine job. The
pictures are clear and informative. Every subject is well organized
and easy to find. I like the way you have fully covered all the
processes and show how to make everything required. Good How-To. My
compliments.”
Paul
"Your guide is wonderful. It has
answered a lot of questions that I had. Thanks!" Ben
Larson
Technical Support.
Customers are warmly invited to contact me on
info@bodyscape.net.nz with
further questions, request for clarification, comments and feedback.
I would encourage you to join our bronze
casting discussion board where other members can benefit and
contribute to technical bronze casting questions and share their
experience in a open forum format.
Video Tutorials.
We encourage you to watch
short video clips illustrating the techniques described in the
manual. In this one I am baking, melting and pouring a small bronze
sculpture.
About the author
A New Zealander since 1987, French born Olivier Duhamel
lives on Waiheke Island near Auckland, New Zealand with his wife
Marie-France and their 3 children.
He is a sculptor specialising in the female human form and makes
delicately crafted small bronze figurines.
After having been introduced to the fine art of metal casting by
sculptor and founder David Reid, Olivier has set up his small home
foundry and has since cast over 500 pieces using basic tools and
ingredients. He takes pride in the quality of his castings.
Olivier Duhamel’ s creations do not convey any particular message, do
not attempt any conceptual or symbolist exploration, nor do they search
to be innovative at all cost. They are rather trying to simply capture
the beauty and sensuality of his subject of study.
His bronze works are sold in art galleries across New Zealand and also
in Australia, China, France and Belgium.
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All measurements are expressed in
both metric and US customary units. Pricing indications are
expressed in US dollars.
Even though this is a fairly safe
process, there is always some risk involved in working with power
tools, flames, gas cylinders and molten metal. Necessary health and
safety precautions will be clearly labelled throughout the manual.
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