How to Have Your Art Sculpture Bronzed

Although you might assume that bronze sculptures are made by pouring the metal over a sculpture, this is not the case. The process to make a bronze is painstaking and can take as long as a few months, so expect to wait a while for your sculpture to be bronzed. You should not try to do the bronzing yourself if you do not have experience; use a foundry that specializes in art bronzing. However, before you take your sculpture to the foundry, you must do a number of things to prepare. You should also keep in mind that bronze is extremely heavy, so unless you have appropriate equipment to carry it from the foundry, stick to small sculptures.

Instructions

1. Create your sculpture. Give it all the definition and details you want the finished bronze piece to have. You can make the sculpture out of almost any material, including wood, clay, metal or stone.

2. Take pictures of your piece from the front, back and either side.

3. Find a foundry that specializes in art bronzing. You can find these in many artist communities or areas where there are many architects, but you can also find some online that you can ship your work to. Many foundries have websites where you can send them photos of your piece, and they will give you a quote for the bronzing. Be prepared to pay quite a bit--not including shipping costs, which can get quite high, particularly for very large, heavy pieces.

4. Pay and drop off your piece at the foundry. Although you can ship the sculpture, for more delicate pieces, such as those made from clay, glass or porcelain, you may prefer to deliver them yourself to avoid breakage.

5. Wait for your piece. This can take a few weeks to six months or more, depending on the size and complexity of your sculpture, how many copies you want of it and how busy the foundry is. The foundry first makes a rubber mold (or many molds, if it is large) of your sculpture, into which they pour many layers of wax to evenly coat the interior. If you want multiple sculptures, the foundry should make a wax mold for each one. The wax mold should look exactly like your original piece at this point and will then be dipped into a heat-resistant liquid that hardens into a ceramic shell. This shell is heated to harden it and to allow the wax to drain out, at which point the sculpture can finally be cast. (That is, the bronze can be poured into the mold and allowed to harden.) If you have experience with mold making and appropriate supplies, you may be able to speed up the process by making the molds yourself. However, if you make any mistake, such as cracks, you can cause serious injury to the foundry workers, so only do this yourself if you really know what you are doing.