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    Bronze Casting Manual
    Bronze Casting Manual
    Bronze Casting Manual
    Ebook250 pages1 hour

    Bronze Casting Manual

    By Olivier Duhamel

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    About this ebook

    This book demystifies the bronze casting process. Follow the step by step instructions and make a small bronze object in your backyard in less than a week.

    The method described in this manual is theceramic shell, lost wax technique, 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.

    The book takes you through all the steps necessary, 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.

    Advanced casting techniques such as hollow casting are discussed in later chapters of the manual.

    "...one of the best books on the subject and will become the foundation standard of small time casting in the future."
    Glen P. Michigan

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOlivier Duhamel
    Release dateAug 6, 2011
    ISBN9781465825735
    Bronze Casting Manual
    Author

    Olivier Duhamel

    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 specializing in the female human form and makes delicately crafted small bronze figurines. 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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    • 5/5
      Detailed and clear instructions fpr bronze casting recommended book great read

    Book preview

    Bronze Casting Manual - Olivier Duhamel

    Bronze Casting Manual

    How to cast a small bronze sculpture in a week.

    A detailed DIY tutorial for artists, sculptors and hobbyists.

    Bronze Casting Manual

    Olivier Duhamel

    Smashwords Edition

    Copyright 2009-2011 Olivier Duhamel

    This book is available in print at most online retailers

    Smashwords Edition, License Notes

    This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

    Acknowledgements

    I want to thank the various people who have helped me with their expertise, advice and encouragements.

    First and foremost, David Reid, sculptor and foundry consultant who originally introduced me to the craft of metal casting and inspired me in launching my art practice.

    My assistant Jill Varani for her innovative approach, creative initiatives and for her persistence and determination in overcoming technical difficulties.

    My wife and family for putting up with the mess in our garage.

    Limitations of liability

    We assume no responsibility and will not be liable for any damages to persons or properties caused by or arising from your access to this tutorial. We assume no responsibility and will not be liable for any accident or injuries caused by or arising from your utilization of the techniques described in this manual.

    Table of contents.

    Introduction

    PART ONE

    About bronze casting

    Tools, materials and equipment

    Project overview

    Process overview

    Before starting

    Making a wax sculpture

    Sprueing

    Making a wax crucible

    Constructing the ceramic shell

    Dewaxing

    Reinforcing the shell

    Constructing the furnace

    Baking, melting and pouring

    Knocking off

    Chasing and fettling

    Patina

    PART TWO

    Taking it further

    Casting more than one piece at a time

    Casting larger pieces

    Hollow casting principles

    Making a hollow wax

    Casting an edition

    Advanced feeding system design

    Tips and tricks

    PART THREE

    Appendix A - Index of tools and materials

    Appendix B - Check list

    Appendix C - Art foundries

    Appendix D - Foundry supply

    Appendix E - Workshops and Courses

    Appendix F - Other resources

    Appendix G - Glossary of terms

    About the author

    Introduction

    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 properly equipped professional foundry.

    However, if you find the cost of professional foundries to be prohibitive or if you happen to be one of these crazy individuals that insist on doing everything by themselves, this short tutorial will show you a simple, safe and easy way to cast a small, fist sized sculpture in bronze, at little cost and little effort.

    The method described in this manual is called the thin ceramic shell, lost wax technique. Other methods to make a bronze figurine include sand casting, investment molding and injection casting, 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 with minimum equipment required.

    This manual is not attempting to delve into the details of every principle or every aspect of the bronze casting technology. There are some very good books doing that already. It will rather focus on a simple yet rewarding small project that will allow the home enthusiast to cast a small piece safely, quickly, cheaply and to a high standard of quality.

    At the completion of this project you may decide to either follow my advice and to give any future sculpture to your local art foundry, or you may catch the founder’s bug and continue to further explore bronze casting technologies. After having completed this simple project, you will be familiar with the basic principles of bronze casting. The manual also gives some further advice and guidance on how to take it further and how to set up your own small scale art foundry.

    We endeavor to keep the project’s cost to a minimum.

    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 labeled throughout the manual.

    PART ONE

    About bronze casting

    Before delving into the heart of the matter, I thought that I would write a bit more about bronze casting in general. You can choose to skip this section but make sure to read everything else.

    What is casting?

    Casting is the process of pouring a liquid material into an empty mold, letting it set, cure, freeze or otherwise solidify and then opening or breaking the mold to reveal a solid reproduction. When you are pouring water into an ice cube tray and putting it in the freezer, you are casting. In the case of metal, it must first be melted in its liquid form before it can be poured into a mold.

    A bit of history

    Bronze casting is a very old technique that dates back thousands of years. The lost wax technique was discovered, apparently independently, in India, Egypt, by the Aztec and Mayan in Mexico, and in Western Africa where the process varied slightly but still used the same principles.

    Since then, it has never really been perfected, even with today’s modern technology a perfect cast remains an ever elusive holy grail.

    What is bronze?

    Bronze is a generic name for all copper based alloys. There are many different kinds of bronze for different applications. Art foundries are using an alloy called Everdur which is 95% copper 4% Silicon and 1% Manganese and is classified as C873. Appendix A and C will tell you how much to buy and where to buy it from. It can be bought in ingots, pellets or rods.

    What is the ceramic shell lost wax technique?

    It consists of making a mold around a wax model, melting the wax out of the mold and then pouring molten metal inside the empty mold.

    Our technique is called thin ceramic shell because the mold is not a large lump of plaster encasing the wax but a thin shell of refractory ceramic material.

    This the same technique used by the vast majorities of professional art foundries.

    You may prefer to attend a hands-on practical workshop before attempting casting metal by yourself. Many sculptors and foundries around the world are offering such workshops teaching the same lost wax thin ceramic shell technique. We have listed a few in an appendix at the end of this book.

    Tools, materials and equipment

    Rather than bore the reader with a list of tools and materials at the beginning of the manual, these necessary items will be listed as required. We have also listed and described them all in an appendix for easy reference.

    Most of the tools and material you will need are fairly easy to find, you may even have them already. However you will also need some more specialized materials that are more difficult to source:

    Bronze metal

    You will need about 3kg of silicon 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 our shell.

    Colloidal silica

    This is a water based binder to be mixed with the refractory material – Ludox SM Colloidal

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