![\"\"](\"http:\/\/tommonsees.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/two-figures-in-sculpey.jpg\" "\\"two")
<\/a><\/p>\nI cut the baked Super Sculpey figures into a number of pieces then built simple boxes around them.<\/p>\n
Next I packed clay around the bottom of each box thus creating a division where I wanted the two piece mold to separate. I also placed a small tube of wax in the area I wanted to create a spout, or pour hole.<\/p>\n After that I mixed up a two part rubber, sprayed a little mold release into the box and poured the rubber over it. After the rubber catalyzed I turned the box over, removed the clay, mixed up some more gooey, grimy rubber, sprayed in a bit more of the old mold release and poured it in. Once that hardened I had a nice easy two part mold, ready to produce a wax positive. Wax was melted and sloshed around the inside of the mold. After it solidified and cooled it came out of the mold as an almost exact replica of the original sculpture.<\/p>\n Each casting however has a number of imperfections, such as holes which have to be filled and the seam line which has to be removed. This is called \u201cwax chasing\u201d and it\u2019s basically cleaning up the wax in order to make it look like the sculpture again.<\/p>\n After the wax was ready I carted it off to the foundry where they added sprues and vents, then created another mold, this one out of silica, around the wax. The sprues are a system for controlling the flow of the melted bronze as it is poured into the mold. Finally the piece can get a patina, achieving color by alternately applying heat (from a blow torch) and various chemicals.\u00a0 After the patina is applied wax is brushed over it as both a sealant and way to bring out the colors.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
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\nThe bronze is poured, then the silica mold is broken off. The sprues are cut and, as with the prior wax casting, all imperfections from this pouring must be addressed.<\/p>\n