Completed Bronze Poodle

Well after a few days of confusion with the patina, Tracker the poodle finally gets his coat. The patina artist did an outstanding job, capturing Trackers likeness. Tracker has an unique discoloration on his tail; therefore, the client decided to incorporate it into the bronze.

Bronze Dog Sculpture Patina

Patination:  The bronze casting surface is heated with a torch. Chemicals are applied using a brush or air-brush, in multiple layers that react to the heat. The finish is fused into the surface of the bronze. Once the patina meets our expectation, a thin coat of wax is applied to seal and give the bronze sculpture a lustrous glow. After the bronze is cooled a hand polish and buff is nice to give it a sheen.

To view a video on "how to care for your bronze sculptures"

Bronze Dog Sculpture Metal Chasing

Bronze Metal Chasing: A variety of pieces making up a single sculpture are assembled and welded together using  TIG welders.  Next, precision die grinders and other specific tools are used to blend the welded sections together to create a  seamless joint.  Metal Chasers - Artisans spend many hours removing any defects from the bronze metal surface.

Poodle wax positives for lost wax bronze

This post shows the wax positives that were casted using the molds. The wax castings are hollow with walls ranging in thickness from 1/8" to 3/8". After the wax castings are re-detailed, they will be ready for the "ceramic shell" process.

Each section will be cast in bronze as is and welded back together to form the life size poodle. 

In this image you will note the jaw has been re-attached in order to avoid complex welding issues down the line.

Dog Matrix Mold Fabrication

Cellophane is used to wrap the entire sculpture. This will temporarily protect the dog sculpture from having the water-based clay adhere to my Chavant clay (Chavant NSP hard was used to sculpt the poodle). The water-based clay mass will later be replace by the silicone.

Here you can see where one of the seams with keys is located.  A wall of clay is used to cover the entire area where the silicone will eventually go. The wall of clay is somewhat uniformed in thickness.  

Plaster and hemp are applied over the wall of clay. This section is referred to as the “mother mold”. The mother mold will house the silicone mold and help line up all the keys.  

Here are two completed (limb) molds.

This image depicts the mother mold after the cellophane and water-based clay have been removed.  The other half of the mold will be used to enclose the leg. The seams will also be temporally sealed in order to prevent the silicone from escaping. The silicone will be poured from the highest point of the mother mold.

This image taken minutes after removing one half of the mold. The blue material is the silicone. The silicone is used to capture all the detail from the original sculpture.  The next step is to remove the original clay sculpture from the silicone.

Wax is then poured into the mold in order to produce the wax-positives.  More on this later….

The American Fine Arts Foundry is the Bronze Casting Foundry I am utilizing for this bronze dog composition. The foundry is located in Burbank, California.

click on the logo to visit their site.

Preparing clay dog sculpture for the mold fabrication

This section show how large sculptures are broken down into smaller manageable sections. After the sections have been casted in bronze, they will be welded back together. The original clay sculpture will be reassemble in order to aid the welder.

The tail has been removed

This image show how a section of the jaw has been removed. The torso and legs have also been severed.

This is the rear section of the poodles torso. Red wax is used to seal the foam. Without using wax to seal the foam, the silicone will adhere to the foam and create problems when de-molding.

The limbs and jaw ready for mold fabrication.