Lost Wax and a Bronze Barbie
Ever wonder what sculptors mean when they use the term "lost wax"? Below are highlights of the lost wax process I used to create a small bronze piece called Suburban Odalisque (see historical art references).
- First, I sculpted the wax figure, and attached hollow tubes (called "gates") and a cup-like structure to the bottom of the work.
- Then, I dipped it into a liquid mixture called "ceramic shell," followed by a sand bath. When the shell had air-hardened, I set the coated statue at an angle and blow-torched it to melt all the wax – which then ran out through the tubes and cup, leaving the ceramic shell empty. In other words, I LOST the WAX!
- Next, the empty ceramic shell was kiln-hardened to withstand the molten bronze that was then poured (via the cup and tubes) into the space previously occupied by the lost wax.
- Once the bronze had cooled and hardened, I hammered and whacked at it until the finished statue emerged.
The Chair and the Bathing Suit
I found instructions for building a full-size lawn chair/lounger on the Internet, then, just made everything really small. I actually built the chair first, then covered it with saran wrap so I could sculpt the wax against it – insuring that the finished figure would lie perfectly in the chair. When the bronze version was done, at the suggestion of my husband, I added a reinforcing strip to the back of the chair (shown in the last picture above) to better support the dense weight of the finished work.
I made the spandex bathing suit from my own pattern, and sewed it right onto the figure – a surprisingly difficult operation, thanks to the tiny size of the model coupled with its extraordinary weight. She's so-o-o-o-o heavy!
