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Bronze Sculptures

Bronze is one of the most popular metals in making sculptures. The reason for its popularity is because bronze expands slightly prior to setting, thus bronze sculptures can be very detailed and beautiful. Its strength and lack of brittleness is another advantage when figurines are being made.

The Greeks were the first to create life size bronze figurines. However, the Romans, Egyptians, and the Chinese all participated in the art of making bronze sculptures. Even though Greeks were the first to make life size statues, there are far more Roman Bronze Sculptures still in existence.

One of the more well- known American artists in the sculpture industry would be Frederic Remington. His most famous bronze sculpture would have to be The Bronco Buster.

Another famous bronze sculpture is the Prometheus statue that overlooks the ice skating rink at Rockefeller Center in New York. Prometheus is a Greek titan who was frozen at the moment of triumph when he stole fire from the gods to give to humans. It is one of the more well-known bronze sculptures in existence today.

Perhaps one of the most well-known bronze sculptures today would be the Statue of liberty. This beautiful landmark is located on Ellis Island.

Our earliest records show the process of making bronze sculptures started over four thousand years ago. Bronze art today uses the same casting process as that of ancient times.

The reason bronze sculptures are so expensive is the many hours of labor involved. It can take up to four months to produce one bronze sculpture.

First, a sculpture is completed from clay, wood, stone or metal. A mold is then made by coating it with rubber applied in several layers.

Molten wax is poured into the mold, and poured out evenly casting the interior walls into a mold. This creates a hollow wax replica. A ceramic shell is applied to each wax by dipping it into heat resistant liquid. It is then coated with sand. This can take from 6 to 12 coats, and is dried before the next coat is applied.

After the ceramic shell is dry, the piece is placed in a kiln at 1800 degrees, This makes the shell strong, and causes the wax to melt

Molten bronze is heated and poured into the cup and down throughout the shell. After the bronze cools, the shell is broken away, thus revealing the bronze casting. The sculpture is sand blasted, and any separate parts are welded back together. This takes many hours of labor.

The last step is coloring the bronze, also called patina. This is applied by brushing or spraying various chemicals onto the metal with or without heat. Different chemicals create different colors.

As you can see bronze sculptures take many hours to create, and is truly a mixture of an artist and foundry. This process insures that bronze sculptures will last for years.