The
lost-wax casting process dates back to ancient Greece, and involves many steps, beginning with creating a mold from wax and pouring molten silver into the mold.
Paolozzi began using the technique of
lost-wax casting for his bronze sculptures, whereby a negative form was made by pushing objects into clay, and the wax sheets produced from this impression were then manipulated before being cast in bronze.
As in
lost-wax casting, a technique that has been used to make sculptures for thousands of years, the team's approach allowed for the mold and vascular template to be removed once the cells were added and formed a solid tissue enveloping the filaments.
Both of these viewpoints remain in the forefront as the company moves into the 42,000-square-foot, multimillion-dollar expansion of its Milford headquarters, where intricate metal parts for jet engines are made using modern variations of the ancient method of
lost-wax casting.
Prior to coming to the UK, Mr Nkosi had only made jewellery by hand, but thanks to the Vyse Street company he has access to the latest jewellery production technologies, including computer-aided design, rapid prototyping and sophisticated
lost-wax casting.
Genuine works of art, the initial crystal flacons were made piece by piece -- every "bust-stopper", made by
lost-wax casting, was a unique piece requiring a kind of know-how that is virtually unobtainable.
The murals were created by local sculptor Joan Benefiel and fabricated by Brooklyn's Excalibur Bronze using the ancient technique of
lost-wax casting.
But Fecteau is not compelled by elaborate
lost-wax casting techniques; instead he uses simple means, building up these recent works with paper, glue, and gesso.
If you refer back to the February and March "Into the Fire" columns that detail the
lost-wax casting process, you'll have a better understanding of what is required to have an original sculpture transformed into bronze.
Kichler presents this grand Sebastian scrolled iron chandelier made with the
lost-wax casting technique, and featuring hand-stenciled filigree ornamentation on each glass shade.
The main advantage of
lost-wax casting is extremely high quality of casting surface, which allows producing near-net-shape work-pieces practically without allowance for rough machining (Fig.
Both Bielka and Reubel use a more complicated process called
lost-wax casting, which dates back to ancient Egypt.
