Virtual Foundry Tour

Before a piece can be poured in metal it has to be sculpted. The original artwork can be sculpted in many mediums but unless it is sculpted in something that will burn out in a high heat furnace … a mold will need to be made of the original artwork. That makes it possible to make a copy of the piece in wax so it can be burnt out in the furnace.

It is hard to see … but there is a figure I am sculpting of a woman in this picture. It is sculpted in a combination of brown wax and Castaline. Castaline is a pink wax/clay mixture that can be burned out in the furnace like wax.

When the sculpture is finished, wax sprues or channels are added to the artwork so that the molten metal will have a way to flow into the artwork.

There is a science to attaching sprues so that the metal will flow in the best possible way through the piece. A cup is added at the end of the sprues so that there is a funnel or cup for the molten metal to be poured into.

The open part of the cup needs to be covered with tape so it will remain hollow in the next step. All this is done in the wax so that it will burn out in the furnace.

The entire piece is then sprayed with shellac and dried.

Once the piece is properly sprued it is weighed. The weight is multiplied by 10 to determine the amount of metal that is needed to cast the pieces.