PART-2 CASTING - WELDING - POLISHING
THE ART OF CREATING FINE BRONZES
The process is thousands of years old. Ed Colarik's fine art bronzes are produced with his personal involvement in the actual work to insure the highest quality.
The investment molds are placed into a furnace where any remaining wax is burned out. Bronze metal has been prepared by heating alloys, mostly of copper, to 2,000 degrees that are then poured very carefully into the molds. The bronze cools and hardens. The molds are smashed leaving the cast bronze. The gates which were used to strengthen are now cut away. The pieces are welded together.
After the pieces has been welded, they are then polished. Due to the hard nature of the metal this procedure takes much effort if the figure is to a have very clean look about it. The bronze figure is then sand-blasted. Because the piece was too big to get into the green sand-blaster, it was sand-blasted in the open with a special hose. The sand-blasting removes pits and leaves a smooth surface. Note the difference between the weld marks on the back of the figure before and the nice polished surface after sand-blasting. The pieces are now ready for patinaing.
to continue with how bronzes are made click on PART 3
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