Bronze Casting Home

Kim at the foundry with Peter Danuser (left) pouring bronze into a ceramic-shell sundial mold.

The foundry is set in the South Gippsland hills and has been in operation since 1987.

I can melt about 30kg of bronze at a time. Larger items are cast in sections and welded together later.

The Process:
 

  • A sculpture is made in wax, plaster, plasticine, clay etc..
  • A plaster or flexible mould is then taken from the original.
  • Molten wax is painted into the inside of the mould and allowed to cool, and the mould is then removed.
  • The wax copy is then cleaned up, seams and blemishes smoothed over, etc
  • Wax runners (once melted, they form the tubes the molten bronze flows down) and riser (air vents) are then attached to the wax.
  • A Wax cast with runners attached ready to be coated in Ceramic Shell
  • The wax is encased in a ceramic shell. This is done by dipping the wax into a slurry of pre-burnt clay, water and silica, and sprinkling with grains of zircon and flint-clay. After each dipping, the shell must dry and the process is repeated until the shell becomes thick enough.
  • The wax is melted out of the shell in a setup a little like a barbeque, and collected in a pan
  • The ceramic shell is fired like pottery in a kiln until red hot
  • Bronze is melted in a furnace. The molten bronze is poured into the shell cavity.
  • The ceramic shell is broken off.
  • Runners and riser are cut off and castingl is  cleaned with a variety of burrs, wire brushes, sand blaster, etc.
  • Then the bronze is patinated (made to go a nice colour) or polished.

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    Thanks to Pete for  helping with the pouring, and thanks to Al for letting me use his shed all these years

    Enquiries:    Post:  Kim Devenish  PO Box 213 Foster Victoria Australia 3960
    Email: kimdev@dcsi.net.au