Experience Bronze: Hot Lake Foundry Tour
Tour Time: Approximately 1 hour
Following a short film, you will see a complete hands-on demonstration. After a time for questions, we will take you to the Hot Lake Springs Quality control Center. There you will observe the actual artisans at work, viewing dozens of different bronze masterpieces from beginning to end. We often include David Manuel on our tours so you can witness the actual sculpting and hear his descriptions.
Allow yourself plenty of time. We would like you to "Experience Bronze." Our goal is to give you more information than you really wanted to know!
We offer this exclusive workship with Museum admission as an educational service. The Musuem admission serves as a process of elimination for those whou truly would not appreciate, thus, you do no have to share your floor space and time with those only trying to pass time or escape the weather.
It is so fun to include Hot Lake history. Please feel free to ask question and don't forget your camera.
A Lost Process: A Complete Foundry Tour & Workshop
- The artist's completed sculpture is taken to the foundry, photographed, and measured.
- It is then cut to allow the mold to transfer detail and pour well in wax and metal. The mold is made of silicone rubber then covered with a thick plaster outer mold.
- Several coats of wax are poured into the mold. Each coat being allowed to cool and then the mold is removed.
- Wax chasers clean, smooth, detail, cut windows, etc. preparing the wax for the rest of the process.
- The wax is then sprued, which is attaching the waxes to a cup with sprue wax to make the channels for the metal to reach all parts of the piece.
- Eight coats of slurry are then applied with 24 hours drying time between each coat to make thick ceramic shell surrounding the wax.
- These shells are then put in a burn out oven and heated to 1500 degrees to melt out the wax, leaving the cavity for the bronze.
- The hot shells go into the pouring room and are heated to 2200 degrees then filled with the molten bronze.
- Sledge and jack hammers are used to carefully chip the shell off, the bronze can be sand blasted.
- Metal toolers then begin welding the pieces back together, aligning, buffing, grinding, and repairing the detail and texture until the sculpture looks as if it were cast in one piece.
- The final process is patina. This is where color is put on with heat and chemicals then hot waxed to seal and stop any chemical action. David works with each pieces at each procedure using complete quality control.
