I have approx. 90 small brown wax sculptures, (2-4 inches) that I want to have cast in bronze by a foundry.?
I want to have them cast by a foundry that is not too expensive, and near the Boston area. If that is not possible, is there any other way to cast them? What materials would I need, and how would I make the molds? I am working with middle school students ages 12-13.
this is a tough question. i dont know if you will get many replies so i’m going to give you my thoughts altho this is not really my area… i hope you get a better response than this later on…
i suspect casting those pieces may be an expensive project.
look in the phone book or online or both for foundries in your area – private and commercial and at schools/universites. you’ll probably have to call them and ask if they’ll do something like what you are wanting.
i suppose it’s possible that some foundry in the country "might" cast on demand – for a fee. there may be significant guidelines to it tho… you can only try and see what you can come up with. even mailing these becomes an expense and then return shipping as well…
i suspect if someone will do it, it may not be cheap. ask if there is someone there at the foundry who would be willing to guide you through the process.
in case you do not find a foundry willing to accommodate you in the way you’d like (which is a cool idea), you might ask if they’d be willing to give your students a tour – that in itself might be an eye-opener for them to see how the process would be completed if it were to be done… with that age group it might be challenging. you might even consider a number of small groups one at a time if a tour is available and you opt for this option.
there probably are less expensive ways to cast these in some other material. however it might also be easier to know how you will do this end of the project before you start. that way you’ll be able to work in appropriate ways at the get-go (from the beginning).
i hope you get to do this exactly as you’d like. that would be awesome. it would be terrific for these students to have their work for ever cast in a great metal, imo.
good on you for trying. good luck.
February 28th, 2010 at 6:47 am
this is a tough question. i dont know if you will get many replies so i’m going to give you my thoughts altho this is not really my area… i hope you get a better response than this later on…
i suspect casting those pieces may be an expensive project.
look in the phone book or online or both for foundries in your area – private and commercial and at schools/universites. you’ll probably have to call them and ask if they’ll do something like what you are wanting.
i suppose it’s possible that some foundry in the country "might" cast on demand – for a fee. there may be significant guidelines to it tho… you can only try and see what you can come up with. even mailing these becomes an expense and then return shipping as well…
i suspect if someone will do it, it may not be cheap. ask if there is someone there at the foundry who would be willing to guide you through the process.
in case you do not find a foundry willing to accommodate you in the way you’d like (which is a cool idea), you might ask if they’d be willing to give your students a tour – that in itself might be an eye-opener for them to see how the process would be completed if it were to be done… with that age group it might be challenging. you might even consider a number of small groups one at a time if a tour is available and you opt for this option.
there probably are less expensive ways to cast these in some other material. however it might also be easier to know how you will do this end of the project before you start. that way you’ll be able to work in appropriate ways at the get-go (from the beginning).
i hope you get to do this exactly as you’d like. that would be awesome. it would be terrific for these students to have their work for ever cast in a great metal, imo.
good on you for trying. good luck.
References :
February 28th, 2010 at 7:36 am
Generally bronze casting is expensive, especially now copper is expensive.You can get a very rough approximation of the price if you weigh the wax sculptures.
Weigh all the wax sculptures. Multiply the weight in pounds by 10. This would give you how much they would weigh in Bronze. Bronze is between $4-5 a pound at the moment. So multiply the weight of the bronze by 5. This is just the money for the bronze. I guess you have to at least triple that to include the labor and additional materials used during the process.
If you still are interested, look in your yellow pages for art foundries. There must be some in a place the size of Boston. If you have problems ask in the sculpture department of an art school. If they do have a foundry themselves they may be willing to have the project done by students at cost (just offer the students free pizza, you’d get plenty volunteers…). If not, they probably can refer you to a local foundry.
What do you want for the students to achieve? Some way the wax sculptures will be permanent and they can keep it?
I would start with air dry or oven bake clay not wax to eliminate that problem. Or you can look up plaster waste molds and steam the wax out and use something like resin to cast.
If you want them to get an idea about the lost-wax casting process a tour of a foundry may be much easier.
References :