The Sculpture Gallery

One of the most basic materials to practice cast sculpture with is resin. Traditionally used for art crafts and decor, resin functions as a hard fundamental casting medium for you to try out casting for the first time. The resin used here is usually a synthetic monomer and not a natural resin. This type of material is commonly used to make polymer plastics. The types of Resins are Epoxy Resin (lower viscosity), Polyurethane Resin, Polyester Resin (shrinks while curing), and Acrylic Resin (good with transparency). An exothermic reaction is caused by mixing polyurethane for example, with a curing agent. This creates heat and causes the combined materials to harden/solidify.

Moulds for casting can be made out of several materials, but the two most common ones are silicone rubber and plain plaster. Both can be obtained for a relatively low cost.

Gravity casting is a term used when referring to allowing resin to flow into the mould cavities merely by using gravity's pull on it after letting it pour vertically into a mould. Air bubbles are usually formed when this happens, so a vacuum chamber is always necessary for clean material output. To push the resin material further into the mould (for detailed pieces), sometimes a centrifugal force or pressurized force can be used. There are lots of machines that can aid in the casting process' artistic quality and finesse.

There is another technique called injection moulding, however this involves the creation of a metal mould with a much higher cost rate. The upside is that much more quantity can be produced using a single mould.

Casting art, sculpture or decor with resin is one of the most common commercial and artistic processes anywhere in the world. This technique has even found its way into doll-making, dentistry and toy-making. The possibilities are simply endless.

20th anniversary applications are now ongoing for the sculpture show on August 12, 13 and 14. All of you are invited to attend the Loveland Sculpture Invitational show and art sale. Located at a wonderful landscape setting at the foot of the pristine Rocky Mountains, art enthusiasts, collectors and hobbyists from all over the nation will congregate together to have a good time and patron the work of some of the top premier artists in the largest gathering of sculptors in the country.

Over two hundred and fifty of the country's most impressive sculptors will be present, each showcasing his or her own set of magnificent artworks. Choose from thousands of creatively done masterpieces ranging from small miniatures to larger than life monuments. Media choices include metals, stone and glass, as well as mixed materials that go together in artistic fashions.

Come and Join them for a once in a lifetime experience at one of the largest sculpture shows in America. To find out more details, please visit them here

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The lost wax process is probably one of the most famous casting processes that has circulated throughout the modern art community. Aside from bronze usage it can also be used with other metals (for jewelry sculpture) or with some non-metal materials like powdered marble. The first step of the sculpting process is to fashion a 3D design out of wax. Sculptors may also mix the wax with paraffin in different amounts to adjust the hardness of the wax. This is very important because the wax needs to stay directly in place while the artist is carving it. Always keep in mind that the balance and position of every element within the sculpture could play a vital or fatal role in the durability of the finished bronze piece.

Carving sculptures in wax can be relatively easy due to the material traits of normal wax. Practice can be done in blocks or candlesticks before the actual design process takes place. This may give the artist a good feel of the material before proceeding any further.

Once the carved studies are finished in wax, a sculptor then needs to attach them to wax funnels by welding sprues (sticks also made of wax). Melting and fusing wax is easy when you have a heated metal material to join the two parts. A heated rod (with a non-heated handle) might be a good choice for doing this. Afterwards, the sculptures are always places near to the bottom of the funnel. Thick sticks of wax are joined using the heated metal rod onto the sculpture where the molten bronze will enter. Thinner sticks of wax can also be joined nearer to the top of the sculpture to form vents. An artist must take into consideration the fact of air entrapment in the negative mold to come. The reason vents are placed properly is so that the pockets of air can escape in order for the molten bronze to fill the cavity of the negative mold.

This mold that we've been talking about must be a negative side of the positive design of the wax sculpture. The wax sculpture must eventually be melted out of the mold before proceeding with the casting. Remember also that before pouring any amount of molten bronze into the mold, the mold must be heated to a suitable degree (it must never ever be cold). The artist then sets the mold onto a vertically stable position and can then proceed with pouring his molten bronze into the cavity of the mold.

Once the bronze has been allowed to cool off, the mold material can be scratched away to reveal the solid bronze interior of the sculpture. Remember the wax sticks that were used as vents? Well, in the final sculpture they are still present, now as solid bronze. The sculptor would need to clear them out with power tools and then simply finish the piece with sandblasting equipment and metal polish or an applicable patina.