This custom horse sculpture of a running thoroughbred stallion
 was first modeled in clay, as shown above. 

 Next the clay horse sculpture was coated with liquid rubber and
 the rubber is allowed to set up.

Mesh fabric is embedded in the rubber after the fourth coat of rubber,
then more coats of rubber are added to finish the rubber part of
the mold over the horse sculpture.

(Above) Paper shims are added to divide the pieces of the fiberglass Mother Mold.

(Above) The fiberglass "mother mold" is built around the rubber mold

Wax is poured into the mold, the wax sculpture is cut into pieces to allow it to make a good casting. A bronze of very much size at all must be hollow in order for the bronze to cast well.  The walls of the wax piece must be relatively thin, 1/4 inch or less.  In bronze casting, a thin bronze is a good bronze because there will be less shrinkage or distortion in the sculpture.  A good casting that is thin reproduces the fine details of the artists original work without distortion.
The wax pieces are then attached to a wax cup with wax "straws" or sprews.

(Above) The horse sculpture's head is a hollow wax copy of the original clay model

which has been attached to a wax cup with "sprews" or "gates" which are solid wax straws.

(Below) The wax is then coated in slurry and covered with sand.

(Below) Successive layers of slurry and sand begin to build a ceramic
or "rock" shell around the wax. 

(Below) The first layers of sand are a fine grit that picks up all of the detail of
the sculpture, even down to the artists fingerprints that were left on the piece.
Then the later layers are a coarse grit to add strength to the shell.

The "rock" or ceramic shell that coats the wax sculpture is placed in a burnout furnace where the wax is melted out and the shell is heated to about 1800 degrees.
(Below) Loading the burnout furnace.

(Below) placing the lid on the burnout furnace.

Meanwhile bronze ingots are heated in the crucible furnace
until they are liquid and also about 1800 degrees.
The shell is then pulled out of the burnout furnace and placed in a sand filled
cart which is wheeled under the crucible where bronze has been heated until it is molten.
Then the liquid bronze is then poured into the shell.
(Below) Pouring bronze to create a new bronze sculpture.

The ceramic shell filled with molten bronze is set aside to cool. 
(Below) When it has cooled the shell is broken off to reveal the bronze sculpture.

The bronze sculpture is then sand blasted to clean it, and any parts that were cut off
to cause the piece to cast better are welded back on. (Shown below)

The welds on the bronze sculpture are ground down and
then re-textured in a process called "metal chasing".
A final sandblast and check are then done on the bronze sculpture
to prepare it for the patina or color.

(Below) The raw bronze horse sculpture is sandblasted and ready for patina.
A bronze sculpture, if left in this raw state will naturally go darker and darker,
eventually becoming nearly black or, if exposed to water, green
due the the copper content of the bronze metal.

(Below) The finished bronze horse sculpture after patina (color) has been applied
by the use of chemicals and heat processes to change the color of the metal,
the finish has been sealed with a coat of hot wax, and the piece has been
 mounted on a beautiful walnut wood base.

 (Above) The finished custom bronze horse sculpture!

  This Custom bronze horse sculpture was
created by Equine Artist Kim Corpany
To see more photos of this running horse statue,
click on the above photo.

  Foundry Photos taken at Atlas Bronze Casting, Kearns, Utah.