Origination
Bronze Age were pleased to assist their local borough Tower Hamlets Art Department, working with the authorisation of the Frank Dobson Estate to reproduce a sculpture made by the artist Frank Dobson. The Woman and Fish (circa 1950), placed originally in Cephas Street, junction with Cambridge Heath Road by the London County Council in 1963, provided drinking water until vandals damaged the original casting in 1977. Later, in 1979 it was beheaded and subsequently removed for restoration in 1983, to be returned again in 1985. Sadly the piece was totally destroyed in 2002 and it's remains discarded.
Bronze Age were approached in 1996 with the demanding task of reproducing this sculpture, and casting in Bronze. We recommended one of our excellent artists, Mr Antonio Lopez-Reche with whom we have worked and been associated with for many years, who then using the limited information available faithfully reproduced the original to scale to facilitate the moulding and casting processes.
This original plaster produced by the artist for moulding can be viewed at the Brady Arts Centre in Tower Hamlets.
Woman and Fish once cast has now been installed in Millwall Park, Tower Hamlets, just beside Island Gardens DLR Station.
If you have a restoration project or sculpture in need of repair, please do not hesitate to contact us for an estimate. We are also able to offer re-patination and any other sculpture maintenance requirements you may have.
Mould Making
Mould making involves coating the original sculpture with silicon rubber, prior to this if necessary the original is prepared to ensure the best possible results. This may involve using a mould release agent or bracing a delicate original to ensure the form does not move with the weight of the mould materials to ensure the best possible results are achieved.
The sculpture shown has been scaled down from a 1.9m version using the latest scanning technology.
The rubber coating is applied to the entire surface of the original, and is able to pick up detail as fine as a finger print.
The rubber coating is constructed in sections to enable the mould to be removed from the original, and access to the inside surface of the mould for retrieval of the wax positive later on.
Keys are fixed to the surface of the setting rubber, to enable registration of the rubber to caseing.
Resin and fibreglass caseing is applied in sections over the surface of the rubber, which is then trimmed back and drilled to enable bolting together of the mould. As shown left.
The case sections are then removed as part of the initial de-moulding stages, which continues with rubber sections being separated as shown left.
Wax Work
A hollow wax positive of the original is cast from the mould by painting wax into the sections of the mould, and then joining the mould together and slushing with hot wax. The thickness of the wax directly corresponds to the eventual thickness of the bronze casting.
Once cool, the wax is removed from the mould. The cases are removed in sections, and then the rubber is gently peeled back from the wax positive to reveal the hollow wax casting.
This wax positive is then worked on by our skilled technicians to remove the seam lines created where the mould sections are joined together.
The wax will then be ready for the artist to visit our workshops and check over. Where we will work closely with the artist to ensure all the details are as they would wish, and to engrave into the cast their unique signature and edition number.
Following the artists check, a network of wax rods or sprues and the wax cup are fitted onto the positive wax. This complex procedure will provide the feeding system through which the molten metal will travel later in the process to achieve the casting.
Ceramic Shell
The sprue system and wax positive are coated with an initial liquid coat, containing very fine powder, and sodium silicate.
The liquid combined with grades of molochite granules, starting with fine through to coarser grades are built up over several layers over the wax sculpture, and is finally backed up with a fibre glass matting to ensure an extremely hard and strong ceramic shell around the wax.
The inside cavity of the hollow wax is filled with a plaster-based mixture called Core.
The wax is then melted out of the ceramic shell using heat directly applied to the shell using a propane burner. This now hollow ceramic shell, with the detailed impression within that the wax has produced, is now ready to receive the molten bronze.
The Pour
The bronze ingots are heated to approx 1250 degrees centigrade in a furnace heated Crucible. The ceramic shells are supported with loose sand, with their pouring cups exposed, ready to receive the now liquid bronze, which is then poured through the cup, running through the sprues and into the ceramic shell.
The ceramic shell now filled with bronze, is left to cool, usually overnight. Following which the ceramic shell is removed, leaving an exact replica of the wax, including the sprues and pouring cup. The bronze cup and sprues are then cut off (fettled) and the metal finishing (Chaseing) will now begin.
Metal Finish (Chasing)
Larger sculptures are cast in sections and welded together. These welds are then chased back to blend in with the form. The points of contact for the sprue system, (i.e. where the bronze sprues contact the sculpture) and the welded joins are worked back by our highly skilled Chasers, using the combination of specialist tools and many years of experience, to ensure there is no visible trace of sprue points or joins on the sculpture remaining.
It is at this point again, we ask you the artist to come and inspect the work, to ensure that your casting has been faithfully produced, and to make any minor alterations if required before the final patination, which would usually be carried out on the same occasion.