The Process

All my bronzes are made and finished entirely in the UK. The process is complex and time consuming.

The Sculpture stage

The first stage is of course the idea which comes form fieldwork, observation and my sketchbooks.I rarely sculpt a subject I have not personally experienced in the wild, albeit briefly at times.

The sculpture is created using either traditional clays or oil clays / wax over a metal armature. The armature is a translation of the skeleton.

Once completed a silicon mould is made over the sculpture.The mould is formed in multi parts, a minimum of two.

Wax is poured into the mould (hence lost wax process) to form a new positive of the sculpt this time in wax. The wax is then cleaned and thoroughly checked by me before the foundry takes over the process.

The Foundry

The foundry prepare the wax by placing tubes and pouring cups to the wax all to allow bronze in and gases out to create a perfect copy.

Next the wax is covered in several layers of ceramic slurry which then hardens over a few days. The shells are now heated to clear all the wax out of the shell (lost wax) leaving an empty negative shell of the sculpture.

Shells ready the molten bronze is poured into the ceramic shell….then allowed to cool. The shell is removed leaving a bronze casting. The casting is cleaned by the specialist metal workers then made ready for patina (colour). I check all metals at this stage to check all is as I sculpted.

The patina is applied a build up of many layers to the desired colour.

Then a final wax and check by me before it is off to the client.