Breaking The Mold

The cooler the bronze is the easier the ceramic is to get off.  This process of breaking the mold is referred to as “shake out.”  The shell mold is a one-time use mold so every bronze sculpture gets its own ceramic mold even though all one-time use molds come from the same rubber mold of the original.  With all the ceramic removed, the art can be taken in to the cut off area where we use a plasma torch to cut off all gates and plugs.  The art can be sandblasted and all parts and plugs found will be weighted and documented.  The bronze castings will then leave and go back to the artist or a finish shop to be welded and metal chased.