How the Land Run Monument is made

Artist Paul Moore is creating the Land Run Monument using the “lost wax” method. Here are the 12 steps he uses:

Steps in the artist's studio:

Land Run monument created by Paul Moore.

• The artist creates a small “rough sketch” in clay.
• A finely detailed clay sculpture called a maquette, which is about 16-inches tall is made.
• Using a mold process, a duplicate of the maquette is produced for use in the laser cutting process.
• A metal interior support structure of the size and strength to hold the sculpture is assembled. This is called the armature.
• A laser process uses the duplicate of the maquette as a guide to cut foam pieces to one-and-one-half life size. The foam pieces are assembled over the armature and smoothed.
• A thin coat of wax and several coats of clay are sprayed on the foam enlargement. The artist sculpts all the fine details into the clay to create a finished sculpture.
• The clay sculpture is covered in several coats of rubber and then a heavy coat of plaster to form a mold. The mold is cut apart in sections and the sections are taken to the foundry. (the mold for a horse is cut into 16 or more sections.)

Steps at the foundry:

• The rubber mold is removed from its plaster shell. Wax is painted into the rubber mold to the thickness the bronze will be. After the wax hardens it is removed from the rubber mold. A “sprue” system of pour cup, channel and vents is attached to the wax.
• The wax mold with its sprue system is repeatedly dipped into vats of ceramic “slurry” and dried until a hard ceramic shell encloses the wax mold.
• The ceramic shell containing the wax mold is placed in a furnace. The wax is melted out of the shell, creating a void. This is why this is called the “lost wax” process.
• Once the bronze has cooled, sledgehammers are used to break the ceramic shell away from the bronze.
• When all the bronze pieces are ready, a stainless steel armature or interior framework is constructed. The bronze pieces are welded to the armature and to each other, with each piece carefully shaped for exact fit and match. The weld marks are then smoothed to create the “patina.” A coat of wax will then be applied.