I have started work on the barn owl.

Two copies of the barn owl were made in wax. The mould was made from silicone rubber and produced fine detail.

The wax owls are cut and hollowed out. They cannot be cast whole as they would contain far too much metal and would experience shrinkage faults as the molten metal cools and freezes. The following picture shows the cut for the second owl copy that has not yet been hollowed out.

The two pieces are large castings for my equipment. The owl required 1.5 kg of bronze. The base required 0.75 kg of bronze.

The feet on the base was extended to fit the geode. The base wax was also hollowed in the back to reduce the metal requirements.

Welding the bronze requires both of my torches. The piece will be set on a 3×8 inch walnut round.

The next post will begin work on the second set of owls.