I want to start sculpting to later be cast in either bronze or something cheaper .?

Question

I am a full time artist mainly doing commisioned work of equestrian subjects . I would like to start sculpting . What clay should I use that would be suitable for casting .Any other helpful advice would be very much appreciated .

I really cannot understand why people have put thumbs down to all these excellant answers.
I live in the middle of the CZ countryside and forget artists friends ... friends are very very difficult to come by here .
I want to make small sculpturs suitable for peoples drawing rooms .... I feel all you arty people squirm !!! but we working artists must eat and I would love to have a car !!! I love my work you understand

Answer 1

if you are a full time artists don't you have a couple of sculptor friends who can get you started?
There is no clay which is suitable for casting directly. But you can take any clay if you afterwards make a mold of your sculpture. The final material has to be wax or something else which can burn out. Though a foundry will make a mold and a wax from your sculpture for you, but they'll charge you extra for it. It is not a good idea to have solid bronze of more than about an inch. If you do you are likely to get shrinkage artefacts and it's also expensive. So anything larger you have to make a mold of anyway.
If you want to model directly, the best waxes are microcrystallines waxes. You can get them in different hardness, the softer ones model pretty much like clay once they are handwarm. There is also something called sculpt-a-wax which has nice properties for hand modeling. they mail you free (tiny) samples so you can figure out which variant you prefer before you order a large amount.
Unless you want to leave most of the work to the foundry, you could take a foundry class and learn about the process. Maybe a university in your area offers one. Use your art connections to find out. Go to the library and check out some books. You didn't learn drawing in a day either...
As for metal, the only frequently used cheaper metal is aluminum, but the palette for patination is much more limited compared to bronze. Iron or steel require higher temperatures than art foundries usually do. But something made from alu will probably sell for clearly less than bronze but will be just as much work to do, so you should consider that.

Answer 2

I would also say wax is the best medium to sculpt for later casting in any material. Wax can be carved away but also can be added to (if you should carve too much away!). If you're working in fine detail, wax is also the best. I think it's the most versatile and most forgiving medium to sculpt in and it saves you a step in the casting process later on. If you're working on larger sculpture you may want to try starting your original model with styrofoam to create your basic shape then add another medium over that to create your details.
In the end though it would be best to experiment with different mediums and decide for yourself which you prefer.
There are many casting mediums besides bronze but none demand the high price of a bronze sculpture. As it should for all the work that goes into creating a bronze, not just the original model but after it has been casted at the foundry the artist still has a great deal of work to do to finish the piece. Argh!!! Good luck!

Answer 3

You didn't say how big you want to work.
Working directly in modern casting waxes is amazing as there are choices that range from hard and brittle (work with high speed rotary tools) to very soft (push and bend) as well as the usual cutting and melting techniques. Wax originals are usually lost in casting, but if the detail is not incredible, you can make latex or silicone rubber negatives and cast wax originals for further working.
Aluminum has a different aesthetic than bronze or stainless steel. It will not normally take a high polish and the surface will be a soft satin. Some astonishing work was done during the art deco period with bold lines, shadowed crevices, a curved surfaces. When I thought about sculpting aluminum stems for my glassblowing, avoiding thin connections and arranging for withstanding the reheating of the glass due to it melting 400-500 degrees lower that brass/bronze.
Some artists are doing amazing work with cast resins - especially making ultrarealistic figures (Duane Hanson) which may be much larger or smaller than natural.

Answer 4

Plain cheap, oily smelling, green modeling clay. Modelling wax is good, too, but can run into a chunk of money.
Model the object in clay, cast it in plaster -- you'll have to decide whether you need a 1- or 2-part or multiple-part mold. It depends on how complicated and dimensional the object is. From there you'll research foundries to pour your metal.

You need much more research than this forum can provide. Here are sites that may help.

Answer 5

It sounds like you want a mold to reproduces images of horses.

I recommend sculpting the object in plain stoneware, b-mix, or porcelain clay (depending on the detail you want these are medium to very fine clays. The clay needs to get leather hard.

Then, create your mold. Depending on the complexity, you will need at least a 4 piece mold.

Once you have a mold you like, you can look into places that will cast metal, but that is very expensive. I don't know what kind of budget you have.

I would recommend using the mold to make clay versions of your horses and fire them to bisque, then choose a glaze that looks like the metal effect you would like and glaze the horse and fire to cone 10 for durability. You can also use low fire metallic glazes - there is a larger selection of colors there and low fire again in the second firing. I have done work in both of these had success. Duncan has a line of low fire glazes you can look up on almost any art supply and craft supply store online.