Introduction and Process of Lost-Wax Casting
- Lost-wax casting, also known as investment casting, precision casting, or cire perdue
- Duplicate sculptures are cast from an original sculpture
- Oldest known examples date back to approximately 6,500 years ago
- Found in various ancient civilizations such as Indus Valley and Mesopotamia
- Model-making: Original model created from wax, clay, or other materials
- Mouldmaking: Mould made of original model, usually with latex or silicone
- Wax: Molten wax poured into mould to create a coating
- Removal of wax: Hollow wax copy of the model is removed from the mould
- Chasing: Marks and imperfections on the wax copy are removed
- Additional Steps: Spruing, slurry, burnout, testing, pouring
- Finishing the Casting: Release, metal-chasing, filing down pits and sprue stubs
Lost-Wax Casting in Jewellery and Small Parts
- Wax model obtained from injection into a rubber mould or custom-made by carving
- Wax or waxes are sprued and fused onto a sprue base
- Investment (refractory plaster) is poured into the flask and hardened
- Casting is done using centrifugal casting or vacuum casting
Lost-Wax Casting in Different Regions and Cultures
- Textiles: Wax and textile are replaced by metal during casting process
- Glass sculptures: Lost-wax casting process used in production of cast glass sculptures
- Archaeological history: Examples found in various ancient civilizations such as Varna Necropolis, Nahal Mishmar hoard, Mesopotamia
- Black Sea: Cast gold objects found in burial mounds of ancient horse riding tribes
- Middle East: Oldest known examples found in Nahal Mishmar hoard in southern Land of Israel, used in Mesopotamia and Sumer
- Ancient Mediterranean: Examples found in Sardinia, Italy, and Etruscan bronze sculptures
- Ancient Greece: Limited availability of examples, underwater statues and shipwrecks as evidence
- East Asia: Rise of lost-wax casting in China and Japan
- Southeast Asia: Bronze casting in Thailand and Vietnam
- Africa and the Americas: Lost-wax casting tradition in Nigeria, Benin, Colombia, and Mexico
Literary and Direct Evidence of Lost-Wax Casting
- Allusions and mentions of lost-wax casting in early literary works from ancient Rome and Greece
- Indian literary sources such as the Shilpa Shastras and Vishnusamhita describe the use of wax for casting metal objects
- Theophilus Presbyter's treatise provides step-by-step procedures for lost-wax casting and examples of articles made using this method
Other Information and References
- Gallery: Examples of bronze sculptures cast using the lost-wax process
- Related techniques: Fusible core injection molding
- References: The Oxford English Dictionary definition of cire perdue, scholarly articles, and books on lost-wax casting.
Lost-wax casting Data Sources
| Reference | URL |
|---|---|
| Glossary | https://harryandcojewellery.com.au/blogs/glossary/lost-wax-casting |
| Wikipedia | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost-wax_casting |
| Wikidata | https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q765814 |
| Knowledge Graph | https://www.google.com/search?kgmid=/m/03lqg6 |