Expectation: bronzed sculpture of an expectant couple

Description

This is a cast of a pregnant couple, made using a variation of the cold cast bronze approach. The sculpture is 21cm high, by 11 cm deep and 10 cm wide. The pose is inspired by the tenderness and capacity for love at this stage in a couple’s lives together, together with the hopes and fears for the future that pregnancy inspires.

The process I used to make the sculpture results in a reasonably heavy sculpture – as I find it disconcerting to pick up a light bronzed cast. In this case the couple weighs almost 2kg, which is enough to have a feeling of substance in the hand.

The original pattern was a study of the couple made in oil clay, from which silicone rubber mould was taken. The cast is then made from a hard plaster that has a portion of resin included in the overall mix. This is hand finished to make sure that all of the details are right and to eliminate and flaws from the casting process. The piece is now covered in a layer of “liquid bronze” which coats the whole in a very fine layer of bronze, to which a verdigris patina is applied. Lastly the whole is coated with a layer of wax both to protect the sculpture and to provide a rich tone to the patina.