BRONZE CASTING COURSE

Bring the bronze age to life and discover how metal became the new tool eventually replacing stone.
This is a 2-day course during which you will make 2 bronze artefacts that will be yours to keep.

Day 1 Morning - Build a furnace capable of reaching temperatures of 1300 degrees and smelt copper from malachite.

Build a smelting furnace, using natural materials such as clay, grog, horse manure and deer hair.

Using a set of hand-made bellows we then bring the furnace up to temperature, crush Malachite and roast it.
We then empty the crucible into the charcoal so it can percolate down and transform into a copper ingot.
We will then use the furnace to pour a bronze replica of an axe into a mould so you can appreciate the full story of how the bronze age period began.

Day 1 Afternoon - Looking at lost wax casting techniques
Lost wax casting.
During this part of the course you will explore how to work wax into models that you are going to cast into bronze, you will see different types of wax and learn how to shape weld and vent your project,
After making the model in wax you will be shown how to invest it into a mould for casting.

Once we are happy that your wax model is well invested, they will be stored overnight to dry out and prepare for burning out and firing on day 2.
Following this, using modern casting sand you will learn how to pack a mould properly into pre-made wooden formers to flat cast bronze artefacts such as knives, axes and swords.

Day 2 - Burn out and casting
Your second day involves warming things up, first you burn out the wax and raise the temperature of the mould, while this is happening we will mix copper and tin to create our bronze in a crucible using a gas furnace system. This ensures we have molten metal at the exact time we need it. once you have made your project we will clean away any flash or irregularities to produce a finished work of art in bronze.

This course can accommodate 5 attendees.  To place a booking and see available dates please go to events.

This two-day course is available for £375 per person. Spaces are limited so please confirm early. This course is self catered, refreshments included.