Testimonials & comments - Kim Corpany's bronze horse sculptures

 From your initial consultation to the finished bronze horse sculpture you are involved in the process. 

Kim Corpany creates custom statues of horses using photographs and measurements as well as by observing the real horse or video of the actual horse in action whenever possible. This allows Kim to more accurately capture the spirit and personality of each unique individual horse.

Your input and ideas become a custom bronze sculpture of your horse!
Usual terms to begin work on your bronze horse sculpture are 50% down payment  and then the final payment on the piece is due when the bronze horse sculpture is ready to ship.

You will receive progress photos from the initial sketches through the process of sculpting your horse in clay. Then, following your approval of the clay model, a mold is made from that clay horse sculpture and the bronze horse sculpture will follow the steps of the time honored lost wax bronze casting method.

Wax will be poured into the mold to create a hollow wax replica of the clay horse.

That wax horse sculpture is then dipped into a liquid ceramic and coated in sand. Subsequent layers of ceramic slurry and sand are built up on the wax sculpture, with time allowed between coats for each layer to dry thoroughly. This builds a 'rock' or ceramic shell around the wax piece. The foundry then heats this ceramic shell to approximately 1700 degrees in a furnace melting out the wax and heating the shell at the same time. Meanwhile a separate furnace heats and melts bronze ingots in a crucible to the same temperature.

When the metal and ceramic shell have reached the necessary temperature, the molten metal is then poured into the ceramic shell. The shell is then allowed to cool. When the shell is cool it is cracked off of the bronze sculpture inside using hammers and chisels. The parts of the new bronze horse sculpture are then sandblasted to remove any remaining ceramic shell and the pieces are welded together by metal chasers. These foundry workers are artists in their own right, as they weld the pieces together and then grind and texture the welds to match the rest of the bronze sculpture so that after the piece is given a final sandblasting, any seams disappear.

The bronze sculpture can then goes into the hands of the patina artist who applies color to the piece using the heat of a torch and various acids and chemicals to create chemical reactions on the surface of the bronze metal. A wide variety of patinas are possible and we can color your bronze sculptures to meet your desired finish. If a base is desired on the bronze sculpture, it is added now, prior to shipping to the collector.