Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Paint horse lovers! A bronze mare and foal galloping together

"Euphoria!" This bronze sculpture of a Paint mare and foal will gallop into your heart.

This is a limited edition bronze sculpture. The edition size is 50.
The size of these beautiful bronze horses is approximately 16 inches high on a 10" by 15" rich walnut wood base. It is available with custom patina to match your horses markings. The bronze sculpture is shown here in a buckskin overo Paint horse finish.

The loving communication between mother and baby is captured in this timeless bronze sculpture.

This bronze statue of mare and colt frolicking together captures the joy of movement shared between the two horses.

The unconditional love between a mother and baby is an extraordinary bond which can be found in horses. The caring instinct of a mare for her foal creates an amazing connection between the two which is difficult to fully describe.

Contact the artist: Kim Corpany (801)845-5168 or email kim@corpany.com

See more bronze sculptures of Paint horses at www.corpany.com

he silent, loving communication between mother and baby is captured in this timeless bronze sculpture. 

Friday, May 6, 2016

A few words about reining horse gifts and bronze reining horse sculptures.

bronze horse sculpture lady on reining horse
Reining horse bronze horse sculpture - Lady Reiner
I love sculpting a reining horse in action. They are so amazing and athlethic to ride.
I have been showing reining horses for over 20 years, and yet I still learn more about the balance and movement of a reining horse when I sculpt them.
The best reining horses and riders operate together to the point that the curve of the spine and roll of the pelvis of both horse and rider match in a good sliding stop.
The movement of the reining horse and rider are synchronized to the point that if I see the form in which the rider sits the sliding stop, I can have a pretty darn accurate idea of how hard that rider's horse will be stopping.This also works the other way around. If I can observe the form and body of the
Reining horse bronze horse sculpture and door knocker.
Reining horse bronze horse sculpture and door knocker horse, I know what the matching form of the rider must be in order for the horse to slide stop with that intensity
I really enjoyed spending time with this beautiful champion reining horse as I sculpted his likeness for this bronze reining horse door knocker. The slide plate horse shoe that is a part of this door knocker is a direct bronze copy of one of this wonderful horse's horse shoes.
This bronze reining horse door knocker makes a wonderful gift for the reining horse rider in your life.

See more of my bronze horse sculptures at:
www.corpany.com

Monday, May 2, 2016

Creating a custom bronze horse sculpture. The process of turning a clay sculpture into a bronze casting.

Bronze Horse Sculptures

Creating a Custom Bronze Horse Sculpture: 

I recently gave a presentation at the Silver State Select Horse Expo in Reno, Nevada 
teaching about how a bronze sculpture is made.  

The process of creating a finished bronze horse sculpture from a clay model is a 

complex one involving many steps, time and many hands working on the sculpture 

through the different parts of the process. 

 How a bronze horse sculpture is made
















This bronze horse sculpture of a running thoroughbred stallion was first modeled 

in clay. In the photo we can see a supporting pipe going up into the horse's belly. 

It is part of the armature that supports the clay.

Next, the clay version of the bronze horse is 

coated with liquid rubber & the rubber is 

allowed to set up.Subsequent layers of rubber 

are added after each coat dries.  

After the third coat of rubber, aluminum shims 

are added to allow the mold to be opened and 

the clay horse sculpture removed from the 

finished rubber mold.


Mesh fabric is embedded in the rubber after the fourth 

coat of rubber to give the mold strength, then more 

coats of rubber are added to finish the rubber part of 

the mold over the horse sculpture. 

Paper shims are added to divide the pieces of the 

fiberglass Mother Mold. The fiberglass "mother mold" 

is then built around the rubber mold

The finished mold is then cut apart, removed from the 

clay model and reassembled. 

Wax is then poured into the mold and the hollow wax 

sculpture is cut into pieces to allow it to make a good 

casting. 

A bronze sculpture must be hollow in order for the 

bronze to cast well.  The walls of the wax piece must 

be relatively thin, 1/4 inch or less.  In bronze casting, 

a thin bronze is a good bronze because there will be 

less shrinkage or distortion in the sculpture.  A good 

bronze sculpture casting that is thin reproduces the

fine details of the artists original work without distortion. 

The wax pieces are then attached to a wax cup with 

wax "straws" or sprews.
The horse sculpture head shown is a hollow wax copy 

of the original clay model which has been attached to a 

wax cup with "sprews" or "gates" which are solid wax straws. 

The wax is then coated in slurry and covered 

with sand.The first layers of sand are a fine grit that picks 

up all of the detail of the sculpture, even down to the

artists fingerprints that were left on the piece. Then the 

later layers are a coarse sand to add strength to the shell.

Successive layers of slurry and sand begin to build a 

ceramic or "rock" shell around the wax.


Next comes the step that the lost wax bronze casting 

process is named for.

The "rock" or ceramic shell that coats the wax sculpture 

is then placed in a burnout furnace where the wax is flash

melted out and the shell is heated to about 1800 degrees.

At the same time, bronze ingots are heated in the crucible 

furnace until they are liquid and also about 1800 degrees. 

The shell is then pulled out of the burnout furnace and 

placed in a sand filled cart which is wheeled under the 

crucible where bronze has been heated until it is molten. 

The next step in the lost wax bronze casting process.

Molten liquid bronze is then poured into the red hot

ceramic shell. 



The ceramic shell filled with molten bronze is then 

set aside to cool.  
When it has cooled and the metal is once again 

solid, the shell is broken off to reveal the bronze

sculpture.





The raw bronze pieces are then sandblasted to 

clean them, and any parts that were cut off to 

cause the piece to cast better are welded back on. 

The welds on the bronze sculpture are ground 

down and then re-textured in a process called 

"metal chasing". A final sandblast and check are 

then done on the bronze sculpture to prepare it for 

the patina or color.
The raw bronze horse sculpture is sandblasted and 

ready for patina. A bronze sculpture, if left in this raw

state will naturally go darker and darker, eventually 

becoming nearly black, or if exposed to moisture, 

green, due to the copper content of the bronze metal. 


 Bronze running stallion horse sculpture with bay patina

The finished bronze horse sculpture after patina 

(color) is then applied by the use of chemicals and 

heat processes to change the color of the metal, 

The finish is then sealed with a coat of hot wax, and 

the piece is mounted on a beautiful walnut wood base.


See more bronze horse sculptures by Kim Corpany

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

How a bronze horse sculpture is made. Shipping and installing





Follow the Arabian bronze horse monument to Abu Dhabi where it is installed in front of the Al Forsan resort. A larger than life size bronze equestrian monument like this is not simple to ship. In order to air freight this horse statue to it's destination, we finished and sandblasted the entire piece at the foundry, then cut it into large sections, crated and air freighted it.

When our crates arrived, we reassembled the parts, added the reins, sandblasted the entire bronze horse, applied patina and installed it on it's pedestal outside the front gates of the resort.

See more bronze horse sculptures by Kim Corpany at www.corpany,com

Friday, April 1, 2016

Building a one and one half life size bronze horse and rider Part Three

This larger than life size bronze horse statue was sculpted in clay.  A mold was then made from the clay model and wax was poured into that mold.  The wax was then "invested" or dipped in a liquid ceramic slurry and coated with sand to create a thick, hard ceramic shell surrounding the wax.  That ceramic shell was then heated to remove the wax and molten bronze was poured into the hot shell.  The pieces of the cast bronze were then welded together and textured to erase any seam lines from the welding.
Kim then traveled a team of two master foundrymen, Dan Snarr and Trevor McEntire from Atlas Bronze Casting in Kearns, Utah to Abu Dhabi, UAE where they reassembled the bronze horse and rider, sandblasted, applied patina, and installed the Arabian bronze monument on site. 
We left off with the pieces of the monumental heroic size bronze being finished and sealed with patina...
Kim Corpany standing next to the finished bronze. The giant bronze horse and rider sculpture is now ready to be installed on the plynth or pedestal being prepared for it.
Giant Bronze Horse Sculpture ready to be moved.
Giant Bronze Horse Sculpture ready to be moved. Trevor is standing on the horses back awaiting the crane.

Lifting the 1 and 1/2 life-size bronze horse and rider onto the truck for transport to the front gates of Al Forsan.
Lifting the 1 and 1/2 life-size bronze horse and rider onto the truck for transport to the front gates of Al Forsan.

Trevor riding along with the Giant bronze horse
Trevor riding along with the Giant bronze horse to keep an eye on its safety as it is taken to the front gates for installation.
Once again the giant bronze horse statue is rigged to a crane.
Once again the giant bronze horse statue is rigged to a crane. This time an even bigger crane will lift it.
The bronze horse takes flight.
The bronze horse takes flight. The crane carries the statue over the front gates to the pedestal it will be placed on.
  The bronze horse sculpture being placed on the pedestal.
The bronze horse sculpture being placed on the pedestal.
Preparing to anchor the massive bronze horse and rider to the pedestal.
Preparing to anchor the massive bronze horse and rider to the pedestal.
Some of the workers who built the pedestal look on while Trevor prepares the pedestal for the anchors which will hold the bronze sculpture in place.
Now the bronze statue is ready to be placed and anchored down.
The artisans will clad the cement plynth with beautiful black granite with copper flecks in it. Meanwhile, this tall plywood wall is built around the bronze monument in order to conceal it until its unveiling.
The finished giant Arabian horse and the sheikh,
The finished giant Arabian horse and the sheikh,

The finished Al Forsan Bronze Monument of Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nayan galloping on an Arabian horse.  This monument is located at Al Forsan International Sports Resort in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

Lifting the 1 and 1/2 life-size bronze horse and rider onto the truck for transport to the front gates of Al Forsan.

Monday, March 28, 2016

Building a one and one half life size bronze horse and rider Part Two

This larger than life size bronze horse statue was sculpted in clay.  A mold was then made from the clay model and wax was poured into that mold.  The wax was then "invested" or dipped in a liquid ceramic slurry and coated with sand to create a thick, hard ceramic shell surrounding the wax.  That ceramic shell was then heated to remove the wax and molten bronze was poured into the hot shell.  The pieces of the cast bronze were then welded together and textured to erase any seam lines from the welding.
Kim then traveled a team of two master foundrymen, Dan Snarr and Trevor McEntire from Atlas Bronze Casting in Kearns, Utah to Abu Dhabi, UAE where they reassembled the bronze horse and rider, sandblasted, applied patina, and installed the Arabian bronze monument on site. 
We left off with the pieces of the monumental heroic size bronze being welded together... 
The bronze horse and rider are welded together, the welds blended away and textured and it is ready for sandblasting in order to make an even finish over the entire piece.

Sandblasting the giant bronze horse.
Sandblasting the entire giant bronze horse.
Adding the patina to the bronze horse.

Friday, March 25, 2016

Building a one and one half life size bronze horse and rider Part One

The finished Al Forsan monument in place in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

Making a bronze monument: This larger than life size bronze horse statue was sculpted in clay.  A mold was then made from the clay model and wax was poured into that mold.  The wax was then "invested" or dipped in a liquid ceramic slurry and coated with sand to create a thick, hard ceramic shell surrounding the wax.  That ceramic shell was then heated to remove the wax and molten bronze was poured into the hot shell.  The pieces of the cast bronze were then welded together and textured to erase any seam lines from the welding.
The finished clay sculpture of the Arabian Knight. It is shown here ready for the mold making process to begin.
The entire bronze monument was them sandblasted for an even finish on the metal.
Shims are added to divide the sculpture into sections and mold is painted on.
Because of the size of this bronze monument and the region of the world to which it was delivered, we then cut the monument into large sections to be crated in order to fit the size requirements for crates that can be shipped by air frieght to Abu Dhabi.
Sliding the sections of the bronze horse together.
Kim using a grinder to smooth and re-texture the welds while Dan works on welding the tail onto the horse.
Dan and Trevor attaching the upper body of the bronze Sheikh.
Welding the bronze Arabian horse's head in place.

Coming soon...   finishing the 1 and 1/2 life-size bronze horse and rider for Al Forsan.

See more of my bronze horse sculptures at www.corpany.com