Recommended Clay Modeling Tools

Anyone who’s studied with me knows that I make my own wooden clay-modeling tools. Students often ask though, where to purchase tools?… and what type would I recommend? Here are a few basic types that are the most used in my collection, and links to purchase similar tools:

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These tools are modeled after the Tiranti B-Series Professional Hard Wood Modeling Tools.

Click on the image to go to their website .

Modeling tools: The three shown above are various sizes of the same design. The larger one is shown from above, while the smaller 2 are shown in profile. These are designed to push and pull clay around, to roll over curves effortlessly, and to leave minimal texture behind.

A drawing tool is extremely important. I don’t know of any commercially available models that I like- see what you can find!

My beloved Drawing Tool Design: based on a paring knife, thin, made of ebony, long, with a straight side that can be used to assess angles. This exact design is not available anywhere that I know of. I consider a drawing tool to be the most important tool in the kit. Some students have improvised with a butterknife, or a dental tool. I designed my first one by purchasing a ready-made tool and sanding it down to fit my needs. Draw, Draw, Draw!

The Paddle is way more useful than I ever imagined.

The Paddle…has become indispensable to me over the last few years. Initially used it for larger work only, but now I have it with me at all times. I make mine out of dense Wenge wood and I favor the rounded corners. I don’t know of a commercially available one, but a dense plank of hard wood will do in a pinch. Make sure it’s long, about an inch or more thick, and feels heavy!

You’ll need a lot of Loop Tools! All sizes, shapes, hardnesses, with and without teeth. Click on the picture to see Xiem Tools website for one of my current faves.

I have a lot of loop tools from tiny sharp wires to large, toothed monsters. I recommend you start collecting them. They are useful for reducing clay, cutting away with a clean slice. They give you more control than a wooden tool when reducing. They are also used often for shaping and surfacing.

The link provided is for “Xiem” tools. They sell the interchangeable wire tools with silicon handles: nicely shaped, comfortable to use, and come with or without teeth. Never throw out a loop tool- I’ll often adjust the shape using my bench grinder, or sharpen the edge, or add wrapping wire…sky is the limit. If you’re taking a class with me, make sure to have large and small wire loop tools.

One more recommendation…when available. Mark Schlicher, a Nashville based sculptor makes a good set of hardwood tools that are a similar style to what I’m showing and are priced reasonably. A great place to start. Write him to get on his mailing list if he’s out of stock: Click Here

The Americans, Show Posters with Process

I created these posters using images I shot throughout the casting process while preparing for my show, The Americans at Figure Ground Gallery in Seattle, WA . They provide insight into some of the beautiful moments I experience along the journey from idea to clay to bronze. Taken together with the text, they can tell the broad story of how a bronze is created, though there are myriad steps in between that I’ve not captured here. The show will be up throughout December 2023, please visit the gallery and see them in person alongside the completed bronzes.

Inspiration…

“Ideas for sculptures come in various ways. Often, I’m communicating a thought or feeling. Stacked Heads was inspired by a moment where I saw three separate The Builder heads piled on my workbench, with ceramic shell still clinging to the curls in the hair. I found the repetition soothing, while the varied angles

of each head created interest, excitement. Sometimes the industrial aesthetic of the foundry environment enhances the subtle beauty of a moment like this through contrast. I left much of the casting process apparent in the finished work as a reminder of the feeling of that original moment.”

Click Here to see the completed bronze of Stacked Heads .

Clay…

“Though sculptures can begin with a wide range of materials, clay is my preferred medium for working out compositions and ideas. It’s an incredible substance in that it can be pushed, stretched, or moved and maintain the shape it’s placed in spontaneously (a quality called “plasticity”). Because I create these figures from imagination, the identity of the subject isn’t static: a single character will morph many times as I struggle with who I want the character to become.”

Clay of The Builder in progress

Click Here to See the Bronze of The Builder

Wax Work…

“The first step in lost wax bronze casting is to create a wax (using a mold in this case). The wax is a replica of the clay. It’s often surprising to students how much work needs to be done in the wax stage to prepare it for casting. For technical reasons, it’s often best to remove and cast separately certain parts of the wax, which will be welded back into place when the piece emerges as a bronze. Channels must be created to direct the bronze into the piece, and air out of the piece. Wax work is often a challenging puzzle, an aesthetic exercise, and a painstaking process. The appearance and design of the wax determines the quality of the final bronze in many ways.”

Click Here to see the completed bronze of Resting Equilibrium.

Gating the Wax…

“The wax will eventually become a negative space in the shell. Channels are designed to direct the flow of hot metal into the piece, allow wax and air to escape the shell, support the piece during the

subsequent stages, and minimize shrinkage of the bronze. Each sculpture being a unique shape, the gating has to be carefully considered for the challenges specific to that shape. Ultimately, it’s important to imagine how the 2000 degree bronze will flow through the channels, how gravity will help or hinder the process, and how to maximize the filling of the shell.”

Click Here to see the completed bronze of Reverie and Abundance .

Building the Shell…

When the wax is ready and gated, it’s coated through a dipping process with ceramic shell. The hollow piece is coated inside and out with the shell material. It takes several dips to build up the strength and thickness of the mold to the desired level and the shell must dry for roughly 2 hours between each dip.

Building the shell can take a few days to a week. When the dipping is completed, shell will be fired in a kiln at 1750 degrees (F). This will strengthen the shell, and remove the wax from inside it, leaving an empty space that is a replica of the original sculpture. This empty space is where the molten bronze will be poured into.

The “Fit Up”…

After the metal has been poured into the shell, and the shell has been broken from the bronze, the metal work begins. It’s important to ensure that the

pieces fit back together for welding. This image shows the successful “fit up” of The Builder , with 5 pieces to be welded. It’s often during the wax stage that the relative success of the fit up will be determined. Taking the time to ensure that the pieces fit together in wax will save time in welding and may lead to a better result.

The Welding Halo…

A process called TIG welding is used most commonly in bronze casting to reattach the parts that were separated in wax. It’s precise and versatile. Through an electric arc, the area of the weld is heated rapidly to 2000 degrees, melting the metal and allowing the 2 sides to fuse. Because bronze is mostly copper (96%) it conducts heat better than steel, for example, and it requires more heat to fuse it (as heat dissipates quickly away from the weld).

Because the metal becomes hot, it reacts with oxygen in the environment and a rainbow halo forms, radiating outward from the weld site which is hottest. This effect is fugitive, unfortunately, but lovely to witness.

Click Here to see the completed bronze of Distant Storm Tall Grasses.

Sandblasting…

“The bronze goes through many states during the process of lost wax casting. The metal may change color and appearance. The welds will be blended back into the surface through grinding and polishing.

The process of sandblasting cleans and equalizes the surface of the metal, unifying the appearance and revealing the satin sheen and golden-coppery color of the bronze. After the trauma that the piece has sustained throughout the lost wax casting process, it’s a positive feeling to watch the forms emerge again, often with the original fingerprints of the artists still intact on the surface. It’s remarkable how rough the process seems, and how fine the results can be.”

Click Here to see the finished bronze of The Bashful Torso

Building in the Time of COVID by Alicia N. Ponzio

I recently wrote an article for the National Sculpture Society NorCal Chapter’s newsletter. In it, I shared some part of my experience with the COVID-19 lockdown. I’m POSTING MY article below. If you’d like to receive the ENTIRE newsletter, contact the NSS NorCal chapter to be included in mailings.

The COVID-19 Pandemic has taken so much from individuals and families around the world. My heart goes out to those that have lost friends and family members to the virus, and to those that are currently dealing with the disease...as well as so many who have suffered the loss of their livelihoods. Their losses are all of our losses.

Concept Sketches in Clay , Alicia N. Ponzio 2020

The Lockdown

Between pouring bronze with fellow artists at the collective foundry space where I cast my work, and teaching classes in my studio, my life before COVID-19 was more socially oriented. When the Shelter-in-Place orders were issued, there was no choice but to  interrupt my studio classes in San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood. The foundry where I cast and weld my pieces was next to shudder. As the weeks wore on, I canceled workshops in various states and abroad. Each time a workshop was approaching, we’d wait a bit, thinking perhaps this situation would be under control by then.... as the reality set in that the situation would not resolve quickly I adapted in some ways: teaching private lessons on zoom, working on commissions in plaster or charcoal drawings. I felt bewildered at first without the bronze casting process; but more importantly, I missed connecting with my fellow artists that I work alongside at the foundry. There is a special bond that grows between human beings when we create things together. 

Neighbors and friends began moving away, as their finances wore thin due to the extended lockdown. Before long, the shelves at the grocery store were cleaned out by mid day and there was not a scrap of toilet paper to be found. One could drive from my studio in North Beach to the foundry in Oakland in less than 15 minutes (unheard of on a normal day) as the city streets went quiet and the storefronts, dark.  Indeed the world seemed to stand still for a moment. Like so many others, I planted an herb garden and took time to contact friends and family for video chats. During the most restrictive part of the lockdown, I returned to the “place” where I feel most at home and most protected: I poured my feelings into clay. Sculpting is at the core of my existence; and so during that pause, I returned to simply exploring emotions through form. 

The Builder (working title), clay in progress, Alicia N. Ponzio 2020

Exploration Through Sketching

For some days, I made rough little sketches out of oil based clay with no armature and no detail. Often the sketch would begin as one idea only to morph into a very different one. The small scale and lack of armature gave me the freedom to allow that to happen. For me, sketching is a conversation between the idea and its physical form. I’ll have something in my mind that I would like to express, I’ll take a small amount of clay and create the simplest possible representation of that idea. Generally, I’ll spend very little time on it, sometimes limiting the time I spend on each to 30 minutes. When I can see the idea in the clay, I can interact with it in space, contemplate how it relates to my original idea, and develop it. Sometimes it will inspire new ideas, sending me down an entirely different path.

After a few days of sketching, one of the sketches spoke to me more than the others.  The figure in the pose is crouched on a horizontal plinth.  She’s building a structure out of the material of the plinth, digging and modeling the material as if it is mud or clay. The pose is deliberately reminiscent of that of a child playing in a sandbox. She appears to be apprehensive, looking back over her shoulder as if she’s worried about being seen. I revisited the pose in 4 or 5 separate sketches before I decided to develop it in a larger format. 

The Builder (working title), clay in progress, Alicia N. Ponzio 2020

Developing the Concept Further 

“The Builder”  (working title) is an archetype representing the human urge toward creativity. For some, creativity is expressed through art. For many others it inspires them to build a home, a family, a community, business, a new invention, or a unique solution to a problem.  There is excitement and hope in the process of imagining something in our minds, and bringing it into existence in the physical world. The act of creating tends to generate momentum that can pass between individuals and organizations.  To me, creativity is a form of freedom that many individuals are currently denied or must exercise at their own peril. While sketching this idea, I had in mind the millions of refugees who have in recent years left their homelands around the world because the sociopolitical environment there does not allow them to thrive. The desire to create, and the unique way we express it, forms an integral part of our identity as human beings. 

The Builder (working title), detail of clay in progress, Alicia N. Ponzio 2020

I’m currently working on the piece at a 36” scale (roughly 18” tall in crouching position).  I often work from imagination and that’s the case with this piece. The wonderful and maddening aspect of working from imagination, is that there is no limit to the likeness or pose: she could become anything, look like anyone. In the end, she represents thousands of choices that I have made, alone in my studio. Some of the details come from memories of people I have seen on the street or known, poses that I have observed while looking out the car window, people I have sculpted in the past, and/or trying the pose myself to experience how my body reacts to it. I envision at least 2 other figures that will be part of this series and relate to this figure. The shape of the plinth will create a visual theme that ties the figures together spatially. 

Reflecting on the Process to Date

Progress with The Builder was slow at the outset, reflecting the fears and doubts that the Pandemic had sown in my mind. As I continue to work on it I’ve gained some momentum. Learning to connect with people in new ways and finding ways to create even during the lockdown have bolstered my confidence and hope. Long after it has been resolved and cast, it will tell the story of my personal experiences with the Pandemic and lockdown; and hopefully others will connect with the imagery and find a piece of their story in it as well. 

Lost Wax Method: described in images

I've always appreciated and admired craft...

...and since I began casting bronzes of my own work, I've wanted to learn the process from the inside out. I notice a subtle but tangible quality in works that were created by artists who understand the process and/or execute it with their own hands. It allows me be present for the artistic decisions that can be made along the way, and opens my mind to the possibilities of the medium. In short, it creates a shorter path between imagination and tangible object. 

For the past year or so, I've been studying foundry work and casting some of my works at The Crucible, an industrial arts school in Oakland,  just a few BART stops from my studio door.

Here's an overview of the Lost Wax Process, following the story of one bronze:  the Little Laughing Lady...

THE ORIGINAL

This six-inch figure will take us through the basic steps of casting a bronze. I modeled it directly in microcrystalline wax  (which is the most commonly used at foundries). 

We'll be using the Lost Wax Method of casting in bronze: essentially the same process that has been used to cast bronze for approximately 6000 years, though technology has streamlined it. 

This will be a direct casting, meaning that the original wax will be used to create the bronze, and will be destroyed in the process. (as opposed to making a mold of the piece so that multiple waxes could be made and cast into bronze)... but in this case, she'll be unique.

GATING THE WAX 

"Gates" are channels that allow the bronze to flow into the form of the figure, and air to flow out. The gates (seen in red here) are bars of wax that are attached to the figure using heat to melt the two surfaces as they contact each other.

The number of gates and position varies depending on the unique form of the piece, so it takes some experience and practice ( sometimes humility) to become proficient at gating.

Oh yes... it also takes imagination. One must imagine how the molten bronze will flow into the piece, and what obstacles it will encounter... and try to overcome them proactively. 

The Pattern

All of the positive shapes you see in the wax will become negative shapes, or empty spaces, in the later stages of the process.

The plan is for the bronze to be poured into the funnel-shaped cup at the top. It will then flow downward through the large central gate or "sprue", as it's often referred to. 

The thinner red gates are called "vents". They will channel air upward, out of the figure, and facilitate the flow of bronze into all areas of the figure. 

Planning the pour

The gated wax must be weighed to determine how much bronze to use in the pour. We'll use 10 pounds of bronze per 1 pound of wax. 

This time the gated wax weighed about 1 pound, so the math was easy. 

Building the Shell 

The gated wax is dipped into a liquid binder ("slurry"), and then coated with silica granules. The first layer, seen here, is with very fine granules which capture the details and textures of the piece. Successive layers will use more coarse granules to strengthen the mold. 

10 layers are applied; and each layer must be allowed to dry for at least 2 hours before the next is applied. It generally takes a few days to a week to apply all of the layers for me (depending on my schedule that week). 

The completed shell 

Here's how the completed shell looks. It's yellow when applied (right).

To the far right, the shell has been "de-waxed". It was fired in a kiln at 1250 degrees. This process removes the wax, creating space for the bronze. It also fuses the granules of silica, strengthening and completing the shell. The yellow pigment disappears in the firing process. 

...With the shell turned on it's side, you can see the opening where the bronze will be poured into the shell (left).

The Pour

Bronze ingots are heated in the furnace (behind me) to around 2000 degrees (F). There's time for a photo shoot while waiting for the bronze to fuse.

 

See the video below to watch a bronze pour (that's me on the right!): 

Immediately after the Pour...

....(below, left), the bronze is still liquid. It cools rapidly (below, right), and a few minutes later is in a solid form again. As it cools it shrinks slightly, causing the shell to begin cracking. This begins the work of the next step, which is breaking the piece out of the shell.  

Breaking the Shell

Next, the ceramic shell is removed. In this case using a hammer, chisels, and pneumatic chisel to cause vibrations in the metal to loosen the shell. The bronze emerges. As you can see below on the right, the gates also filled with bronze, and emerge as part of the piece. Removing the gates will be a large part of the work that remains to be done. The surface of the metal must also be cleaned to reveal it's local color. and prepare it for patina

Metal Work 

Once the shell is completely removed, there's always metal work to do. Here's the Little Laughing Lady in the grinding room, just after a good sandblasting to clean the metal. As you can see, the gates are still present and will need to be cut off with an angle grinder. Then the areas where gates are removed will need refinishing. Bronze is actually quite a forgiving surface to shape and work on: repairs can be invisible if done well. In this case, the metal work is quite simple as it's only a matter of removing extra material. Most often when casting larger, and/or more complex pieces, parts must be welded. 

And the gates are removed...

To the right, the Little Laughing Lady is shown with her separated gates and cup. The majority of the metal used in the pour doesn't end up in the piece. The metal from the gates will be re-used (and can be re-used an infinite number of times). Very little is wasted. 

The piece is now ready for patina, and to be mounted on a base...so I guess the casting is complete.

Thanks for reading along!

Here She Is...

I went with a very light cold patina of liver sulfate, just to darken the recesses. I wanted to show off the natural color of the beautiful bronze. The surface is protected with paste wax to keep it from darkening too quickly.