Brief Introduction | Lost Wax Casting | CENTRAL DOGMA

1. Creative design
The creative concept is rendered in drawings.

2. Prototype Forming
Following the drawings, clay is carved out to the desired shape with precision.

3, Making a Silicone Mold
A mold is formed by encasing the prototype with layers of silicone and stabilized with plaster.

4. Making a Wax Model
Molten wax is poured into the silicone negative mold. After the wax cools naturally, it remains encased by silicone and plaster.

5. Removing the Wax Model
The cooled wax model is removed from the silicone and plaster. As wax is easily damaged wherever there are hollowed out space and inverted angles, extreme care and dexterity are therefore a must.

6. Trimming the Wax Model
Since the wax model tends to shrink or deform when cooled, and the surface is easily scored or imprinted with marks from the mold, careful trimming is required.

7. Making a Plaster Mold
After trimming, the wax model is encased in plaster to create a heat-resistant plaster mold.

8. Removing the Wax
The plaster mold, still containing wax, is then placed in a steamer, allowing wax to be released through the gate. After the wax has been ‘lost,’, a heat-resistant plaster negative mold remains.

9. Choosing Raw Materials
Glass materials of appropriate sizes and colors are selected to match the design. After that, each piece of glass is thoroughly washed and cleaned.

10. Positioning the Raw Materials
To accurately control the proportion of colors and their flow pattern, the glass must be positioned carefully in the mold as precisely as the design.

11. Heating in the Kiln
After the mold is cleaned of dust, the plaster mold with its glass material is placed in the kiln and slowly heated to approximately 850oC. When the glass softens to the consistency of malt sugar, it melts slowly and slump into every corner and crevice of the mold.

12. Removing the Plaster Mold
After the annealing process is completed, the mold is removed from the kiln and carefully cut open, releasing the rough casting.

13. Cutting
After the rough casting has been removed from the mold, excess glass remaining around the gate is cut away.

14. Grinding and Polishing
As the cut surface is still rough, the gate area and any seam marks are ground flushed and polished. At this stage, special attention and adjustment are made so that the piece will sit at a desired angle.

15. Cold Working and Fine Trimming
To highlight the delicate details of the work made by pate de verre, diamond tip brush and sand blaster are used for trimming.

16. More Polishing
Further polishing is done on a cloth polishing wheel and this process repeated until the work takes on the lustrous character of glass.

17. Signing and packaging
After final inspection, a signed certificate with serial number is affixed and the work is packaged and completed.