In the down economy, it is important for sculptors to keep the cost of foundry service within the budget. With decades years’s experience on working in art casting. Tany Foundry would like to give some tips on how to save cost on foundry service.

Choosing an affordable sculpture foundry

The cost of sculpture casting service varies dramatically. One of the reason is the cost of labor and the technique they use. The cost difference is as much as twice or three times, depending on the size of your work. We suggest you to choose a foundry with

• Lost wax casting capacity when you have small or medium size works.

• Sand casting capacity when your have monumental bronze or aluminum sculpture to make. Sand casting can shorten the mold making process therefore reduce the related cost. However, it is not fitting for those sculpture with high details. You can seek local foundry with sand casting capacity ( there are not many in the US) or look for a foundry overseas.

It makes sense if using an oversea foundry can help you save cost significantly.

Choosing from a acceptable material for your project

There are several options of material for your sculptures.

• Bronze : most commonly used metal for sculpture. You can do different patina on it. Also, it is one of the most expensive among metal casting.
• Brass: lower bronze percentage than bronze and cheaper than bronze. Patina options are also less then bronze. However, if you plan to do painting on the metal instead of patina, there is few difference between bronze and brass.
• Aluminum: lighter and cheaper than bronze. It is an economical material and useful when your budget is limited. Please note unlike bronze, it is difficult to do patina on aluminum. Usually people do painting on aluminum.
• Stainless steel: it’s not so often used in art casting. Also, it is even more expensive than bronze. Stainless steel is more used in sculpture fabrication than casting.

Making mold and wax work yourself

It can save your money from foundry service if  you are able to make mold yourself. The charge of mold making varies among foundries, some takes up to 30% or higher of the total bronze casting cost.  Therefore, making mold can help you a portion of the total cost. From our experience, it costs much less in Asia foundry like Thailand or China.

Enlarge Sculpture with CNC milling instead of by Hand

CNC milling is more and more used in sculpture enlargement. Though it still requires for some touch up work on finishing, it can save your time and money significantly. One thing worth noting is that you need to pay more attention on your Maquette because any imperfection will become significant after enlargement.

Casting multiple pieces if possible.

It can save  you money if you can cast multiple pieces at the same time.  Foundry can cast the multiple pieces at one turn and the marginal cost is small.

If you have any tips on saving cost, please share with us. Thanks.