Once the mold/mother mold is ready, three layers of wax are poured into it. This is a SKILL, in our case Fillipe is the artisan. The only photo I have of Filippe in action is with a smaller mold, and even so it takes a lot of muscle to rotate the mold so that the wax flows evenly in all directions. The first layer is called the print layer since it picks up the most minute details of the mold. This wax is at 220 degrees, so it looks like most of it runs back out of the mold, but that is the goal. The next two layers are at 180 degrees. Each layer is poured as soon as the earlier one sets, but before it is cool. The trick is to keep the layers adhered to each other, prevent air bubbles from occurring, keeping the entire finished wax at 3/8" to 1/4" in thickness, AND cover all the highest points completely. Fillipe is an extremely capable waxman.
The wax "panel" has to be subdivided into smaller units for the bronze pour. The goal is to keep the largest measurement at about 24" maximum. To prevent the thin wax from warping, the next stage --adding sprues--is done before the panel of wax is cut apart.
Sprues are solid lengths of wax which will eventually act as a conduit for the molten bronze. They look strange, but they should make sense soon.
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