Mold-Making & Casting Course

Upon completion of every sculpture course the participants are given the option to keep their works through the process of casting. Raw clay is too fragile to be left without any further processing and typically can’t serve as the final sculpture material. Ceramic artists use the hollow-out techniques to air-dry and fire their clay works in specialized kilns. However, one can’t fire a solid sculpture with an internal armature, which limits an artist in size and complexity of the chosen subject.

The alternative and most common way of replicating clay sculptures in more durable materials involves mold-making and casting. Mold-making is the process of creating a hollow cavity with an exact impression of the sculpted form to reproduce it in plaster, resin, bronze and other long-lasting materials. The added advantage the molding gives a sculptor is the opportunity to produce multiple copies of the same piece and establish editions.

This process constitutes a crucial aspect of a sculptor’s workflow and requires extensive knowledge and skills. The Mold-Making & Casting Course offers participants the guided learning experience in the professional techniques aimed at preserving their sculptures in the form of lasting works of art. Mold-making and casting are time-consuming processes, therefore lessons take place daily over the period of 6 days. At the end of the course participants get to carry home the finished resin cast and a mold enabling them to create further copies of their sculpture.

The Mold-Making & Casting Course is optional but highly recommended to the participants who strive to understand the full process and preserve the works they created during the sculpture course. The lessons are also open to the new students who are welcome to bring the pieces created outside of the Berlin Sculpture Atelier which they’d like to mold and cast. However, due to the limited class size the priority with respect to place reservation is given to the participants of the current sculpture courses.

The materials used in the course include molding silicone, fiberglass and acrylic resin.

To learn more about the wide range of courses offered at the Berlin Sculpture Atelier, come join our monthly Presentation & Coffee event and get an insight into what it’s like to attend our lessons over a cup of coffee and cake.

In this course you will learn

• Mold-making techniques

• Casting a sculpture in acrylic resin

• Refinement of a cast

Included in the course

• Molding materials and equipment

• Instructions in English

• Drinks and snacks