Lost Wax Casting is a metal-casting technique that was employed to create southern Indian bronzes during the Chola period (9th–14th centuries).
The artist creates a wax model of the statue, which is then
covered in layers of clay.
The wax vaporizes when the clay is burned, leaving a clay
mold into which molten metal may be poured.
The clay mold is shattered after the metal has cooled,
exposing the statue.
Small flaws are manually removed, and the statue is polished
to a high sheen.
Because each wax picture and clay mold can only be used
once, this casting process yields fine detail and subtlety of expression, but
it is exceedingly time-consuming.
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