natural bronze
About
Artist Portrait
During her childhood in Rome, Osanna and her sister Turchese would play with pieces of art created for their mother by Lucio Fontana, Mario Ceroli and Arnaldo Pomodoro. It could be said that the pieces she creates today are inspired by those wonderful memories, or, maybe, are a result of her own femininity….or maybe both. Visconti studied at Accademia della Moda e del Gioiello, apprenticed under the goldsmith Teresa Schwendt in Rome. In recent years, Osanna's attention has focused on objects and furnishings. Each of her creations is modelled by hand from wax, which is then fused in an art foundry.
From jewelry to bowls, lamps, stools and dining tables, Osanna charts her creative path through all dimensions, from the definitively small to the infinitely large, weaving her own universe as she goes.
Osanna never stops creating. Always in perpetual motion, her home doubles as a workshop where Osanna invents everything herself, from the color of her curtains to the designs she paints on the walls.
“I would define myself as an artisan because I love crafting things, but I also consider myself a designer. I love being in the art foundry, spending my days modelling with my hands.”
Lost-wax casting
All of Osanna's creations are fused in bronze using the lost-wax casting process, one of the oldest known metal-forming techniques dating back 6,000 years. This ancient process uses a negative form in which molten metal is cast. An initial wax sculpture is used to create a plaster mould. The wax model, which Osanna kneads and shapes by hand, is the defining element of her creations.
Craftsmanship
The Process
Phase 1: Modelling
The original model of the Artist, with unlimited material and undercuts.
Phase 2: Moulding
Creation of a mould in plaster and silicon, the first Negative.
Phase 3: Wax
From the negative a second positive is extracted, with a thickness of 5 mm.
Phase 4: Retouching
The artist retouches the wax by hand, ready to be transformed into Bronze.
Phase 5: Sprue Rods
Application of the sprue-rods: channels made of wood, wax or plastic, applied to direct the flux of the molten bronze during the casting phase.
Phase 6: Coverture
Coverture of the waxes and channels with a mixture of refractory material and plaster to create a cylinder, the second negative.
Coverture Phase
Phase 7: Drying
The refractory cylinder is heated at a temperature of up to 650°C in the furnaces of the art foundry for twelve days, in order to eliminate water, wax, sprue-rods and synthesize the refractory.
Phase 8: Casting
Casting at a temperature of 1200°C, the molten bronze runs in the void left by the channels, filling the interstice left by the lost wax.
Bronze Casting in Action
Phase 9: Extraction
Extraction of the Bronze from the refractory mould, which is grinded and recycled.
Phase 10: Cleaning and Sprue-Rods Cut
The Bronze is washed with a high-pressure water stream and the channels are removed.
Phase 11: Artistic Chiselling
The Sculpture is finely chiselled by hand, to remove all flaws and refine the volume and details of the wax model, preparing the surface for patina finishing.
Phase 12: Patina Finish
The final patina is applied, a chromatic surface of the colour selected by the client.
