Editing Sculpture (section)

===Metal===
[[File:Refugees medal DSCF9937.JPG|thumb|[[Ludwig Gies]], cast iron [[plaquette]], 8 x 9.8 cm, ''Refugees'', 1915]]
[[Bronze]] and related [[copper alloy]]s are the oldest and still the most popular metals for [[Casting|cast]] metal sculptures; a cast [[bronze sculpture]] is often called simply a "bronze". Common bronze alloys have the unusual and desirable property of expanding slightly just before they set, thus filling the finest details of a mould. Their strength and lack of brittleness (ductility) is an advantage when figures in action are to be created, especially when compared to various [[ceramic]] or stone materials (see [[marble sculpture]] for several examples). [[Gold]] is the softest and most precious metal, and very important in [[jewellery]]; with [[silver]] it is soft enough to be worked with hammers and other tools as well as cast; [[repoussé and chasing]] are among the techniques used in gold and [[silversmithing]].

[[Casting]] is a group of manufacturing processes by which a liquid material (bronze, copper, glass, aluminum, iron) is (usually) poured into a mould, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowed to solidify. The solid casting is then ejected or broken out to complete the process,<ref name="jepsculpture">{{cite web | title = Flash animation of the lost-wax casting process | publisher = James Peniston Sculpture | url = http://www.jepsculpture.com/bronze.shtml | access-date = November 30, 2008 | archive-date = September 14, 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100914211709/http://www.jepsculpture.com/bronze.shtml | url-status = live }}</ref> although a final stage of "cold work" may follow on the finished cast. Casting may be used to form hot liquid metals or various materials that ''cold set'' after mixing of components (such as [[epoxy|epoxies]], [[concrete]], [[plaster]] and [[clay]]). Casting is most often used for making complex shapes that would be otherwise difficult or uneconomical to make by other methods. The oldest surviving casting is a copper Mesopotamian frog from 3200 BCE.<ref name=mco>{{Cite web| last = Ravi| first = B.| title = Metal Casting – Overview| publisher = Bureau of Energy Efficiency, India| year = 2004| url = http://www.emt-india.net/process/foundries/pdf/CDA1.pdf| access-date = July 3, 2011| archive-date = February 7, 2016| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160207225247/http://www.emt-india.net/process/foundries/pdf/CDA1.pdf| url-status = live}}</ref> Specific techniques include [[lost-wax casting]], plaster mould casting, and [[sand casting]].

[[Welding]] is a process where different pieces of metal are fused together to create different shapes and designs. There are many different forms of welding, such as [[Oxy-fuel welding]], [[Stick welding]], [[MIG welding]], and [[TIG welding]]. Oxy-fuel is probably the most common method of welding when it comes to creating steel sculptures because it is the easiest to use for shaping the steel as well as making clean and less noticeable joins of the steel. The key to Oxy-fuel welding is heating each piece of metal to be joined evenly until all are red and have a shine to them. Once that shine is on each piece, that shine will soon become a 'pool' where the metal is liquified and the welder must get the pools to join, fusing the metal. Once cooled off, the location where the pools joined are now one continuous piece of metal. Also used heavily in Oxy-fuel sculpture creation is forging. [[Forging]] is the process of heating metal to a certain point to soften it enough to be shaped into different forms. One very common example is heating the end of a steel rod and hitting the red heated tip with a hammer while on an anvil to form a point. In between hammer swings, the forger rotates the rod and gradually forms a sharpened point from the blunt end of a steel rod.