It was necessary to make a strong framework to support the clay, just like a pillar in a house. More than a ton of rolled steel and steel wire was used to make the framework. Starting with its feet, the framework was firstly set up by piecing together the rolled steel according to the model, as clay is soft and wet, the sculptors needed to make some wooden sheets to support the clay to avoid falling. The whole framework, which was little smaller and thinner than the completed sculpture, looked like a huge skeleton.
Step Four: Rubber Mold
The rubber mixture is applied directly to the surface of the clay, using a brush to paint it onto the surface of original clay and fixed with plaster, wooden bar and hemp.
Step Five: Making Wax Mold
The sculptor brushed wax onto rubber mold several times and made up the form of sculpture.
Step Six: Bronze Casting
Bronze casting was the most important part to fabricate the large sculpture. In this step, both sand-casting and lost-wax casting are applied.
Step Eight: Patina
After the sculpture was installed, the last step is doing patina on bronze. Before doing it, it is necessary to ensure the sculpture was clean and free of oil and grease by scrubbing it with a weak "pickle" solution of nitric acid. The craftsmen sand blast the bronze, and a couple coats of ferric nitrate, ammonium sulfide was applied to darken the sculpture and add some cooler silver and gray color. Surely, patina risen the bronze sculpture and it looked more solemn.
