The first step in the lost wax process is to create a wax model of the piece to be cast. A charcoal brazier warms the artist’s simple tools. Creating the wax model, the artist is guided by examples from the natural world. For example; the eyes ought to be shaped like a small fish or a lotus petal; the arms of a female figure should taper like an edible root. These guidelines, formalized in the fifth century'''s Gupta Period, are the structure within which the sthapathi is free to express his vision. Sthapathi will often meditate on the deities' deeds in a legend while he works the warm wax into an ideal human form with the transcendent qualities of the divine.

Here a wax Ganesh waits to be packed in a special mixture of local fine-grained river clay mixed with burned grain husks, salt and ground cotton. The model is slightly larger than when it is finished to allow for some loss in the casting process. One of the few differences in technique between the Chola Period and today is that in the Chola period detailing of the piece was completed during modeling, while today more extensive detailing is carried out with a fine chisel on the cast bronze. Therefore today'''s pieces feature finer and sharper detail than their ancient predecessors.

Clay molds shroud the wax models. Once dried in the sun, they are ready for baking in a fire of dried cow dung. As the mold bakes, melting wax flows from a hole in the bottom leaving the model’s negative image.

When asked how he knew when the clay was fired and ready, the master sthapathi simply replied: "Experience". Thirteen hundred years of traditional knowledge guides his hand.

A reclining Vishnu now lies free of its clay mold. With the wax model and its clay mold destroyed in the casting process, every lost wax piece is unique.

Finishing and detailing may require weeks of painstaking work and complete only when the master sthapathi is called upon to finish the face and ritually ''open the eyes' of the piece. Central to the worship of Chola bronzes is the concept of 'darshan', or sacred seeing. In darshan belief, not only does the devotee see the deity but the god in bronze 'sees' the worshipper as well. It is believed that only when the eyes are thus ritually opened does the piece truly come alive.

Once the handwork is complete, a process is often carried out to simulate a patina that would take many years to achieve naturally. Here a black patina is applied to a Rishabhavana, but Kaalita also offers a greenish or verdigris, or reddish patina as well. See our ''Bronze Collection' for both natural and processed patina examples.