It’s time to talk about how they make the bronze and marble Buddhas that we find in all those temples and holy places and who knows where-all else. Because make them, the people of Myanmar certainly do. And in abundance.

Bronze Buddhas are still made (as they have been made here for millennia) using the lost-wax method. In this method, the finished statue is first carved in wax on top of a clay base mold. A second clay frame is then molded around the wax statue. Molten bronze is poured in between the two molds, melting the wax (which is therefore indeed lost) and filling the space that the wax had occupied. When the mold is cooled and broken open, the bronze statue inside is a perfect replica of the original wax statue. And every wax statue is indeed a unique original; each is hand-carved and then destroyed in the bronze casting process.

The workshop yard, filled with works in process

 

A finished wax image; behind to the left, a clay base on which a wax image will be carved

Behind the wax statue (upper right) is a finished mold ready for bronze pouring

And voila! A finished bronze statue!

You too can buy a bronze statue, either custom ordered or a standard design.

Pre-ordered and prepaid statues ready to ship to their purchasers

Statues offered for sale

Marble Buddhas are made in storefront workshops along a two- or three-block stretch of road in the outskirts of Mandalay. We chanced upon this area while driving…somewhere else…and our guide Zaw, knowing we like this sort of thing, stopped so that we could walk up and down the street and take pictures.

There was a kind of surreal weirdness seeing all these pristine white Buddhas and all manner of other beings just sitting or lying about, many without faces and yet facing in every direction. It’s the faceless ones that particularly enhance the surreal quality of the scene.

We particularly enjoyed watching the stone carvers at their work.