Lost Wax Cast Brass Elephant’s Boot

Tender’s Elephant Boot is lost wax cast in England from solid brass. It takes its shape from the boots worn by the elephant in the mortised cut advertising Nevada, the land of plenty, from which Tender takes its label.

To produce the boot, Tender’s potter made a model from red clay, which was buscuit fired, but not glazed, so as to keep as much definition in the sculpture as possible. This master was then used to make a mould, into which wax is poured. Before packing the wax in plaster, and running in molten brass, one of Tender’s Plautus face jeans buttons is first heated up and pressed into the wax sole of the boot, leaving a brand which will appear in the finished casting.

Once the brass has cooled within the plaster mould, the plaster is broken away with a hammer and the risers are filed off the boot, which is finally tumbled with marble chips to remove any sharp edges.

The boot measures approximately 3″ (7½cm) tall, and weighs around 14oz (400g).