Custom Pattern Making

City of Elyria Project

At AC Wellman Products we have been making patterns since 1902! We can make custom patters for casting in Bronze, Aluminum, Pewter and soft white metals. Additionally, we have integrated 3-D printing into our pattern making options.

Recently we completed a project for the City of Elyria, Ohio to create a pattern of their official seal to be cast in bronze and mounted on a newly constructed bridge.

To accomplish this task, we first needed to make a glove mold of the original seal. The seal is 36” in diameter and the final bronze cast seal will weigh more that 165lbs. The glove mold is a two-piece mold process that involves first creating a silicone mold and then a hard back up or reinforcement mold to give the mold structure. The silicone mold will provide the most minute detail from the original item to be duplicated.

Making a resin cast of the impression for use as a pattern is done by pouring a liquid resin into the glove mold. Once the resin cast is dry we remove the reinforcement mold and peel away the silicone glove. Now we can repair any imperfections to the pattern or create proper drafting using Roma modeling clay.

The pattern is now ready for casting in bronze or aluminum. This project is being cast in bronze. After casting, the piece is cleaned and painted to desired specifications.

The Elyria seal project was done for display on a new bridge being built. Therefore, coating the bronze plaques with a durable sealer is essential to maintain its long-term beauty.

At AC Wellman Products we pride ourselves on delivering quality solutions with attention to detail!