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Bronze casting workshops set for July at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, Md

From Tuesday, July 24, through Saturday, July 28, the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, Md., will offer two bronze casting workshops in its boatshop. Participants must be 16 or older, with class-size limited and advanced registration needed.

Christian Benefiel, sculpture artist and Shepherd University Professor, will lead these public workshops, guiding participants through the intricacies of casting bronze and aluminum. Participants will take home a working knowledge of casting metal along with their own creation. Each session is held from 9am-4pm and both will culminate on Saturday, July 28, with setting up the furnace, packing molds and pouring metals.

The first session will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday, July 24 and 25, plus July 28, when Benefiel will focus on the lost wax technique or investment casting. This workshop will teach participants how to cast bronze and aluminum by using a wax pattern that once coated in a ceramic shell is melted out of the mold. This cavity is then filled with metal. The cost for this session is $328 for CBMM members or $410 for non-members. To register, visit cbmm.org/lostwax.

From Thursday through Saturday, July 26- 28, Benefiel will teach a more traditional green sand method of casting metal where participants will learn how to cast bronze and aluminum using a sand mix mold. The cost for the green sand casting workshop is $400 for CBMM members and $500 for non-members. To register, visit cbmm.org/greensand.

Participants can sign up for one or both sessions. A discount is offered for those signing up for both bronze casting workshops, at $660 for CBMM members and $825 for non-members. To register for both sessions, visit either cbmm.org/lostwax or cbmm.org/greensand. Materials are included in the registration fee.