Probably the most traditional and common type of Custom Awards that get most often created is custom sculpture awards. As their name implies, sculpture awards are based on a hand-sculpted model that serves as the “master” model for award production. Typically this model is sculpted out of clay or wax. A mold is made from it once the template gets formed, and then this mold serves as the “reusable” starting point for each award casting based on the product used for the awards, the measures involved in casting sculpture awards to differ.

The flexibility of the model. One of the advantages of custom sculpture awards is that the award model has very few limitations. The potential shapes and sizes of the sculpture awards we can make are almost infinite–most of them created sculptures as small as a few inches long, all the way to monumental sculptures over 30 feet tall

Artistry and personality. The natural, unique nature of each award that gets created is another benefit of design sculpture awards. In a day and age when so many items are made using automated machinery, many of the different customers embrace the fact that our sculpture awards are truly handcrafted works of art by an artist. This hand-sculpting imbues in the award model an actual “personality,” meaning, and feeling that can not be generated using more automated methods.

The casting process used to produce each award, once the artist hand-sculpts the template, is the same necessary process that has been used for thousands of years–in fact, since the bronze age. In some way or another, each sculpture award is unique and different from any other award based on the same template–each one has its distinct flavor. Besides, small variations and imperfections add to each sculpture’s unique nature and are one of the things that makes this form of design award exceptional.

Production on a scale. Any number of individual awards can be produced using the model once the original model and mold are created, ranging from quantity one through thousands of sculptures. Model and mold costs need to be incurred only once (one-time fees)–after that, any amount of individual awards can get made at any time interval (e.g., annually), and only the production costs of each award must get borne.

Variation of fabrics and finishes. As mentioned below, the type of material chosen to create the sculpture will dramatically alter the final look of the decoration, and the finish applied to that material. Such versatility allows for a given award model to be “calculated variation.” A pewter sculpture award model, for instance, could be put in gold for recipients of “first place,” silver for recipients of “second place,” and bronze for recipients of “third place.”

Cost. In combination with their multi-stage model, mold, and casting production process, sculpture awards tend to be more expensive than other forms of custom awards (for example, crystal or medallions). Nevertheless, these costs can be handled by carefully managing the nature of the design and choice of materials.

Timing. Also, despite all the steps needed to create custom sculpture awards, the time required to generate and produce a new model is longer than other custom awards. Nonetheless, this lead time may differ based on several factors, and designers will be delighted to collaborate with you to provide an accurate estimate of how long your particular design sculpture award project will take.