1 - 60x70mm – Stylish Ashanti Lost-Wax Brass Pendant Mask [EC-15a]

Here’s a unique and crude looking brass mask made by the fabled Ashanti people of central Ghana, West Africa.

Measuring 60x70mm – plus a 4mm eye bail, this striking pendant mask would make a terrific centerpiece when creating an ethnic tribal-styled or boho-inspired necklace.

The Ashanti and to a lesser degree the Baoule tribal people from the Ivory Coast create these beautiful brass and bronze masks using traditional lost-wax methods – the same labour-intensive metal-casting process that their forefathers used since the 3rd millennium BC.

And the results today are as stunning as they were two thousand years ago – confirming that by incorporating modern methods with ancient techniques, works exceptionally well.

Here we have a 60x70mm brass mask pendant – cast using the lost-wax technique and weighing in at 70 grams.

The Ashanti, Baoule, Krobo and Yoruba tribes are the main bead and mask-making people of West Africa.

The main difference between the four ethnic groups, see the Krobos and Yoruba tribes specialise in bead-making with recycled glass, while the Ashanti and Baoule people prefer metal.

Lost-Wax casting is one of the oldest known metal-forming techniques in the world which date back more than 6,000 years – and the Ashanti have the technique perfected down to a veritable artform.

The bead-making process first calls for the construction of specially designed bead molds made out of waxed models - into which hot molten metal is poured. 

The hot liquid causes the wax mold to melt and drain away - and in doing so the masks or beads are formed and created after the metal sets.

A proven technique that is so simple and so clever is why the lost-wax casting process has survived for so long.

It is well used in the 21^st Century particularly by the dentistry industry, who use these ancient methods to create crowns, inlays and on lays – but with modern technology.