Photos: How the SAG Award statuettes are made

A vat of molten bronze is raised prior to pouring in Burbank at the American Fine Arts Foundry, where the solid bronze Actor statuettes are being cast for the Screen Actors Guild Awards to be presented Jan. 13. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Jan. 13, 2015 2:46 PM PT

“The Actor,” the Screen Actors Guild Award statuette, is cast at the American Fine Arts Foundry. The 12-pound statues are cast using the lost wax process in which molten bronze is poured by men wearing fireproof suits, and later an acid is applied to render the final green patina.

Workers at the American Fine Arts Foundry wear fireproof suits as they pour the molten bronze into molds. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

The bronze starts to harden and cool in the statuette molds. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

A welder at the Burbank foundry fixes imperfections on the statuettes after they are removed from the molds. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Craftsman Daniel Flores breaks the molds of the Actor statues with a hammer. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Artisan Joaquin Quintero uses heat and cupric acid to apply the green patina on one of the Actor statuettes. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Nearly completed Actor statuettes await their polished black granite bases at the American Fine Arts Foundry in Burbank. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)