Traditional rules for making images
         Many old texts describe the Buddha's appearance and include lists of distinguishing characteristics, however these traditions vary from country to country and have been interpreted differently over time so there is no universally accepted standard for the Buddha's appearance. Some of the characteristics found on nearly every Buddha image are:

       • All the fingers and toes are of the same extended length
       • Long aquiline nose
       • Elongated ears (from wearing jewelry as a prince)
       • Protuberance in the top of the head (symbolizing great mental        • power and the soul’s loose attachment to the body)
       • Broad shoulders

         In practice, craftsmen often copy the forms of famous temple images rather than designing new correct images. The craftsmen’s skill is reflected in fine details and materials rather than originality of the design. The traditional belief in Southeast Asia is that a Buddha image should be made from the best possible materials.

Using our own forces to create statues
         When we focus our mind to do something (especially create sculpture, statues, paintings, or any other kind of handicraft), we create  an  interaction between ourselves and the object we handle,
 
transmitting our forces into the object during the process. Since each living person has his unique ‘Chi’ (spiritual well-being) power level, he is able to send his ‘Chi’ to any object and put some forces in it. The problem is although the statue is beautifully carved, the quality of the forces that are established are related largely to the physical, mental, and spiritual condition of the person who put the forces in the object. In other words, if the person who puts the forces in the object is in poor shape physically, the forces he puts in the object will be unstable and negative forces instead of peaceful and positive forces. For this reason, the traditional way of making religious statues requires an artist to purify both his body and mind first before beginning the creation of the statue.

                  When a person makes Buddha statues as part of his purification process, he chants over the statue or reads a ‘Sutra’ (Buddhist Script) over it. This helps the artist to concentrate more, so it can be carved in better detail, but it doesn’t mean that the ‘Chi’ of the artist and the statue will be purified, as well. This only happens when the artist has a high level and high quality of ‘Chi’. Therefore, it is like something Lao-tse says: “You are able to perform in the best way when you are not trying to act in the best way”.

                  In other words, you don't intentionally have to aim at putting good ‘Chi’ into the statue. If you just concentrate on making the statue, then the statue will naturally have a good quality of chi and forces of purification.

Making Bronze Statues
         For hundreds and thousands of years Bronze has been used in production of Buddhist statues all over the continent of Asia, in fact many of the most famous Buddha images in the world are constructed from bronze. The techniques used for production of these Buddha images date back many hundreds of years and have been passed from  generation to generation.  Obviously  in the  late 19th and 20th  Centuries  increasingly  modern  technology allowed Buddha images to be far more widely and easily produced.  But  in recent times  there has been a reversal
 
of this trend with many manufacturers of Buddha images reverting back to older more traditional methods of production that are seen as more artistically and spiritually pure.

                  In Thailand and Burma one method of production that is now widely used is the ‘lost wax’ technique. A wax model is made, usually over a sandy, clay core that is shaped roughly like the finished product. The wax-image is studded with nails, and the wax is then covered with a clay plaster. The plaster goes on in several coats. When it dries, the result is a negative image of the Buddha. The mould is covered with heavy clay to stop it breaking up during the pouring of the bronze. This is heated, and the wax melts and runs out a hole in the bottom (or the top- the image is often cast upside down) to be collected and re-used. Hence the name of the process "lost wax". The nails that were put through the wax hold the outer mould away from the core, and stop it from collapsing as the bronze runs through. The molten bronze is then poured into the space between the core, over which the wax was shaped, and the plaster mould.
 
 
 

                  When the bronze image is finally cast, and cooled down, the plaster mould on a larger image is cracked off. The image still needs a lot of work- it might be engraved, trimmed, or polished. Sometimes there are leftover chunks of bronze that need to be filed off. The holes from the nails that kept the core separate from the plaster mould during casting may be filled with the same bronze as was used for the image so you can hardly see them. If the bronze failed to reach any parts of the image, patches may also now be added on and smoothed over.