(This is common to a multiple production of a piece, not a single piece.)

Artist Proof

• An artist's proof is a casting made for the artist's own referencing or collection. There are usually no more than a couple of these per edition.

Foundry Proof

• A foundry proof is a casting approved by the artist and kept at the foundry while an edition is being cast. It is used as a guide to the foundry personal to assure quality and consistency and may become available for purchase once all of an edition have been cast.

Artist's Prototype

• To guide in what the final bronze will look like, Vaughn often creates a prototype artist proof  tinted with patinated bronze powders and lovingly detailed, textured and mounted.

Cold Cast Prototype for a new sculpture

• In addition to Vaughn's work at the foundry, Cold Cast Bronze prototypes are sometimes used for advance photos or display, during the weeks required for the casting process. Once the first pieces are completed and accepted, the prototype is usually retired but may be made available for purchase.
  
• With Vaughn performing every step in the process himself, these prototypes are one of a kind, handmade sculptures, mounted on wooden (or marble) bases. They have the look of a foundry bronze, without the weight or large price.

• The process involves covering the sculpture with a flexible silicon skin and building a mother mold over the silicon to support it. Techniques vary depending on the size and shape of the sculpture’s component parts and can require cutting the clay model into sections. Small detailed parts, may be molded separately.
• In addition these molds can be used to make a wax casting, Vaughn casts a prototype from the molds in cold cast bronze. This Prototype is a fully detailed sculpture, finished with bronze powders, and mounted on a base to demonstrate the look of the final product and would be a guide for the other pieces, that they may be consistent.

Molten Bronze will use:

• The lost wax process, so named because the wax casting is "lost" or destroyed in the process (the wax model is made from the molds and melted out of a ceramic shell that was applied to the wax. The wax can be reused but the sculpture is lost) so for every individual bronze in an edition, a wax casting must be made.
• Preparing each wax casting, this includes assembling all of the component parts, removing seam lines (from the molding process) fixing air bubbles, and making sure all of the detail is sharp.
• From this point, the lost wax process may take another two to six months to produce a finished bronze.

When a sculpture is finished
It will have patinas applied to the surface for different coloring process to obtain a desired finish.

Finishing Touches
Vaughn hand finishes with wooden bases or marble to execute the final detailing and mounting of the bronzes.

Vaughn's hands on approach places a greater demand on his time and results in sculpture that is more completely and personally his work.  As a result, not as many sculptures are made, the number of each edition is smaller and each individual bronze will be more valuable.