Villedieu-les-Poëles is known for its foundry activity around copper metal.
One of the last French bell foundries is located in the small town.
The foundry also makes decorative objects.
Founding a bell: the lost wax technique is used. A "cope" made of clay, hair and horse manure is used to give the final shape to the bell.
A gauge used to shape the bell model.
A bell after casting still inside the cope.
Wax decoration letters.
The oven (left) can melt up to 11 tons of metal. A bell can be any size up to 5 tons. For large bells the oven is operated just a few times a year and it…
When the metal is liquid it is carried from the oven to holes in the bells' copes to fill in a void between the cope and a core; that void is bell-shaped.
A bell made for the state of Japan but never reclaimed.
