NEW YORK — What do NASA satellites, sports trophies and the Oscar statue all have in common? They all get their golden shine in New York.
Inside the Epner Technology workshop in Brooklyn, New York City, the Oscar statue is dressed in gold.
Since 1929, it’s been a symbol of the best in film, and for the better part of the last decade, Hollywood’s highest honor has been made exclusively in New York.
“I believe this is our eleventh season of doing them,” Paul Brancato of Epner Technology Inc. said.
Like the films they recognize, the golden figurines are a labor of love, one that spans two companies: UAP Productions in New York’s Hudson Valley and Epner Technology in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
It all starts at UAP Productions with a mold, then a wax copy, ceramic shell and 12 layers of coating. From there, the wax Oscar inside the ceramic shell is melted out and replaced with bronze.
The statues then get sent to Epner Technology for the next steps of the process.
“When we get the statues, they are a dull-looking bronze. We put them into a copper bath. Copper on the part fills in anything that might be on the surface and brightens that initial dullness,” Brancato said.
The process is repeated with nickel and then finally 24-carat gold, but not just any gold.
“It is out of this world. Our gold is in the James Webb Space Telescope,” Brancato said.
“We are electroplating this gold out of a solution. You are looking at a bath that is not melted gold, but is what we would consider almost a salt bath, and a current to make the part turn gold.
On any given year, Epner Technology gives around 60 Oscar statues their legendary luster, every detail meticulously crafted with immense pride.
“It takes many people, takes a lot of time to make a part as beautiful as it is,” Brancato said.
And while the Brooklyn-based workshop is some 3,000 miles away from Hollywood, the Oscar tells two stories of excellence: One of the masters who craft it, and the other of the artists who receive it.
Joelle Garguilo has the details on how Oscars statues are made.
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