About Starlite Art

Starlite Originals, LLC, prides itself on beautifully handcrafted works of fine art. Based in Los Angeles, the Beckerman family has managed and grown the business since 1972. Kitty Cantrell, Thomas Blackshear, Christopher Pardell, and Dan Medina are a few of the fine artists that the Starlite Studio division of Starlight Originals has represented since its founding.

The process of making a Starlite Original piece begins with the creation of an original plasticine sculpture, which the artist creates by shaping soft clay into the desired figure. After this original is delivered to the foundry, first-generation working models are created by Starlite master mold-makers. These molds often consist of several pieces that create the individual cavities of a whole sculpture, which will later be assembled. Once the mold is complete, molten metal is poured into the cavities and left to cool to room temperature. Materials such as bronze, pewter, Lucite, acrylic, porcelain, resin and wood, or combinations of these compounds, can all be used to create Starlite sculptures from these molds. When every part of the mold has cooled, each section is removed, cleaned, reassembled back into one whole sculpture, and hand tooled until it looks exactly as the artist created it.

Finally, the piece then goes through the Mixed Media process, where numerous applications of metal plating and patina give the sculpture its final look. This can include the use of various fine metals, such as lost wax bronze, fine pewter, brass, copper, 24-karat gold vermeil, as well as a combination of hot, torched acid patinas, such as black nickel, rose copper, and turquoise, to highlight the sculpture. A patina is created by the application of certain chemicals that oxidize the metal during a hot-torching process. The combination of heat and acid etch into the metal, producing a rainbow of color finishes; the color produced by the patina becomes one with the metal. Lucite may also be used to give final embellishments to the sculpture. A malleable, transparent polymer that can be reformed into any desired shape, Lucite is used to achieve several magnificent finishes that are resistant to UV light - from crystal clear when polished, to a milky-white opaque when frosted. View a video of the process it takes to make these incredible sculptures.

Artist Proofs

The master molds used to create sculptures consist of many component pieces. Over time, molds will "burn," or lose their detail with repeated use. When this occurs, new molds are produced after each of their individual parts are made anew, personally inspected and approved by the artisans. Known as "Artist Proofs," these are used as working masters for Starlite craftsmen.

The number of Artist Proof (AP) sculptures in an edition ranges from 10-15% of the edition size. Their scarcity makes them inherently more valuable and costly than their counterparts from the limited edition run (of which there are approximately 25% more). Each AP sculpture bears the number of its place within the total size of the run. For example, 13/50AP/500 means that there are a total of 50 Artist Proofs out of a run of 500, and this particular sculpture is #13 of those 50 pieces.

All Starlite pieces listed on our Ascend Art Gallery website are limited editions, yet Artist Proofs are also available for purchase. If you are interested in purchasing an Artist Proof, please contact Ascend Art Gallery for pricing and availability.