Screen Actors Guild: how the statuettes are made

A worker cleans up a wax statuette which will be used to form the cast that bronze will be poured into Photograph: Paul Buck/EPA

Breaking the mold surrounding a wax statuette Photograph: Hector Mata/Reuters

Workers use the 'lost wax' casting process Photograph: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

A worker separates molds for cooling after bronze was poured into them Photograph: Paul Buck/EPA

Statuettes in broken plaster cast before their completion Photograph: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

A worker cleans and details a bronze statuette Photograph: Paul Buck/EPA

Joaquin Quintero starts the patina process of the statuettes Photograph: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Joaquin Quintero uses heat as he applies Patina, an acid, to a bronze statuette Photograph: Ric Francis/AP

Finished green-black patina Screen Actors Guild 'The Actor' statuettes (back) on a base of polished black granite stand alongside unfinished versions (front) Photograph: Paul Buck/EPA