I probably won't show "in progress" pics of this until I'm 100% satisfied. I didn't have a spare clean hand to take pics of the molding anyhow. THAT was interesting...
Adventures in making a waste mold of the clay foal.... The mold rubber I have been using here normally was on backorder. I order smaller quantities because I don't use much for the little medallion type things. BUT I have 3/4 of a new container here... so if the preferred product hadn't been backordered for a month or more then all would've gone just fine.. But if all had gone well I wouldn't have had to improvise like I did.. & isn't that half the fun?
Sooooooooo I'm using the alternative rubber. It has a 'Pot life' of 45min. That's pretty fast. Meaning it started to change consistency at that point and you'd better be happy (it still is something you want to pour and walk away from for half a day though). It's nice and thin (low viscosity at least) so this honestly helped. Helped me to see when it started to set and helped me to do what I had to... Dribble much? It was like being back in college except that I was a lot more careful with this stuff than we were then! lol! I poured all the rubber I had in after mixing (that's a pita in and of itself actually becuase you want it all to be started and curing at similar times... at the same time, I simple didn't have clean disposable containers big enough. Anyhow, got the rubber half way up his neck and then - ooops! No more.. Scrape the container all you like missy - that's IT! lol!
Sooooooooooo now I've got a bit of a dilemma. Leave the clay head exposed like a little buried dad at the beach? Or find a way to cover more. So I set about to tilting the whole heavy ensemble.. Not quite enough. Even the ears are still out (and tilted they are now the lowest point to give you a frame of reference...).
SO THEN, a big ole light bulb goes off - ding! I study the body and try to really recall precisely how much space he is taking up... ready for this crazy idea? I bury more clay around him to displace the rubber further.
It ALMOST WORKED COMPLETELY!!! Ugh!!! So close!!! So I've sliced up clay and have slowly sunk it down the sides of the mold into the rubber.. keeping in mind too that they have to not want to fall in due to the box being tilted so extremely... I've got almost nothing left. I start spooning some of the mold rubber over his little face (which is kind of fun with his eyes half closed & all - like bathing a horse, well one who likes it anyhow!). It's thin but it's thickening so it starts to not pool off but stay a little. So I approach this more carefully as I'm now using the brush on method with a hard applicator so I can't actually touch or press but viola!
Course the real trick was doing this for a while until it went from thin pancake batter to ... uhmmm... what's a good universal food ... shoot... yogurt? A nice creamy yogurt consistency (I eat Greek yogurt so that's more firm & it wasn't like that). ;)
So of course today I have the final hurdle to overcome.... now I've got a slanted "bottom" to my mold. Fortunately it all cured wonderfully last night. At least on the outside. Now in a few minutes I get to flip it and demold and see what I've got inside. Crossing my fingers like mad!
Meanwhile, the bottom is leveled off with plaster - woohoo! So it's all out on the porch drying in the sun It's actually like a little mother mold and I thought long and hard about peeling off the sides and making the plaster into a half box essentially. I'm not going to most likely but who knows, the demolding... this could be ugly. It's been literally 15 or more years since I had to deal with a more complicated shape like this...
Wish me luck today!
Storms being a distant memory the humidity is falling below 50% now and dropping... I have probably only enough resin for one maaaaaybe 2 tries at this foal so I am crossing my fingers. I have a backup media here to work in although it takes 24hrs to set though but all the same, this is why I decided to have a go at it myself. The costs here are high enough (iow this stuff aint cheap to play with!).
I really am cracking up about my rubber displacement however. :) Course I have to leave the clay in there most likely until I'm done (at least where it's closest to the body) so there's no chance of deformation...
Wacky artist over here signing off for more adventures now! ;)
2 comments:
HI Morgan, saw the castings of the foals in your other post.. very nice.. I have run into the same problems you have being short enough rubber...
.. 2 things you can do..... one is if you have any old molds around.. ( you can even use other rubbers like the pink or blue kind as long as its all silicone rubber like your using now) you can cut them up in small pieces and stick them into the uncured rubber to displace it like you did with clay but you can stick them anywhere in the uncured rubber.. just stick it right down in thee but I try and not touch the model. I think kelly has done this same thing too! I had to do it a few times when I was short of rubber.. it works really well and they all bind together well so you end up with a multiple colored mold kinda like that soap they make with different colored chunks.. but you may not see the colors until you cut up this mold later! lol...
or you can also just mix up more and pour it over the other stuff... its ok if its not mixed at exactly the same time. I like to use old rubber though cut in small pieces just so I can get more use of of an old mold that played out.... and use less rubber so I have more for my next mold...they cut up really nice with an exacto knife.. but its ok to mix up more and pour it right over the part where you ran out.. it will still all cue and bond fine. I have done that too a few times.. since m not always right on with the amount of rubber Ill need for a castings.. although Im getting pretty darn good at eyeing it now after all the molds i have made.. one thing about the rubber you used.. its a lot softer than the blue or pink and its tears much easier so like the part between the legs.. you get that a lot with small pieces and spots like in ears and nostrils break off into the resin really easy after a few castings with it so I don't use it unless Im making an easy moldable medallion or a waste casting like I take this is..?.. yes it faster to cure.. which I prefer but I don't like how soft it is.. anyways.. your learning! I think we all go thru the same things as we make molds.. so if I can help you figure a few things out thats good. love the foal! wish I could afford one! I do have a dinky duke and one of your gaited morgan mares here beside the medallion we traded for..still all unpainted of course as are all my other resins! lol... someday I'll get to paint and show them!
Rebecca Turner
Www.solticeartstudio.blogspot.com
That's pretty interesting Becky - and here's a question... do you lose those molds forever? I was able to pull out my clay & it's good as new of course still.
The ugly part of that all was really that I had no room - I thought I was going to knock his mane off when I sunk it down. On the butt end I did wind up having the clay touching just a smidge. It made a hole in the mold which was more problematic than anything else - lol! Nothing sticks to the rubber of course... so plugging up that nearly fingernail thin small hole (line) was much worse than any of the other seams. In fact in the 2nd pour I lost a LOT of resin out that hole when the plug, just held there by pressure, moved. :/
I'm liking the idea of building up in advance. My fiance thought I should test for volume with water and then wait a few days until it thoroughly dried off. He thinks less of me for going through all this rather than just going a bit slower! ;)
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