Oops i just realised i meant to post this update before i took my traditional offline break for my birthday, Christmas & the New Year holiday. I am so sorry i hope this quick update makes up for it?
Anyway a couple of days back i decided to de-mould one of the grunge skull halves to see how well they were going to turn out in my plaster moulds. Like the Styrofoam originals they were extremely tight fitting. Unlike the Styrofoam originals however these are made from news paper & white 80gsm print paper, much much stronger. So even though the half skull i decided to de-mould was a tight fit i knew it would come out in one piece at least. The question is now HOW does it look? Did i do a good enough job making the plaster moulds in the first place? Not enough plaster & the mould is weak, Not tapping the wet plaster when pouring over the object to be copied to settle it down & into all the nooks & crannies & remove the trapped air pockets & the copy is flawed? Okay i know rambling, lets take a look shall we?
As always click on image to enlarge for a better look.
Whilst it was a 'very snug' fit this half popped out the mould nicely & i got the amount of paper layers just right producing a nice strong (half) grunge skull.
Notice that when casting like this you need to come out over the edge of the mould slightly producing that paper 'lip' or ridge? You need to do that so you have something to grip & then pull the copy out of the mould with. It also makes sure your copy went right up to your moulds edges all the way around too.
Perfect i caught the detailing of the teeth just right as well.
A quick trim to tidy this up & voila' multiple grunge skulls here i come.
Of course i have a lot of work ahead of me but now i know these plaster cast moulds are perfect the work will be worth it. I will be using some of the grunge skulls for my sons gas masks designs of course but others will be going into projects such as: sword hilts, axe heads, wizard staffs & well some projects i am keeping secret for now. Find more of how i got on with these skulls after my seasonal break.
Hi Jonty, thanks for the pictures, it looks like more great works are on the way. Looking at the mould, it seems you didn't have to allow for undercuts in the skull, (ie the ridge of the eye socket). Is this because the paper strips are pliable when dry and can be eased out of the mould? It is a little hard to see, maybe there aren't any undercuts, I am interested to know anyway. Kind Regards, Lesley from Australia.
ReplyDeleteLesley: Hi, Er i am not certain what you meant by 'undercuts' but i take it you mean the 'hollows' of the eye & nose area's?
ReplyDeleteThe wet plaster was worked fully around the half skull & fully reproduced the 'hollow' eye & nose socket.
Once the mould was dry i then worked the paper into the 'hollows' as much as everywhere else. I removed the copy once fully dry (some artists do this when the paper is still wet) to reveal a perfect eye socket & half nose socket.
Click on each picture to enlarge then click on them again in the your browser window to enlarge again to see them better.
Thanks Jonty, after taking another larger picture look, I can see that the skull would ease out of the mould backwards, not creating a problem. You are right, undercuts are the parts that won't allow the cast to be taken out of the mould, because they are in the way of it dropping out. It seems like it is not a big problem for PM but they are not good for ceramic/clay castings. Thanks again, Lesley.
ReplyDeleteLesley: I thought thats what you meant but was not quite sure. Yes PM has the advantage of being flexible. Mind you make the copy too thick & it is hard to demould them.
ReplyDelete