Darkside Creations

ITS HARD SITTING AROUND DOING NOTHING

2011-04-03T15:59:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone, just popping in to see whats new and to let everyone know i am still here. I may not be commenting/posting on the blogs i am following very regular right now, but i am popping in to as many i follow as i can i assure you all.

I think i mentioned in the last post that i would once i was up to it go find some unfinished project(s) to paint whilst i recovered from my recent heart attack. Now as many long time followers will know whist i can paint i truly don't enjoy it. Please don't ask why i just don't know for sure lol. Anyway i spent a little time going through old projects looking for a couple of pieces that would be just the right size to last me a few weeks painting whilst i recover.

It took me longer than i thought it would to go rummaging through boxes for any finished waiting to be painted items to find a piece or two i could paint whilst i recover in the end. In fact just having any kind of prolonged conversation is amazingly tiring. I have in the end finally found two pieces that i would actually like to paint as i recuperate though as it turns out.

Both are Bonsai trees, life like sculptures both growing up off rocks with the typical dropping sweeping style that i put together quite a while ago now. In fact so long ago i totally forgot i made these pieces lol. One is completely finished only waiting for paint. A tree growing off a leaning rock in a rectangular trough like container.

The other one still needs a little work but i should be able to finish in a few days. This one is growing off an upright rock. The tree and rock are finished but i never got to doing the trough holder for it. I have some un-finished bowls though that i can easily slip the rock and tree into then it too will be ready to go to final paint. I spent the last two days setting it into the bowl, i just need a day or two to trim it off before getting to paint now.

The containers of both will be Terracotta finish when painted.

I will be starting to paint both these some time (mid week) next week. Whilst not massive they are large and to scale in respect to Bonsai displays and should give me something to do for the next few weeks which covers my recovery nicely.

Who knows i may even come to enjoy painting afterwards? Okay okay so that might be asking way too much for me i suppose lol. I doubt it but you never know eh lol. As soon as i am up to setting them up to photograph i will post the unpainted sculptures for you all to see.

More soon.

MY HEARTS JUST NOT IN IT RIGHT NOW

2011-03-27T16:04:00.000+01:00

For the next week, two maybe more I can’t be certain of the final time frame at this point I will be taking a break from PM’ing. I have to point out this is most certainly not out of choice by no means no. On the 24^th March at 10PM whilst quietly lounging on the settee waiting for a repeat of a great movie (Pandorum) I suddenly felt a huge build up of pressure in the centre of my chest. Not pain simply a huge void like sensation accompanied by intense pressure about the size of an open hand with fingers spread.

At the same time I began to feel an immense pressure in my lower throat, literally my throat felt like it was swelling and burning, incredible burning sensation at the same time I was having severe trouble breathing. At first I simply assumed this was an anxiety attack since they can hit out of the blue for no reason and I have suffered them in the past especially as a child. I sat up straight in front of the sixteen inch room fan we have in the living room and the whole uncomfortable sensation cleared after barely five minutes. Apart from a slight distress from the pain in my throat that lingered slightly afterwards and lack of being able to draw a full breath I felt totally normal. So much so I thought nothing more of it in fact after a few minutes to the point where I was even joking about it.

About twenty minutes later the whole sensation hit me again only this time it hit twice as fast and twice as hard. I was struggling to breathe so badly I literally had a small container of Vic’s Vaporub touching my top lip whilst I drew breath in whilst sitting up in front of the fan again. This time however the sensation was so bad it barely helped. Gasping in a barely audible rasping voice which took great exhausting effort I told my wife B (Barbara) to call 999 the emergency services in the UK.

Now I have to say that sadly the emergency services have been getting a bad reputation for delayed arrival times over the years. Indeed in the past I have had reason to call upon they’re services because of my diabetes or indeed heart pains and they haven’t always had the best arrival times. Other times when I have had hospital appointments for specific times I have had to turn the ambulance crew away telling them they had arrived too late to get me to the hospital on time for my set appointment(s) and would see me sitting in my wheelchair in agony until everyone else had been seen before me.

This time however they arrived literally a minute after my wife hung up the telephone. Once in the ambulance the sensation began to wear off enough for me to talk, having an oxygen mask on my face helping me breathe answering the ambulance crew’s questions as they took me to out local hospital. Mercifully we live just five minutes drive from the hospital so it was a short journey.

On arrival at the A&E ward I was bundled off into a side room where I got the basic rudimentary treatment whilst they waited for a doctor to be free to see me. This was ten thirty PM at night. One of my elder children still living at home Simon accompanied me there and stayed with me until two thirty AM the following morning. At which point I informed him I felt much better and practically had to loose my temper to get him to go home and try to get some rest. I had after all suffered what I assumed been a mere anxiety attack and was in the safest place I could be now. He eventually agreed and went home reluctantly. Following that a nurse came to see me periodically during which time I felt tired but fine. Because I have a week heart I was given pain killers an ECG etc whilst I waited for the doctor. It was actually around four thirty AM before I finally saw a doctor. By this time apart from being extremely tired and weak I was able to answer his questions easily; my throat and the only pain I’d suffered had long since vanished. Actually the only pain I had suffered during the two events of the now previous night.

(Me several hours after my admission to our local hospital)

The doctor had reviewed all the information that had been compiled on me then calmly told me in ‘his’ opinion I had suffered a heart attack. Of course I nearly fell off the bed at that point – A heart attack no way. I had had none of the classic symptoms I had been told of to watch for in the past, a heart attack simply no way I thought. The doctor told me he was going to prescribe another wave of pain killers including ten milligrams of morphine to help me relax and for any pain I might be in. I told him I was in no pain at all the only pain having previously been in my throat. He also informed me I would be getting transferred to the not quite so local Freemans Hospital in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne as they were better set up for such situations. Stunned all I could do was lay there and agree with him.

So tired, spaced out on pain killers and morphine off I went to the larger hospital. After hours of ECG’s, blood pressure tests, more pain killers fed to me along with insulin from a mechanical intravenous feed I spent the next several hours with no sleep growing more stressed out. Eventually a doctor came to see me. He immediately informed me I had indeed suffered a heart attack at which point I countered “But I had none of the classic symptoms for a heart attack”. He looked at me blankly as if I were lying for some reason then went on to tell me I had in fact suffered a quite large heart attack, indeed massive at that. I was of course speechless from that moment on while he talked on.

Shock, horror, none believing, fear, awe, amazement, wonder, you name it the thoughts were running through my mind spilling over each other in one rolling endless thought. The doctor told me I would be going for coronary angioplasty procedure the moment a surgical team was available to treat me. Having made sure I understood what he’d said he left. The early hours drew on mind numbingly so.

Another doctor came to see me around seven thirty Am. At this time of course due to lack of sleep physical strain from the events of the night before added to the mental stress of what I had been told at both hospitals I was clearly in no mood to be told about the risks involved during the procedure before giving my consent for the procedure to go ahead.

Essentially the information I was given (as I now remember it) was that there were ‘risks’ involved that ranged from life effecting/altering to life threatening.

1: I was to be injected with a dye that would be used to highlight my innards basically so the surgeon could better view the live x-ray feed on monitors (three it turned out to be) during the procedure. I was told there was something like a one in one thousand (or there about) risk of suffering some mild reaction to the dye which could potentially leave me mentally or physically impaired in some way. Or there was a chance I could suffer a severe reaction to the dye that could kill me outright. He did say these were extremely unlikely but possible.

2: Then I was told in the past surgeons (depending on the surgeon) chose to enter through an artery in the leg by the groin or in an artery by the wrist. It had been later agreed that the groin entry point was just too high risk and the only method now was to enter via the artery in the wrist(s) and there was still a one in two thousand (or there about) risk of death should I move during the procedure itself as the surgeon would be working within the confines of the arteries just above my heart itself depending on what he/she discovered. The procedure took some forty minutes to one hour to carry out depending on what the surgeon encountered during the procedure. Essentially I should be prepared to remain as still as I could for up to one hour. Having heard the facts was I prepared to sign the required consent forms?

I did mention my disabilities and how lying flat on my back for ‘any’ time period beyond a few minutes was impossible, but I could not ignore the facts given to me about my having suffered a massive heart attack and the desperate need for this procedure to be carried out as soon as possible.

Did I then consent to the procedure knowing the new information?

Yes in a heart beat literally. I signed the forms.

I was told I would be expected to be in for my procedure at around ten PM later that morning there were two before me.

The morning passed in an understandable daze. Ten AM came and went at which point I was informed I had been moved up to two PM. This came and went too. Finally at three thirty PM I was taken along for my procedure. During which the surgeon discovered the damage to my heart was indeed severe combined with ‘two’ badly blocked arteries one of which was a main artery.

The whole procedure ended up taking all but an hour to carry out. I was awake during the entire procedure and felt absolutely no pain from the procedure itself. Anyone waiting for this type of proceedure should be aware there is NO PAIN INVOLVED. Yes the cleansing solution spread on the wrist IS icy cold damn icy cold to the point it hurts but this passes in seconds. There IS an intense cold sensation whilst the local anaesthetic is injected which is followed by an intense burning sensation bursting out the hand through the fingertips. However again this only lasts a matter of seconds, by the time you have registered these feelings they dissipate completely. There IS a mild ‘odd’ sensation of pressure in your arm proper but nothing you could call actual feeling and most certainly NOT PAIN. If you need this procedure done – SERIOUSELY CONSIDER HAVING IT don’t be put off by anything you may here or read online saying it is painful.

Now as I mentioned I can’t simply lay on my back for any real time period and certainly not deadly still for anything up to an hour. How ever the surgeon agreed to hold all the surgical equipment still whilst I adjusted my lower body an inch or so in either direction every ten minutes or so. I was of course only too aware every time I moved in even this way I was risking my life. Unfortunately it was do this or suffer an uncontrolled unexpected muscle spasm that I could never have prevented and died anyway for certain. It was a great risk I simply had to take.

During the procedure the so far cheerful chatty surgeon suddenly changed his tone of voice to quite gruff and annoyed stating the damage he was finding was quite severe and why was I only on the table now? I should have been on the operating table Wednesday night when I first went into hospital. He further went on to say as far as he was concerned he did not understand how I was still ‘here’ from which I took his meaning to be I should have died Wednesday night during my initial attack the damage was so bad. He asked me how I felt at the time of my attack and leading up to and during the procedure. I responded repeating everything I had told everyone so many times over the previous two days. At this point the surgeon damn near tore my head off saying “Well of course not everyone suffers any physical chest pains or indeed pains or discomfort in the arms. There are a rare number of people who can suffer a major coronary incident which can be life threatening yet suffer nothing more than severe neck pain and or lower jaw pains.” He said this in such a tone that I felt chastised like having a weak heart from birth I should have ‘known’ this to be so?

Until I was actually ‘there’ on the operating table having my coronary angioplasty procedure done this was the first I had ‘ever’ heard of the strange chest pain free pressure and neck pains. Heart and diabetes conditions run virulently through my family’s history. Being a sufferer of both conditions I only ever seem to find out these ‘new’ facts or information through third parties or during an incident relating to one or the other to myself in hospital.

Anyway it goes without saying that the procedure went perfectly, long but perfectly. Apart from being tired beyond belief due to lack of sleep from the first night of hospital admittance. Immediately after the procedure I felt better, better to the point of being brand new. During my days I both hospitals eating was a near impossible task both wanting to eat and even doing so. I was fitted with a single (two part) ‘stent’ a small metal pipe that was actually pushed into place in two parts and then screwed together inside my artery. This will remain there for the remainder of my life keeping the main artery open at that weak point. I can’t feel it of course nothing at all.

So I came home yesterday evening. Exhausted, relived, hyper tense but much healthier. Amazingly given the fact I suffered a massive heart attack that should have killed me days before I feel and look normal outside of being visibly tired. However on the inside I am still adjusting mentally. Physically I am not as strong as I once was but this will improve over the next couple of weeks. Previously I could barely walk around five yards due to my disabilities and indeed would black out from pain if I tried to do more. Now I can barley stand for a minute without being severely out of breathe. Talking for a few minutes leaves me feeling a little dizzy headed too. This all passes after a minute or two of course. My right arm which the surgeon carried the procedure on is going to be weak for at least a week and I have been informed not to put any pressure on it or try to lift myself up or anything else using it for a couple of weeks.

Outwardly my recovery will be as normal as anyone else’s given the size of the heart attack and my existing disabilities of course but I should be back to normal and PM’ing in a few weeks at most folks.

Throughout all of this event the thing that will always linger in my mind is the fact my having a heart defect from birth, being overweight due to my lack of mobility because of my disabilities, my weight problem being added to by the two types of insulin I take, the fact I had two severely blocked arteries none of these were the direct cause of my heart attack. Oh it ‘was’ imminent I have no disillusions about that I knew it was coming eventually. No, what actually prematurely triggered the massive heart attack if anything was in fact my ‘diabetes’ this was told to me by the doctor who checked my out just prior to my home release.

You learn something new everyday for sure eh?

After the proceedure they fitted a special new clamp to hold the artery closed whilst it heald even the nurses were unfamiliar with it was that new seen here on my wrist.

Here it is removed later that day.

Regardless of not being able to PM right now i will attempt to keep my blog going as well as visit those i follow as much as possible until i return to a more stable condition so as i normally would say: more soon folks.

TIME TO STAND UP

2011-03-17T14:52:00.000Z

Okay lets take a look at a simple looking yet what will appear to be a gravity defying stand indeed whole sculpture. Or at least it will be once the horn is fitted trust me.

I wanted the stand to be attractive but not detract attention from the horn so much. At first i made a simple rectangle plaster form. To me it had quite the opposite effect of what i was looking for. The bold rectangle shape against the flowing long horn was too stark. So instead i went with a more rounded off look. Not quite a rectangle but not quite an oval either. Lets take a look at how i will be making the stand(s).

To begin with for weight i am going to make some solid plaster forms. Since the horn is well under 2mm thick and a hollow paper mache strip form the horn is extremely light weight even for my creations regardless of the size. With this in mind the stand need not be a great slab of plaster for balance.

Above is the final overall shape i came up with for stand base section. I made these from my favourite card stock of course pizza box lol.

The best way to attach the stem i am going to incorporate into this design is 'directly' into the plaster base section by means of a hole moulded directly into the design. The easiest and fasted way to do this is to simply add a small section of tubing of the size i want to use later for the support stem of the stand. When the plaster is poured into the mould the section will be omitted creating the hole.

As i said the base section need not be a great slab of plaster. With this in mind i created a small wall some 1.5cms high around the base section. I simply fixed this in place using a thin line of hot glue. As there will only be a small amount of plaster poured the small wall needs no further support than it has.

This simple mould also requires no releasing agent either. Once you have created your design your happy with such as i have here you can then pour your plaster directly into the mould and leave it to cure over night.

Twenty four hours later and a quick rounding off of the top leading edge and i have a perfect weighted base form. Now ordinarily this would not be a suitable show piece because of the minor bubble/pitting in the surface of the plaster. How ever in this case that's not a problem as i intend to cover this base section in strips anyway for a little extra support for the plaster. Whilst the weight of the horn is very minor indeed. Given time and moving the sculpture around may cause fractures in the plaster later which could result in a break above the hole. To the right of the picture as you look at it here. This of course would cause utter failure of the stand and ruin the sculpture.

Now for the support stem and retaining ring for the horn. I simply cut down the length of a small toilet roll tube then rolled in round itself. A little PVA glue helped fix it in place. I added a single layer of masking tape to the newly created tube to round off the outer face of the tube. I will of course have to re-do it as you can see i rushed this example a little too much. The masking tape is anything if smooth as it needs to be. This is a simple fix and will only take a moment later.

Here you can see how the three pieces come together to form the whole stand. I am not too happy with the height of the support stem and will reduce the height a little whilst i am replacing the masking tape.

So i am going to go off and get to making some more horns and stands. The next time you see this stand it should be fully finished and also accompanied by others with fully finished horns too all ready to go in my Etsy shop lol.

More soon.

I'M GETTING HORNY - AGAIN

2011-03-12T14:24:00.004Z

Okay better explain the title i think lol...

I am currently working on three large dragon head trophies, or rather have been for some time amongst other dozens of projects which i cycle through. One of the trophies is in the paint stage right now and has 'frons' (medium sized solid frills with spines) on the head. This will be a female dragon you can see some of the earlier pictures of this one in the right hand WIPs (Work In Progress) column as well as a couple of earlier posts. The other a male is to have horns.

Now whilst messing around with the horn designs for the male i got a little side tracked (whats new lol) and figured why not make some life size bull/cow horns with ornamental stands for my Etsy shop? I will modify some of these to be large dragon horns too later with twists and ridges along they're length. For now though i thought why not show you how i am making the bull/cow horn versions. Later i will show you how i am going to make the stands and the twisted and ridged versions.

In the past i have shown you how to make simple horn forms using tubes and foam. This time i will be using balloons for the larger horns. Here are the six simple steps to creating the basic armature or form. Trust me here this IS longer in the telling than the doing lol.

NOTE: Always work in a warm/hot room when using balloons to reduce shrinking.

Attach a large elongated balloon which is thicker than you want your final design to actually be. This will become clear as to why shortly. Hold the pump and the balloon(s) as shown in the picture above, then slowly begin to inflate it.

Keep pumping until the balloon inflates and then takes on the curve you want as shown above. You could easily just inflate the balloon in the normal manor but then when you bend the balloon to make the curve you will create a crease in the balloon which will add extra work when adding the strips later. This method creates a more natural smooth curve in the balloon.

Once you have your desired curve simply let the end of the balloon go and carry on inflating the balloon fully. Remove from the pump and tie off the end as normal.

Now using a piece of string fix the balloon in the curve you want by tying it off at 'both' ends as shown above. Remember to leave a short length at one of the ends to hang the balloon from. Once we have the first layers of the strip formed shell on here whilst the paper is wet the shell will be heavy and will deform the balloon(s) from the shape you created. Hanging the balloon from one end whilst being restricted by the string will keep the curve you wanted until fully dry and then fixed in shape.

Whilst 're-shaping' balloons in the manor i am about to show you i prefer to work with a shell of no more than 6/8 layers of paper strips. This makes cutting into the strong but flexible shell(so much easier whilst also making the re-shaping easier too. When using PVA glue the paper once 'fully' dried will become stiff and fragile at this thickness. Not only would this potentialy split or shatter along the cut line but also may do so when re-shaping too. Keeping the strip shell to around 6/8 layers with a rotating layer of news paper and white printer paper keeps the shell strong and flexible too. I prefer to work with strips of around 2cms in width for balloons of this shape. Length wise is up to you but when working with news print anything longer than 20cms will crumple and form small ridges when drying if you are using a glue or paste that is too wet. I prefer a 'pure' first coat of PVA glue (any white glue) for the first layer of news paper then rotating through news paper then 80gsm white printer paper with a glue mix of: 50% water and 50% PVA glue for the final layers.

Keep your balloon in a stable as possible warm room once you have added your strips. Too hot and the balloon will swell and at best split the drying shell. This mercifully can be repaired with masking tape then a few more strips added. At worst the balloon will attempt to swell beyond the restricting paper shell and then simply burst. If this happens 'after the shell is fully dry then nothing is lost. However it can happen more than not before the paper shell has fully dried which will collapse the wet shell rendering it useless. In a normal shaped balloon shell you can sometimes replace the balloon whilst the paper shell is still wet. In a balloon such as this shape however it is near enough impossible to not even try.

Now burst the balloon then remove it. Cut or slice 'one side' just over half way down. Do not go all the way along the length of the shell. Tear off some short lengths of masking tape ready. Now carefully 'tuck' one side of the cut shell under the other side, squeeze and roll one over the other forming the final horn shape. As you can see the fold or rolled form thins out slightly down the form. This is why you need a balloon that is slightly wider than you intend your final horn form to be to allow for this thinning of the final form.

Now tape down the edges to fix them in place. Once the final shape is fixed in place go over the 'entire' cut edge with masking tape to smooth out the seem. Now again swapping between news paper and 80gsm printer paper finish off the horn to a thickness you are happy with. You can add another six layers or so (three news paper and three printer paper) then paint on three layers of my dragon skin to make a fast super hard super smooth final coating. If not then simply add as many layers of new strips as your happy with. The horn shown here is approximately 100cms x 27cms or 39" x 11" inches.

Even though at this point the shell will be self supporting hanging it up IS still the best way to dry out the project. When wet the shell will easily be dented and therefore damaged adding to creation time thanks to having to waste time filling in any deformities created in resting the shell on a hard surface. If nothing else the 'roundness' of the shell could be effected in this manor.

At this stage of drying i prefer to strengthen the shell with masking tape then simply run a short length of bamboo skewer through the open end of the shell. To which i then tie a short length of string in a 'loop' form to hang the shell from.

Once fully dried simply sand down then paint in the colours and paint types you prefer to use. Voila' one finished horn. In the second part of three parts i will show you how to make a simple but effective display stand for this project.

More soon.

5 SKULLS COMPLETELY FINISHED SO FAR

2011-03-05T17:35:00.001Z

I have now completely finished five of my skulls yeah. They are NOW in my Etsy shop.

More soon.

A PERSONAL CELEBRATION AFTER 27 YEARS

2011-03-05T10:58:00.000Z

Twenty seven years?

Has it really been that long since i had a tattoo done?

Indeed it has but i rectified that the other night. In celebration of how well my plaster pulp experiment turned out with my White Matter© Ver 2.6 especially then later with its use to make my fist sized hollow skulls. I have been thinking of a new tattoo for some time so decided to combine both tattoo idea and skull creations in a personal celebration. So i let my son loose with his tattoo gun on my left shoulder. The result so far below.

In case anyone is having trouble reading it, from left to right it says "LOVE HATE FATE". The center word FATE should have been lower down but since it was some 01:00am before we even got to doing this i forgive him this small error. One of the meanings behind the tattoo as well as celebrating my White Matter© and skulls is a personal reminder to me. It being LOVE, HATE a constant struggle throughout my life in many ways, at many times, should not rule my life as in the end it all succomes to FATE anyway so it is a pointless task master to set loose on myself!.

A while back he loaned his 'inks' to a tattoo artists friend and shortly after that his guns were stolen by a drug junkie from his flat with other items. He recently purchased new guns etc but when he got his inks back he forgot to check to see if they were all there before tattooing me. Unfortunately the grey and white were not. So he will have to come back to my tattoo when it is healed then add the grey and white shading on the skulls and around the words.

I will post a picture of the finished tattoo then. For now here it is some five minutes fresh.

Just thought you might be interested to know lol. Normal blog transmissions will now resume lol.

More soon.

FIRST FULLY PAINTED SKULLS

2011-03-03T17:42:00.001Z

Here are the first three fully painted (hollow) White Matter© skulls so far. They need to dry a while before sealing with high gloss clear spray sealer left to dry a day or two. Then they will be going in my Etsy Shop immediately afterwards.

More soon

OOPS MY MISTAKE - SORRY FOLKS

2011-03-01T10:23:00.000Z

Thanks to a comment from a very good artist friend of mine i just realised i did not explain fully why I chose the odd long drying period for my White Matter©

skulls i am painting. I do apologise most sincerely a simple oversight I shall now repair.

Plaster ‘pure’ plaster that is, is very absorbent when it comes to moisture be it small amounts in the air or a good down right soaking. Some people may think once you use plaster from the bag and it then cures fully that is the end of the story but no. Just because you activated the plaster so to speak then it dried out again does not mean it can not then continue to absorb moisture, it will.

Now that’s pure plaster be it the basic gypsum (dry walling) plaster form or the more refined white plaster of Paris (sculpting type) The only real difference is in the name not the end effect. Plaster in any state ‘will’ continue to absorb moisture when exposed to it. Ever tried hanging paper on a new plaster wall without painting it first? This is why you should always paint a new plaster wall before hanging paper to slow down the plaster sucking the moister from the wall paper paste too fast.

Now it is at this point I ask you to remember I only use water based paints (tempura type) even though I will be using extremely thin coats none the less I will be building up small amounts of water for the skulls to soak up. Now ordinarily a day or two air drying (no additional heat) for pure plaster would be more than sufficient for my skulls to soak up and dry out considering the amount of paint I will use on each one. More so as I am not painting these with a paint brush, I am using old sponges.

The reason I have decided to give the skulls a whole seven days to dry again before sealing is the tissue pulp content of the White Matter© medium I created even though it is a small amount is going to potentially cause the plaster content to hold the water slightly longer in either small pockets or small thin layers of pulp within the White Matter© medium. Once I seal them this could cause the paint to flake later. Using other paint types would more than likely have similar effects but probably over a longer time frame.

Okay why not simply radiator dry the skulls then some might be asking? Simply for the same reasons only several times faster which would more than likely cause minute cracking and potential weak points between the pulp and plaster in the medium that may not be visible especially under the paint. Add to the mix when you say to someone “These are ‘ornamental’ and not meant to be constantly handled” There is always going to be someone who comes along and goes “Oh look at this…” Picking up what was not meant to be.

It has always been a belief of mine that accidents don’t just ‘happen’ less someone gives them a reason to. More caution means less chance of a casualty so I prefer to lean more on the cautious side when I can.

More soon.

OH IS IT THAT TIME AGAIN - I HAVE TO PAINT SOMETHING AGAIN?

2011-02-28T16:41:00.002Z

So it would seem so help me so it would seem!

The first ten of my skulls two full skulls and two half skulls are pure plaster and the other six are my White Matter© skulls. I will remind you all which are which once they are finished and shown here hopefully by this coming weekend as i am only painting these ten in between mould casting new ones too.

Oh how i love to hate painting lol. Anyway the first two 'base coats' have gone on them. This being a dark brown & a pale brown that will then be under white, off yellow (dark brown and light brown mixed with yellow) slowly building up the dark and light shading on each skull.

Once these are finished i will be leaving them a full week to fully dry then i will be coating them all with high gloss clear sealer to fix the paint. I know this sounds like an odd thing to seal them with but the paint and the plaster in all the skulls will absorb most of the sealer dulling the normal glossy finish whilst sealing the paint too. Trust me this works i have tried it before. The trick is not to go more than two light coats. Just enough to seal the paint really.

So more soon on this as i say hopefully by this coming weekend. I will post pictures as soon as they are painted. Once they are sealed they will be going in my Esty shop.

MY PLASTER PULP EXPERIMENTS - CLOSED FOR NOW

2011-02-25T14:10:00.004Z

Okay It has been a relatively short path as far as experimenting goes in the case of my White Matter© at least. As with most experiments not a total success at first mixed but positive results at least. Still in the end i got the results i was looking for with version 2.6. Of course i was looking to create a medium i could primarily use in latex moulds myself. With little adjustments this medium can be made a little thicker to then be used on existing armatures, existing plaster or indeed White Matter© projects in building, adding to or repairing said forms.

Since 'my' own requirements called for large batches to be made as i was (am) working from several moulds at once with a high production of such skulls being required for numerous projects, i naturally made a large batch, also for my experiments once i knew the right direction to take with the formulae. Of course it stands to reason since a side effect is that it can stand for several days in or out of a refrigerator and still be a working medium. Other users who may not require such a large batch even though it will keep until required again with inevitably have to experiment with smaller batches of their own. It stands to reason too that they may wish to experiment with making adjustments to the water, plaster and the retardent levels of the pure PVA glue in 'theyre' batches of course. Other than mentioning how to and possible effects i have not addressed this in too much depth as it is a simple matter even for the most newest experimenter to grasp.

If not i am at hand to assist where i can of course.

So for now as i say i have what i was looking to create for my own purposes, having past on the recipe and other information too. I feel it is time i got to work getting on with the task at hand not only producing the skulls in this medium i require but also to get back to older projects and indeed unfinished posts on my blog here.

Before i do just that however it dawned on me i have discussed in the past posts my aims and achieved goals for and with the medium. But i have not yet given any evidence to back up my claims as yet. So whilst i am closing the doors on this feature for the time being. I will be returning to the experimenting table with this medium at a later date. I still have a few ideas, theories i want to throw in the mix as it were but that's for later as i say lol.

Until then here is as they say around my area "The proof in the pudding is in the eating" or "It does what it says on the tin" by way of a short (high speed) video of myself sculpting one of my White Matter© skulls using a power tool. Of course it can and i have in the recent past used a craft knife but that is a slow method of sculpting best suited to a 'few' items. As i say i have a 'lot' to make then sculpt the final forms into. So with further talk here is me sculpting one of my skulls.

AT LAST MY PLASTER & PULP MEDIUM -WHITE MATTER Ver 2.6

2011-02-21T04:10:00.002Z

Before I begin I must state that this mixture has been created to suit ‘my personal requirements’ as a ‘hybrid’ plaster and pulp medium created by myself to suite ‘my own’ current mould casting requirements that retains connections to the art form ‘paper mache’ with current use again by myself within liquid latex moulds, but has a high potential for other uses too.

Whilst this is far from a new creation in its main ‘descriptive’ form it is fair to mention that the Victorians used similar medium to create cornices and other decorative wall mouldings. However it must also be pointed out at this time that the Victorians also used slightly different recipes along with huge hydraulic machine presses to create these mouldings.

My medium allows artists wishing to create art forms using pre-made purchased or self ‘home made moulds’ and also potential use as both a bulking medium or free sculpting medium on or over existing or self made free standing armatures.

Throughout this document I shall include the recipe and method used to create this medium. Please note the recipe given is as ‘I personally’ designed and have farther enhanced this being version 2.6. I shall also include all known ‘issues’ with this medium known ‘to me’ at this time from my own usage within such boundaries as well as any alterations ‘other’ users may find to potentially work when modifying this medium to better suit ‘they’re own’ requirements. In the matter of altering the given recipe to suite ‘other users’ requirements I limit my information to known working formulae discovered by my own usage and experimentation. Anyone wishing to use this medium outside the given known and working area’s listed by myself run a high probability of encountering unknown issues that I have not accounted for as ‘other artists’ uses may well be outside my personal range of intended uses and therefore I may or may not have answers to any such issues that potentially arise. I shall however attempt to assist in any issues other artists encounter if and when I can.

Whilst i will be only too happy to assist where i can with unexpected issues that may develop after alteration of my original recipe for this medium and any uses not listed as tried andtested by myself. Please understand i cannot see (hands on) or know the limitations or effects of brand or none branded materials 'you' may be using in both the preparation of this medium nor the materials you intend to use this medium with/on especially if these relate to other countries and materials found there that potentially differ from those 'I used' here in the UK.

The medium i have created that i have called WHITE MATTER V2.6© works based on materials and working conditions relevant to the UK. Whilst using this medium 'please' take into account of the potential differences in materials etc relevant to 'your’ country/regions when casting judgment on my efforts and creation. Thank you.

RECIPE

Makes 3.2lb/1.5kg batch size

6 ounces/1.25gms wet tissue pulp.

12 ounces/3.50gms white plaster of Paris.

4 ounces/100gms (NOT FLUID OUNCES) PURE PVA (white latex based) glue.

30 fluid ounces cold or tepid (room temperature) water.

METHOD

STEP 1:

Create your tissue pulp as you would normally do so. I used the cheapest tissue I could find as this breaks down much easier to a finer pulp. You can even do this by hand with nothing more than a house hold utensil such as a large fork.

STEP 2:

Drain the freshly created pulp for 1 hour in a sieve/colander etc. The pulp should be visibly ‘wet’ but not dripping wet when handled in the palm of your hand.

STEP 3:

Measure out ALL the required ingredients and place to one side in ‘separate’ containers.

STEP 4:

Place the tissue pulp, PVA glue and water in a suitably sized mixing bowl. Mix thoroughly until you are sure the ingredients are mixed as thoroughly as possible.

STEP 5:

Slowly add the plaster and again mix as thoroughly as you can. Continue until ALL the plaster has been added. Mix for around one minute or so to ensure the ingredients HAVE been mixed throughout as much as possible. Failure to do so can promote hard unworkable plaster lumps in the mixture later. These ‘may’ promote premature curing of the medium in random clusters and also create week regions in a project when used.

STEP 6: Use as intended. In the listed formulae above the medium is designed as a pouring/spreading (soft brush or spatula) medium for moulding. For uses in ‘slip moulding’ or ‘free hand sculpting’ read on.

KNOWN MATERIALS THAT IT WILL BOND TO

By this I mean materials WHITE MATTER V2.6© is known by myself at this time to readily bond with. Such materials and uses then include: Whilst repairing existing projects or existing or self made armature forms either for use as a light weight ‘bulking’ material or as a free hand sculpting material. Also in this respect I imply ‘absorbent’ or ‘porous’ un-treated un-finished ‘none polished’ surfaces which will produce a firmer more lasting bond.

Paper ALL types untreated (none glossy painted, varnish finish, waxed, laminated surface, plastic coated surface etc type) ALL thicknesses. Note potentially ALL thicknesses with limitations involving thinner samples respectfully.

Card stock ALL types untreated (none glossy painted, varnish finish, waxed, laminated surface, plastic coated surface etc type) ALL thicknesses. Note potentially ALL thicknesses with limitations involving thinner samples respectfully.

Wood ALL types untreated (none glossy painted, varnish finish, waxed, laminated surface, plastic coated surface etc type) ALL thicknesses. Note potentially ALL thicknesses with limitations involving thinner samples respectfully.

Dried pure plasters ALL types untreated (none glossy painted, varnish finish, waxed, laminated surface, plastic coated surface etc type) ALL thicknesses. Note potentially ALL thicknesses with limitations involving thinner samples respectfully.

Dried White Matter© ALL types untreated (none glossy painted, varnish finish, waxed, laminated surface, plastic coated surface etc type) ALL thicknesses. Note potentially ALL thicknesses with limitations involving thinner samples respectfully.

Cloth/fabrics ALL types untreated (none glossy painted, varnish finish, waxed, laminated surface, plastic coated surface etc type) ALL thicknesses. Note potentially ALL thicknesses with limitations involving thinner samples respectfully.

Foam Firm open pour none smooth like surfaced types untreated (none glossy painted, varnish finish, waxed, laminated surface, plastic coated surface etc type) ALL thicknesses. Note potentially ALL thicknesses with limitations involving thinner samples respectfully.

Clay ALL types untreated (none glossy painted, varnish finish, waxed, laminated surface, plastic coated surface etc type) ALL thicknesses. Note potentially ALL thicknesses with limitations involving thinner samples respectfully.

Stone/Brick Including natural & man made forms. Open pour none smooth like surfaced types untreated (none glossy painted, varnish finish, waxed, laminated surface, plastic coated surface etc type) ALL thicknesses. Note potentially ALL thicknesses with limitations involving thinner samples respectfully.

WORKING TIME/SHELF LIFE

The current and previous versions of WHITE MATTER V2.6© created using the listed materials and method had an on-going working time of some 10 plus hours (viability as yet undetermined beyond this time frame) when left standing in an open bowl or plastic container (bag) in a moderately cold to cool working environment between 20/30 degrees centigrade approximately. Experimental batch Version 2.0 was also stored in a sealed plastic bag over night (some twelve hours or so) in a refrigerator. Batch version 2.0 then went on to being used even after being left in an open plastic bowl for the remainder of the day some eight hours or so later when the remains of the medium where used successfully in assorted latex moulds.

I suspect that WHITE MATTER V2.6© can potentially be stored in either an air reduced plastic bag or closed plastic food storage container for several days perhaps a week or more. The limitations of such storage times are yet to be tested. As are the viability of further working with WHITE MATTER V2.6© after being subjected to these time frames of cold storage. I will be testing other temperature and storage limits too at a later time.

WORKING WITH MOULDS

In the original un-altered listed medium form. I can confirm that working with plastic or liquid latex moulds you should experience little to no issues with this medium bonding with the mould surfaces. Even though PURE PVA glue which is latex based WILL bond to latex mould forms (or others potentially) WHITE MATTER V2.6© will not bond to none branded liquid latex mould forms.

As for ‘other’ moulding materials I have no working experiences so can not comment at this stage when using WHITE MATTER V2.6©. Information given by ‘other’ artists using a variant of this recipe, have experienced no issues with using silicon moulding form that I know of. I do not know the brand of the used silicon mould medium how ever.

OTHER WAYS TO USE WHITE MATTER V2.6©

In the current listed prepared form WHITE MATTER V2.6© as was created and intended for can simply be poured, brushed or ‘pushed’ using a spatula into a latex mould of course.

I am currently toying with the theory that WHITE MATTER V2.6© can potentially be watered down and then in a ‘slip’ form be used in ‘slip casting’ should the user have access to as well as experience with at home slip casting moulds. I have an idea to text this theory later. Otherwise this remains a working theory only at this time.

Existing ‘un-decorated’ none painted varnished or other forms of surface treated pure plaster forms can be ‘added to or even repaired with varying success depending on the nature and extent of the damage using WHITE MATTER V2.6©. As with ALL such damage and repairs of course WHITE MATTER V2.6© is not without its own limitations.

Newly moulded forms using, either pure plaster, clay, paper clays and of course WHITE MATTER V2.6©. Can be readily joined and or sculpted over with WHITE MATTER V2.6© with a strong and lasting result. Of course I repeat WHITE MATTER V2.6© will have related limitations in this procedure. This is something how ever subject to ongoing experimentation by the user.

White matter can be readily sculpted over many of the above listed under the heading: KNOWN MATERIALS IT WILL BOND TO. How ever to free sculpt on or over a pre-designed armature etc some ‘slight’ modifications are required first. WHITE MATTER V2.6© In its current form is a ‘flowing medium’ best suited for use in moulds specifically. To alter this medium to make it more user friendly as a free sculpting medium you ‘must’ thicken the medium first.

WARNING: This WILL dramatically reduce the working life from 10+ hours to anything from 2 to 15 minutes. When doing this it IS advised that you create & work with small batches of around 2 to 4 ounces which will be easier to use up before the medium cures (hardens).

To do this:

1: Reduce the amount of curing retardant (the PVA glue) levels.

2: In some cases depending on ‘your’ batch size and current alterations made to ‘your’ batch increase the plaster content slightly.

Carrying out steps 1, 2 or both together will dramatically change in accordance to ‘your’ working batch sizes. Trial and error are the main rules in this case. Not knowing what batch sizes ‘others’ will be working with I can not know how much you would require to vary steps 1, 2 or both together. This you will have to discover yourself.

GENERAL WORKING RULES AND CONDTITIONS

Whilst my listed recipe is for an extremely large batch the following rules and conditions will also be relevant and ‘apply’ to ‘your own’ smaller batches equally once you establish a working combination. It is advisable that you take note of these rules and conditions. Failure to do so at ‘best’ will result in failed mediums and wasted materials at ‘worst’ could result in an accident, damage to personal property or ‘yourself’ or ‘others’ present.

1: Room temperature variations WILL increase or decrease mixed batches working life from the moment you make up a batch ‘regardless’ of the batch size.

2: Varying recipes that differ from the original ‘listed’ batch recipe given above WILL have different working and storage life times. As these WILL vary from personal user requirements batch sizes and recipe amounts during creation I can not therefore know or list what other working or storage life times may then be in effect.

3: It IS advisable that you leave the medium in the moulds until you are sure the medium is cured sufficiently before de-moulding. You can (with practice) de-mould once the medium feels hard within the mould. De-moulding times WILL vary from recipe to recipe and batch sizes. With practice you will discover the relevant times for ‘your’ own recipes and batches to allow de-moulding.

4: Air drying IS advised at all times. Drying times WILL vary from recipe to recipe, batch sizes and room temperature.

5: Only attempt to speed up drying times ‘after de-moulding’ then it IS advised that you do so ONLY by placing ‘near’ or ‘on’ a hot radiator for several hours or overnight. At this stage the medium should be adequately dried to handle the process.

NEVER attempt to speed up the drying process by placing moulded or de-moulded projects in a conventional or microwave oven. There WILL be trapped air within the drying medium.

6: Colour can be added to the medium during the mixing process by use of ready made tempura (water based) paints. Whilst these paints contain water it is a small amount. This combined with the fact only small amounts of such paints will be required to colour individual batches the water content in the paints should not adversely effect your altered recipes.

7: Adding oil based paints or other mediums during mixing WILL affect a recipe. These effects may potentially include: Drying times, bonding, working life and storage life.

8: You can paint finished dried projects with any paint types you wish. This includes use of sealer or varnish mediums too.

9: WHITE MATTER© (ALL versions) when mixed in the correct working combinations IS an extremely strong, hard and very versatile medium. It looks and feels like pure plaster but due to varying tissue pulp levels incorporated during mixing can be many times lighter in weight. It MUST also be noted that whilst it is very strong and hard a set back to adding any pulp medium to plaster WILL dramatically reduce the medium in comparison to pure plaster which in itself has its own strength issues. It is therefore NOT a plaster substitute or replacement. It is simply a paper mache ‘hybrid’ medium. It should also ONLY be treated and respected as such at ALL times.

ALL original contents of this document including ALL references and relevant context in relation to ALL versions of the above listed medium here in described as and listed as a ‘hybrid’ plaster and tissue pulp sculpting medium also otherwise known as White Matter© as listed within this document remain the property of J Jones.

The contents of ‘this’ document may be: added to, altered with intentions of updating or improving facts, figures or methodology at any time without any prior notice. The contents of this document are hereby FREE to be ‘used’ both in the ‘original’ state and as with intentions to create ‘new’ versions of the medium known as White Matter©. The original documentation shown here may NOT be altered in anyway without permission from Mr J Jones

MY PLASTER PULP EXPERIMENTS BATCH 3 - QUICK UPDATE

2011-02-18T12:23:00.002Z

Okay today i am going to make experiment batch 3. Hopefully with the semi-success i gained from batch one and the lessons learnd from adding too much paper in batch two i now know the right combinations close enough to gaining the right mix this time round. Certainly from batch one i found the perfect retardant which gave me ten plus hours working/storage times. Then also gave me absolutely no issues when going into the molds. Indeed batch one had excellent drying times in the molds. Once in the molds batch one was dry to the touch and the molds could be handled/moved with ease at around ten minutes. The thickness of the mix 'in' the molds was around some four millimeters yet the drying times to touch/move remained steady at ten minutes.

Lessons learned between batch one and two showed me that essentially the paper pulp levels HAVE to be less than half of the plaster content. This i still need to access more clearly but this is a minor challenge i think. Clearly from lessons learned from batch two i discovered that equal paper pulp or more paper pulp than plaster no matter how slight increases drying times in the mold dramatically. Also in batch two again too much paper pulp creates shrinkage & serious cracking issues both in the wet and dried mix. Alongside the excess water retained by previously pulp paper causes water pooling in the lower hollow sections of the molded mix.

Now ordinarily plaster does not require air do cure, though it does require air to thoroughly dry out. With this in mind it would be safe to assume the water pooling in the molds of batch two would, should have little to no effect on curing times. Sadly the opposite appears to be true. Even though i know the reactions by very nature of the three elements in this mix. The paper pulp has a natural slow drying time, where as the plaster and ingredient 'X' have very fast drying times. Plaster of Paris of course having the fastest drying time between it and ingredient 'X'. Then again ingredient 'X' in it's normal form has a fast drying time too. This is itself retarded by the addition of the water to allow mixing of the three ingredients of course. It would be natural to assume that the plaster of Paris would overtake the other ingredients in precedent of curing/drying times due to its more favourable nature?

Saying that mixing elements of predictable natures can and often does produce unexpected effects at times when you would most least expect them.

So to round off this er!, what was meant to be a 'quick' update. I have created enough toilet tissue pulp to cover both current mix experiments and then later several projects. I am currently draining the paper pulp for an hour or so to reduce the water content hopefully to give me a more accurate measure of pulp during the mixing stage. Of course totally drying the paper pulp then re-shredding it dry would be the ideal solution. Sadly after the first roll of toilet tissue which i planned to pulp four my blender decided that it no longer wanted to play lets make a big mushy mess after roll one. I had to pulp the remaining three rolls by hand. Mercifully the tissue i am using was so thin i was able to pulp it in a large bowl by hand using a metal potato masher. All three remaining rolls that is at once. Again mercifully i purchased this brand of toilet tissue because of it's ease in pulping by hand or other wise.

More soon.

GAS MASK SKULLS PROJECT - PART 1

2011-02-17T15:01:00.000Z

Okay before i begin on this project let me just re-cap here: The many projects i have planned for my various skulls be they paper mache, plaster and my White Matter© (plaster and pulp mix) amongst these is one very special project a collection of gas mask skulls. These are based on a series of such skulls one of my sons amongst other things his being a tattooist the designs he tattooed on his own legs a while back. Below is a couple of the rough sketches i made from some of those skulls which i now plan to turn into a real object De art.

Using pure plaster i am creating a series of 'basic' cast skull forms that i can then 'individually' carve/sculpt with unique to each skull they're own final look. Amongst the various sizes of skulls i have a set of three skulls i am currently working on to create those basic master casts. They being a typical closed mouthed skull, a semi-open mouthed skull and a screaming skull.

Now of all three current designs the screaming skull lends itself to the gas mask skull projects more as the gas masks some shown above do not cover the lower face entirely. As in a portion of the sides of the screaming mouth can be seen. For me this adds a nice gruesome touch to the final design not shown in my sons tattoos. Below are the pre-carved/sculpted original basic cast skulls.

As i mentioned in a previous post i joined these together wrong causing the front of the skulls to miss-align. How ever once again the nature of the project means the gas mask section 'will' cover up this fault. I just need to carve/sculpt the features that will show beyond the gas mask. Then again as i said previously if i sculpt the entire skull since i am creating the gas mask features in plasticine, once i have created the new latex mold for this project, this particular skull, i can simply remove the plasticine and have a full skull again. A decision i came to when experimentally sculpting this skull i discovered the badly joined version could indeed be saved. As you can see below the first of the two screaming skulls sculpted into the final design.

Of course to use this as a gas mask-less version i will have to do some more minor sculpting to bring the skull up to standard, but this is minor work.

So what does the first stages of the plasticine gas mask look like then so far? Have a look below.

Now clearly i have a long way to go as yet. Once i get the proportions and design i want for the gas mask, straps etc established i can then work on adding the finer details in the mask.

AAAAGH! DISASTER STRIKES!!

Yesterday was not the best day to start this stage of this particular project with this particular skull!. Any of the other two versions would not have been a problem what-so-ever but no i had to start with this one didn't i. I broke off one side of the lower jaw because i did not warm up the plasticine enough between my hands before sculpting it directly to the plaster skull. In reflection what i 'should' have done was to only sculpt the area's that were visible beyond the gas mask straps and all!. Of course it is only too easy to reflect on what would have been the best thing to do isn't that just the way things are sometimes?

So luckily i still have another ready made so i am not having to mix up a new batch then wait for it do dry etc. With lessons learned from this mess up i should have more to show you in the next part of this feature post.

So what happened to the damaged skull then i hear some ask. Well i removed the remaining lower jaw and trimmed it all off around the damaged regions. Now this guy is a jaw less skull of which i now have two individual styles. The first one of course being by choice i might add lol.

Here is this poor damaged guy saved.

More soon.

MY SKULLS QUICK UPDATE

2011-02-15T16:22:00.000Z

Just a quick look at the skulls i have re-sculpted from the original 'basic' plaster copies so far.

As for the faulty (my fault) screaming skulls i have one almost completed. Just some minor touches to sculpt now. This one of two so far made has come out better than i thought it might. Whilst this is definitely one design for the gas mask skulls (see previous posts) i can now or rather later remove the plasticine mask(s) from these skulls & still have a working fairly decent screaming skull in then end.

Just goes to show never rush to give up on a project, you just never know how a mistake can be salvaged until you try.

More soon.

WHY MASS PRODUCE PLASTER SKULLS JUST TO RE-MOLD FROM THEM AGAIN?

2011-02-14T15:34:00.000Z

This is an idea i have been working on since i started making my Troll Screamers, i must get back to those soon. B (Barbara) my wife keeps asking when i am going to finish her mummy Troll Screamer. One of the designs family members came up with lol. Essentially by working from a fixed basic form i can then mass produce a few dozen semi-finished skulls. By making them first in plaster this serves two purposes for me. Firstly i need some plaster skulls for candle sconce creations later anyway. Secondly by making them in plaster first i can then re-sculpt countless 'new' individual skulls as and when i choose.

Being made first in plaster gives me a much tougher form to work with. Especially when sculpting with a craft knife. If i dig too deeply or slip and scratch the surface the tougher plaster skulls give me more room for such slip ups as there is less chance i will dig out too much plaster. Whilst the plaster pulp skulls 'will' be quite strong and hard they will never be as strong as the pure plaster skulls. Of course as i have already said this also gives me my plaster skulls at the same time for other projects.

The differences may only be slight and in most cases you would need to see two or more side by side to see the actual differences. The three styles i am going with for now are mouth closed, mouth slightly open and screaming. Below are a few of the first new 'basic' plaster skulls (mouth closed and mouth slightly open) waiting for the 'new' look to be sculpted in them.

As for the screaming skulls, well i er!, messed up when i trimmed the halves after de-molding. Basically i did not remove enough of the plaster from the edges where the skull halves come together. For no particular reason i like to work from the back of the skull forwards when joining them together i did not realize what i had done on both skulls until they were dry and ready for the final plaster to join them together was added.

I did not realise of course because of how i work. I start on the back of one skull and join that region only first. Then i place it to one side then start another, and so on and so on. When i came back to these two and came to start the fronts i discovered my error. You can see the problem below.

Of course i need simply cut the back of the skulls apart again and trim off some more of the edge of the plaster. It also occurs to me i haven't started making my sons 'gas mask skull tattoos' into real skulls either. These messed up skulls offer my the perfect reason to begin those now. Since the initial gas mask will cover most of the lower face of each skull. The messed up mouths offer no problems at all.

In fact once i post this i will begin work on sculpting the gas masks etc on these two guys in plasticine. You can follow the progress of the gas mask skulls in they're own special feature in a few days as i can work on these in between waiting for new plaster and plaster pulp skull molds to become free etc. Then i have to join the new skulls and sculpt them too.

More soon.

MY PLASTER PULP EXPERIMENTS BATCH 2 - ANOTHER UPDATE

2011-02-14T14:49:00.000Z

In the previous update i mentioned a serious shrinkage issue due to i think an increase in un-accounted for water when i added more wet tissue pulp. I was going to make a third test batch today but i am simply not up for it as it turns out, not today. When i do (tomorrow, day after maybe) i will be reducing the tissue pulp content back to where it was during the first batch experiment. I will be draining the tissue pulp too before mixing, but more on that at the time of making the new batch. For now here is that shrinkage i mentioned. You may need to click on the image to enlarge it to see the problem better.

I new there may have been 'some' shrinkage or extended drying issues from adding the extra tissue pulp. However a miss-judgement of the water in the soaking wet tissue pulp threw my calculations and expectations out more than i thought.

Never mind these samples can simply be re-mixed into a random batch later when fully dried.

More soon.

MY PLASTER PULP EXPERIMENTS - UPDATE BATCH 2

2011-02-13T15:55:00.004Z

Okay i put together a second experimental batch of my White Matter© today. At this point it is some two hours and seventeen minutes in and it is working just as the first batch did as in it is not going off (hard) in the mixing bowl. I 'definately' have cracked the secret of retarding the plaster of Paris going off too quickly. However, i made some slight changes to the tissue paper content this time to see what would happen.

In the first batch i made the mix was approximately forty percent tissue paper to sixty percent plaster of Paris plus ingredient 'x' which i will reveal later when i know i have perfect results every time. Now as i have said it is staying wet and completely useable as the first batch did, however drying times in the moulds has increased dramatically and in some moulds there is serious shrinkage. Water is pooling in the lower hollow regions in the moulds too.

I have been aiming at getting the mix to a fifty percent tissue pulp and fifty percent plaster. This it appears will simply not work. Not with as fast in the mould drying times anyway. The shrinkage i 'think' is due to the 'increase' of water which is being introduced along with the increased tissue pulp levels 'not' the tissue itself. Now don't take my word on that yet. I am still only working from personal theories here and they are best sketchy at this point. I am still working out the reasons 'why' this mix works as it does. Plaster after all 'will' go off no matter how much water you add. It will take longer of course but it 'will' none the less seprate from the eccess water sink and go off under the water. This consistant reaction is how you clean your containers after use after all.

To clean mixing containers you want to reuse simply add water to the container you were using. Use a paint brush, cloth or sponge to wipe down the sides of the container with the water in the container. Then simply place the container somewhere it will not be disturbed for a day or two. Later go back to it to find most of the water has evaporated leaving a solid block of plaster at the bottom of the container. If you have no use for this plaster simply dispose of it as your local waste management authorities advise. Or you can break it down with a hammer, oven bake it dry. Run it through a coffee grinder etc, voila re-useable plaster again.

When it comes to using the new batch on existing plaster/White Matter© objects IE: previously made skulls there is 'no' change to the way the mix reacts as with the first batch. In this respect the results are identical. In fact i am currently using it to join up the halves of the plaster skulls i made yesterday. Not only are the two halves bonding beautifully, seamlessly. The new batch of White Matter© is acting exactly as the first experimental batch did in this instance.

I still have another twelve skull halves to build up today which is going to take me up to my time to quit for the day. I will make a third and i am sure final experimental batch tomorrow with a reduced tissue paper content matcing the first batch which should fix the increased drying times and shrinkage issues i created with toady's experimental batch.

So to round off for today not total perfect results but i did throw a spanner in the works by increasing the paper content. Then again this is all part and parcel of experimenting is it not lol.

More soon.

MY PLASTER PULP EXPERIMENTS - HOLY CRAP I CRACKED IT!

2011-02-12T11:07:00.001Z

SUCCESS SUCCESS SUCCESS

Okay just let me calm down a second...

Now for those who have been following my blog, especially my attempts at making a viable plaster and pulp sculpting medium you will know of my semi successes and failures so far. Just the day before yesterday i posted on my latest failure. Okay yesterday i cracked the recipe..

I have created a plaster of Paris and tissue pulp medium that bonds to several mediums which paper mache artists currently mainly use. My plaster and pulp medium can be sculpted on or over existing creations and armatures without any prior preparations these being dry: plaster, clay, pulp, news paper, white printer paper, telephone directory paper, card stock and even wood.

My previous attempts at making this medium met with mixed results among which was a varying working time frame which ranged anything from eight minutes to fifteen minutes before the previous mediums dried out and became un-workable. Below is a short video of my latest and successful medium. Watch the video and see if you can guess the current life span of the medium in the video. Oh i apologise for the darkness of the video it was late, i was sore and tired. I did not think to check the lighting quality before shooting the video - Sorry.

So care to take a guess at how old this mix is then at the time of shooting this short video?

1: five minutes?

2: ten minutes?

3: fifteen minutes?

4: twenty minutes?

5: thirty minutes?

6: one hour?

Keep guessing.

keep guessing.

Keep guessing.

Keep guessing I will tell you in a minute.

Keep guessing.

Go on one more guess.

The medium you just watched me playing with in the short video is at the time of shooting the video was in fact two hours and eleven minutes old. Directly after shooting that video i made the following skull you can see below as well as testing it on the other mediums i mentioned above.

The skull in the foreground (on the right of the picture) is the one i made with my new plaster pulp medium. The skull in the background is a pure plaster skull i made days earlier. As you can see the new plaster pulp mix when dry can easily be carved/sculpted using a craft knife. It looks and feels just as strong as pure plaster and can easily be smoothed out to a very smooth finish no matter how you use it. Here it is direct from a latex mold however.

I did not use up all the plaster pulp mix in fact i wanted to know just how long it would stand before drying out and becoming too hard to work with. If you think two plus hours working time is unbelievable your not going to believe me then when i tell you that ten hours later the plaster pulp mix shown in the video was 'still' as fresh as that shown in the video. At that point i got tired of checking it every ten minutes and simply spread it out in the bowl and microwaved it for three minutes before going to bed.

So now there is one question still to answer. Can i remake this batch, if so will it work in the same way?

I will get to it in a few hours, run some tests then get back to you after the weekend on that one. Yes before anyone asks i WILL be giving you the recipe for this just as soon as i know if i can repeat the mixture and have the same results.

More soon

SALVAGING USED PLASTER

2011-02-10T16:57:00.001Z

On reflection this is something i really should have mentioned way back when i first posted about making plaster molds (how to plaster cast a dolphin) that's got to be over 200 posts ago now - Sorry folks. Basically when using plaster when the project goes wrong, breaks when de-molding etc you need not throw away your failed project. In fact you can re-use the plaster.

Okay here is a quick run down of what i am talking about.

Gypsum, plaster of Paris, sculpting or molding plaster: It's all the same thing, well technically anyway. Gypsum is a form of calcium formed by sea shells buried millions of years ago crushed under countless tones of bedrock and top soil. The calcium of the gypsum whilst it feels dry to the touch is in fact a little wet. The water is trapped in a crystalline form within the gypsum. In this state it still has many uses. Plaster boards, fertiliser etc are two of the most well known forms of use in its unchanged state. Gypsum is sometimes called plaster of Paris because that's where it was first mined, refined and used. Today plaster of Paris or sculpting/modeling plaster is the more accepted name for refined gypsum.

Gypsum comes in a grey colour its natural state. When refined which simply involves heating the gypsum the little water that is held in the crystals is vapourised, effectively bleaching the gypsum giving it both it's white appearance and much stronger form which we call plaster of Paris etc..

When you add water to normal gypsum the crystals swell as they absorb some of the water. As they dry out again they both retain some water and bond in they're now position after swelling. Because they don't absorb much more water than they already hold they don't bond together totally leaving micro gaps between the crystals. Whilst this is still a relatively strong form it's far from good enough for quality sculptures etc. However because plaster of Paris is much drier it then absorbs more water and then swells much more bonding the crystals more tightly. Thus creating a much stronger harder smoother more ceramic like finish that we know.

Now gypsum is one of those weird substances we rarely think twice about in daily life. It is one of those elements around us that can be altered whilst used in some fashion yet it can be converted back to its natural state too.

So with that in mind here is how you can re-use your broken or faulty plaster creations. Lets assume you cast some plaster form(s) in one of the many available mold mediums. Either the details hadn't shown up clearly, there were air bubbles making the creation is weak or malformed or the creation broke during demolding etc. Essentially the cast form is no good for end use so you scrap it. Normally most people would simply bin the creation and start over. This can be a costly waste of materials.

Simply allow the creation to dry out. Either place it in a tough cloth bag burlap etc then break it down to one centimeter sized fragments. Further reduce those fragments to dust as you can either with a blender or better still a coffee grinder. Not having a coffee grinder i simply used my three speed blender. I had to run it through twice in small amounts but the blender coped pretty well. The results can be seen with the grater i used blade below.

Now because this pile of plaster contains tissue paper pulp that i want to keep as it is i will not be carrying out the next stage as it will burn away the tissue paper . I will simply add some new fresh plaster to this in small portions and re-use it in this form.

TO SALVAGE PURE PLASTER CARRY ON WITH THE FOLLOWING

After breaking down and grinding down your recovered 'pure' plaster bake it either in a conventional oven or microwave. Use the largest tray or container you have to save time. Remember however you don't want to make huge mounds for each baking session. As much as you can get on/in the containers as possible without heaping it up works best.

CONVENTIONAL OVEN METHOD:

1: Pre-heat the oven to 220*c

2: Place the tray of recovered PURE plaster (no paint, sealer, varnish etc) in the middle of the oven for one hour. Fan assisted ovens are better as they constantly rotate the heat during baking times and then afterwards dispel the heat when cooling speeding up the process for you.

3: allow to cool thoroughly before handling.

4: bag or box it up in an air tight fashion. Use as normal when ready.

MICROWAVE OVEN METHOD:

1: Use a 600w microwave oven set at its highest power setting.

2: Place the tray/container etc of recovered PURE plaster (no paint, sealer, varnish etc) in the microwave oven for ten minutes.

3: allow to cool thoroughly before handling.

4: bag or box it up in an air tight fashion. Use as normal when ready.

You can repeat this process as many times as you like.

MY PLASTER PULP EXPERIMENTS CONTINUED - A NEW VERSION IS A FAILURE!

2011-02-10T11:23:00.003Z

First of all i am going to break this away from my 'something for my Etsy store' feature postings and run it from where my last plaster pulp experiment posts left off.

Secondly the title is not quite accurate. The 'new' plaster pulp recipe whilst not being a total success that i was hoping for didn't throw up any new problems. Well beyond human error, okay stupidity. I am not afraid to admit to making mistakes after all. To clarify the mistakes i did not measure of the ingredients for the last two new pulp batches accurately. I simply 'spooned' and guessed the quantities involved. Stupid stupid armature way of doing things i know, i know but there you have it. Moving on then.

My first plaster pulp experiments using ClayCrete a commercially purchased ready prepared mixed pulp were a total success. I forget how much amount wise you get per bag a couple of pounds or so at £10.00 GBP, Not a lot if your making large or numerous projects. However not knowing what the binding agent is in the commercially purchased product leaves me stuck in re-creating the same results it gives with home made recipes - for now at least.

My home made pulps for use in my other earlier plaster pulp experiments were a success also in that they formed perfectly in the moulds copying the details of the moulds & were near enough strength wise to both suit my needs and being close enough to the commercial pulp. How ever as i have said the 'core' of the casts i made using my home made pulps were not bonding with the plaster enough to make them viable.

My new plaster pulp recipe has the exact same flaws, though my armature method of mixing this plaster pulp version if nothing else not only confirmed my previous theories but also reinforced them. I want the mix to be as close to 50% plaster and 50% paper pulp as possible keeping it in the acceptable standard PM constraints and allowing it to be rightfully classified as a paper mache product. So my theories, discoveries and conclusions so far then.

WHITE MATTER Ver. 1 ©TM J Jones

POSITIVE POINTS (Air and radiator drying)

Created using commercial ready made pulp: 100% success. extremely Light weight, strong throughout, fast drying. Can be carved/sculpted using sharp tools.

NEGATIVE POINTS

The commercially purchased ready made pulp IS expensive and comes in small amounts.

GREY MATTER Ver. 1 ©TM J Jones

POSITIVE POINTS (Air and radiator drying)

Created using home made news paper based pulp 70% success, extremely light weight.

NEGATIVE POINTS

Soft inner core: Plaster and pulp not bonding leaving it susceptible to breaking easily.

GREY MATTER Ver. 2 ©TM J Jones

POSITIVE POINTS (air and radiator drying)

Created using home made news paper based pulp 50% success, extremely light weight, strong outer shell finish, fast drying. Can be carved/sculpted using sharp tools if some what cautiously.

NEGATIVE POINTS

Soft inner core: Plaster and pulp not bonding leaving it susceptible to breaking much more easily.

GREY MATTER Ver. 3 ©TM J Jones

POSITIVE POINTS (Air and radiator drying)

Created using home made news paper based pulp 40%/50% success, extremely light weight, strong outer shell finish, fast drying. Can be carved/sculpted using sharp tools if somewhat cautiously.

NEGATIVE POINTS

Soft inner core. Plaster and pulp not bonding leaving it susceptible to breaking much more easily again.

WHITE MATTER Ver. 2 ©TM J Jones

POSITIVE POINTS (Air drying)

Created using home made toilet roll tissue paper based pulp 20%/30% success. If plaster 70% to pulp 30% ratio. Extremely light weight, moderately strong outer shell finish, fast drying depending on water content. Can be carved/sculpted using sharp tools with care.

NEGATIVE POINTS (Radiator drying)

Too much water: Can take 48+ hours to air dry. Extremely difficult to work with even in a mould. Soft throughout surface to inner core with a soft outer paper like pulp like shell. Plaster and pulp not bonding, Shrinkage EXTREME. Cracking and crumbling when handled.

Too much pulp: Dries too slowly, Soft throughout surface to inner core with a soft outer paper like pulp like shell. Plaster and pulp not bonding. Shrinkage EXTREME. Crumbles when handling.

Too much plaster: Dries too quickly, medium hard surface and core. Plaster and pulp slightly better bonding. Shrinkage varies. Crumbles when handling though slightly less so.

THEORIES AND CONCLUSIONS

With exception to the water, pulp and plaster ratios the 'same' main problems as in the original home made pulp versions. The plaster and pulp not bonding sufficiently enough. Adding raw linseed oil contrary to positive research had NO noticeable effect in ANY positive way. Indeed giving pre-made plaster moulds two coats did not strengthen the already hard dried plaster. In fact they became softer. Before painting on two coats of linseed oil the plaster moulds had an extremely hard ceramic like surface that i could not mark with my fingernail and have to when required carve/sculpt with a craft knife. After coating in linseed oil and leaving twenty four hours to dry out i could easily scratch the surface and a little deeper with my thumb nail.

Using toilet roll tissue instead of news paper pulp did make mixing the 'wet' pulp and plaster much easier, so a positive point there. However my original recipes are based on 'dried' pulp ratios. The wet tissue pulp offers up it's own problems in calculating the weight to content ratios for a more accurate recipe since water content of the tissue pulp can and will alter from batch to batch. Something to ponder there for sure.

Substituting the original news paper pulp for the tissue pulp HAS positive advantages i am in no doubt. Certainly in mixing and dry weight, probably even in account of strength too. The problem remains constant however when it comes to achieving a bond in the core of the mix when dry. I have a 'potential' solution in mind, but this brings with it its own potential problems too.

PVA glue (Elmer’s etc) or more specifically the type/brand i use is well known for its bonding properties. Indeed its used widely in the building trade when plastering old dry walls where old traditional lime based plaster would have once been. A coat of watered down PVA glue directly on the wall allows the new modern plaster to bond to the old stone work. So theoretically it 'may' make the plaster bond to the paper pulp in this case?

The potential problems then being PVA glue(s) and liquid latex moulding solutions have one key ingredient 'latex'. It has to be assumed of course that it may vary in amounts andstrengths in each product i know from experience that a torn latex mould can be repaired if torn etc with pure PVA glue, ie: They bond readily and strongly!. So now the question is how much is going to be enough to create a 'potential' bond between the plaster and the tissue pulp without being too much and bonding with the latex mould?

Another thing to consider here of course is joint compounds. Of which there are many versions and again like the linseed oil joint compounds have received a lot of positive press. Of course there remains a singular issue throughout the whole of this experiment that cannot be ignored. We all be we in different counties or countries have different grades of papers, glues and compounds be they joint, latex or wood based. What work for one person in one region may not work for another elsewhere?

At the very least i can hope for is gaining the right working recipe that suits my needs that other 'may' be able to use too or at best if not a working recipe for others then a starting point that they can use to find the solution for themselves in this area at least. Below you can see my most recent attempts and failures.

Here the problem was not enough plaster in the mix.

The experimenting continues.

More soon.

SOMETHING FOR MY ETSY STORE - YET ANOTHER UPDATE

2011-02-08T18:20:00.000Z

Well i finally got around to working on that new plaster pulp mix today that i mentioned in my earlier post. I will have to be careful here i might get a liking for being punctual & frequent whats this for today post three lol. I actually started working on this new mix yesterday but today was the mix i wanted to make properly. Hmm!, better explain this a little better i think.

After some discussion(s) as mentioned in a previous post a suggestion by Jonni Good 'for' using linseed oil & some research of my own i purchased some online a few days back, two 500ml bottles to be exact. I didn't buy it for the extra hardening properties alone however, no. The outer hardness of my own plaster pulp experimental mixes was not the issue i was having. It was the bonding of the heavier paper pulp i was using to the plaster in my plaster pulp mix. I am hoping the softer thinner toilet roll tissue pulp i have now used will absorb some of the linseed oil & then harden with it being there. Then hopefully it might bond to the plaster a little better in the 'core' of the mix. The linseed oil only arrived today however. Yesterday i thought I'd mix up a batch (many small batches as per requirements during use to be precise) as a comparison to today's mix containing linseed oil.

The new batch is a slight variation on Jonni Goods variation of one of my original plaster pulp experimental mixes. This could get very confusing i think if i am not careful lol. Anyway i am using raw linseed oil unboiled. In my original mixes i carefully measured out specific amounts of all the ingredients. The original mixes were larger batches of what i made today of around 4 ounces. This time however i am working to smaller molds so i have been making them at around 1 ounce or so batches measuring the ingredients by the 'spoonful' basically. My current experimental plaster pulp goes as follows:

1: 4/5 desert spoons (depending on mold size) of very wet toilet tissue pulp (as from the blender very water logged wet).

2: 1 cap full of raw linseed oil unboiled mixed directly into the wet tissue pulp.

3: additional water as required just prior to adding the plaster.

4: approx 1 to 1 & a 1/2 ounces of sculpting grade plaster mixed together to form a runny porridge like paste.

5: This i then mixed until it began to thicken (go off) at this point i split the mix between two or four molds depending on the size of the molds in use at the time using a small flat bristled paint brush to apply in the molds. I have not used any supportive mesh cloth at this point. Primarily as i simply don't have any to hand. Its not something i can't seem to find easily locally.

6: If required some molds were 'patched up' were the mix had slid from the rim or edges of some of the molds because of having to work quickly.

7: The molds were then left to air dry for the next couple of days.

EARLY SUMMERISATION

At this point i am 50/50 both hopeful & sceptical that this particular mix is yet right. Some of the mini batches dried hard to the touch minutes after going into the molds even if i applied the mix when still very runny. Some remained very wet more than 2 hours later. I feel this was simply due to sometimes each spoonful of tissue pulp came with more water on the spoon than others. Also sometimes a little more plaster than other times went into the mix. I think i might have to drain the tissue pulp next time & measure both it & the plaster a little more accurately for a more consistent & better working mix to prevent these dry & wet irregularities in the same mix. Not the best scientific method of experimenting using the rule of the thumb, but then it has been a bit of a crazy day for me.

I don't know why at this point but my original working times 'after' mixing has been radically reduced from 8/15 minutes to worst case scenario literally 1/2 minutes after mixing. Could be the change from heavier paper to tissue paper, or the slight irregularity in the plaster amounts i am adding. Hmm!, more than likely the latter i think.

So to draw this post to an end for now. I have made a host of castings up: mini skull trophy/candle sconces, new slightly bigger realistic skulls to the first casts of my ouroboros project. I will let you all know how these batches went once they are all fully dried & de-molded in a few days.

More soon.

SPEAKING OF SUPPORT SHELLS

2011-02-08T13:14:00.001Z

Whilst making the second plaster support shell for the ouroboros project i found i had a little plaster left over. Again whilst i have already made some mini skulls for my mini trophy/sconce projects i also needed some slightly bigger skulls too. The larger skulls i have since made & copied in latex. These were the 'other' projects i wanted the rest of my current supply of liquid latex for. So as i was saying whilst making the second half of the ouroboros support shell it turned out i had just enough plaster left over to try out one of my new skull molds.

I actually have three designs made up & copied in latex. After casting one of them which i will show you in a minute i decided to sculpt the design a little more enhancing the detail & well you can see the final design below of the first new larger skulls.

As you can see just as with the smaller trophy skulls i sculpted out the lower jaw at the side. I also sculpted out the eye sockets & nasal cavity too on this larger version. I even added the hole in the lower sides of the skull for the ear connections through the skull to the brain as well. Below you can see the actual size of this skull compared to my hand. Whilst the smaller trophy skulls fit 'in' my hand. These larger versions are roughly the size of my closed fist. Oh the strange symbol on the sides of the skulls head are simply pen markings that have leeched into the wet plaster from the latex molds. This is just an identifying mark so i know at a glance which two mold & halves go together when making mass molds nothing more. This will be lost in the painting etc later.

P.S. You can also see in this shot my 'boo boo' has healed to what resembles a crude birth mark now. Other than being totally annoying to look at it is totally healed now.

Whilst taking these pictures i had not noticed a very weird phenomenon, a simple trick of the light of course. By sheer fluke the angle of the light shining through the sculpted holes in the sides of the skull formed a, well before i say anything more can you see it before i say it 'inside' the skull?

Do you see it? A wailing cartoon ghost!. Two eye's peering out of a peeked hooded head? An open wailing mouth complete with tongue & even three fingers on the right hand (as you look at the picture) that complete this weird trick of the light. Spooky or what lol?

Okay back to more serious things.

In previous posts i mentioned my lack of enthusiasm for using anything other than as close to original paper mache materials & methods in my final creations. Whilst discussing various aspects relating to PM on other blogs, groups etc. The use of linseed oil came up many times. Immediately stated there as well as here my lack of enthusiasm for its use. Of course linseed oil has many uses many most people will be well aware of. Somme of the more common being a natural wood preservative it is used to preserve furniture, flooring, cricket bats & is also used amongst other things in glaziers putty too.

So i decided to do some research of my own into its uses in the paper mache world. Amongst my findings & after a helpful pointer from fellow PM artist Jonni Good I found a wealth of information which included the fact that the Victorians used PM in the creation of many of they're wall & ceiling decals & moldings.

Of course it goes without saying that paper is made from wood, linseed oil being a natural plant extract preserves wood. Saying that it stands to reason that many long time PM artists contest that it makes paper mache stronger & last longer. It also turns out that it has unusual properties when mixed with plaster too. For some reason i have not yet discovered beyond my own conclusions as it is a natural 'oil' it then dries out slowly whilst forming a fine barrier around the plaster as they both dry out then this slows down the plaster going off (drying out). This means of course whilst using plaster in molds you gain slightly more working time. It appears too however that either whilst mixing in the plaster during the er!, mixing stage or painting directly onto the dried plaster forms it also hardens the plaster even further than plaster alone, even high quality sculpting plaster which is a more refined gypsum plaster.

I have never been a one to deny when i am wrong on a subject & i have always been a keen advocate in saying "You can't knock something unless 'you' have tried it first". So!, on the findings from my own research online, testimonials from artists, linseed oil manufacturers etc I have decided to try linseed oil both on & in my current & future plaster mold forms as well as my 'new' plaster pulp recipe. I have already given my existing 'new' skull plaster molds two coats as well as the new skull shown above. Below is the new skull with the linseed oil freshly painted on.

Whatever else this may achieve it gives the plaster (in this case) a wonderful aged bone tone which if it stays this colour it will reduce a lot of painting that would be required later.

Prior to painting on the linseed oil i placed a small lit candle inside the skull to see how it would look if i made some up in this way. Below you can see the spooky cool look the candle gave it.

Okay i will leave this post here for now. I am going to go make up some more plaster skulls, plaster & pulp skulls as well as the first of my plaster pulp ouroboros. When i get some of the other plaster skull designs made & enhance them with a little fancy sculpting as i have with this one i will show you the results as well as show you how i am going to re-copy 'new' latex molds from this what is normally an impossible form to make a mold from, or so you'd thing lol.

More soon.

SOMETHNG FOR MY ETSY STORE - DEMOLDING, DEMOLDING

2011-02-08T11:37:00.000Z

Okay time to de-mold the support shell & the actual latex molds. Below you can see the support shell removed. I have not yet cleaned up the second half of the support shell (in the bottom of picture) but that's just cosmetics in the end i can do that anytime.

If you remember from previous posts in this feature i mentioned i wanted to use less liquid latex molding solution so i had some for other projects? This is then why i needed to make this support shell, for the thinner than it should have been finished latex mold.

Below You can see the latex mold after removal from the master ouroboros project.

As you can see some of the colouring in the plasticine has leeched into the latex mold. This is the first time i have encountered this phenomenon before but it will have no effect on the actual plaster & plaster & pulp castings i am going to make. At worst 'some' of this discolouring 'may' be transferred to the actual copies. In the end though the colours i have chosen to make the final copies will bury this colouration easily. Below is a close up of those scales i spent so much time making. Sorry about the picture quality i found standing long enough to take the pictures at this point a little tiring having decided at the last minute to take this shot after i took all the others.

You can probably see them better in the smaller picture above this one? As you can see they turned out just about perfect. As to the original master copy of the ouroboros, well that didn't fair so good as you can see below.

As you can see many of the scales peeled away from the master form, but they also peeled right out of the latex mold halves too so this was not an issue in the end. Plasticine reacts oddly to liquid latex in that it dries out slightly. The good news is of course it does not stick to the liquid latex either. I have found once you re-work the 'used' plasticine such as this back into another quantity of fresh plasticine it seems to return to its original more malleable form again so can be re-used several times in mold making such as i have shown you.

Now the next stage is to mix up some plaster pulp & create the final designs to attach to the mirrors i have. I am still working on the perfect recipe for my plaster pulp at this time but have a 'new' recipe in mind & will be trying it out later today. Early tests seem positive i just need to get the pulp to plaster ratios a little closer to the final desired mark.

More soon.

SOMETHING FOR MY ETSY STORE - ANOTHER UPDATE

2011-01-31T13:13:00.001Z

Whilst checking my shell for my latex mold on my ouroboros whilst it was drying it occurred to me i may have been a little over ambitious with the plaster, making it a little too heavy to handle. As i have six nineteen inch mirrors to work with so far & plan to purchase another six (if they are available in store) on tomorrows monthly art supply run. It is going to be handled quite a lot!. Because of part of my disabilities (week left arm due to shoulder damage) i run a higher risk of dropping it!.

As i am using a high grade sculpting plaster not basic gypsum plaster it will dry to a near ceramic hard finish & will be difficult if not time consuming to alter. So whilst the plaster was still semi-wet i decided to reduce the amount of plaster shell around the latex mold. Whilst this IS a risky thing to do with soft plaster it can be achieved if care is taken, & a sharp craft knife of course. Below is the 'new' design for the plaster outer shell.

Not perfectly round but then this is just a support for the latex mold in the end. What you are looking at here is what 'was' the back side of the support shell, which now becomes the front, or new working surface. Whilst i do not need to add any releasing agent to the latex when using plaster i will need to do so to the visible plaster surface before i can add new boxing & pour the next half of the outer support shell. As always i will be using bees wax as a releasing agent.

Normally you should wait until the first section of the plaster mold was fully dried before creating the second half. As i want 'both' halves to dry as close as possible however i am going to carry on creating this outer support shell now.

With the exception of the 'hole' in the middle i created the boxing around the first outer support shell just as before using pizza card stock & masking tape. Once again i have since poured the plaster into the boxing mold after this picture was taken. I will show the separation & demolding of the plasticine covered paper mache ouroboros in the next post.

For all this is very tough plaster when fully dried it IS after all plaster & subject to damage relatively easily especially now since i reduce the size & strength factor of the shell radically. I have had on occasion plaster molds become damaged, my fault these times not hapless family members for a change. Ordinarily so that they were unusable. However with some brief experimentation i have found that should a plaster mold be damaged in one such case split in two complete halves. You can glue the two halves together using undiluted PVA glue (Elmer's etc) the layer the reverse (back) of the plaster mold with four to six layers of telephone directory pages torn into manageable strips. If need be a small amount of plaster can be mixed up to fill in the cracks or gaps in the working surface of the repaired mold too. Or even ready made poly filler which is a paste like plaster filler if you don't want to mess with mixing small amounts of plaster for the repair(s).

I tried this using news paper but it becomes too hard & brittle. For some reason telephone directory paper & PVA glue dries to a very tough skin that is much harder to split as with new paper.

More soon.

SOMETHING FOR MY ESTY STORE - PART 4

2011-01-30T14:17:00.000Z

So now i have the liquid latex mold on the ouroboros six layers in all. Liquid latex varies from manufacturer to manufacturer & also can have special colours added to them during the mixing process of course. The type i am using is a simple low cost run of the mill none branded type without any added colours. The best way to judge when 'enough' is 'enough' when creating such a mold such as with this liquid molding latex when using for the first time is very simple. The first four coats (brushed on) will be virtually totally transparent. As you add further layers the colour will deepen to an off yellow. I always add a small amount of latex thickener too of course so the final colour may vary if the thickener is not used. Around eight to ten layers is more than sufficient for most molded forms but by then the latex will have taken on a more 'solid' off yellow look to it. Of course when using 'any' liquid molding mediums trial & error will be required from form to form. What i have written here 'must' only be taken as a 'rough' guide when using such mediums yourself.

Below is my ouroboros inside the six layers of liquid latex which has had several days to dry thoroughly. Always allow twenty four to thirty six hours drying time especially when building up thick layers or when brushing into eye cavities etc where the liquid latex is going to be much thicker than the rest of the mold your creating. Once the outer layers are touch dry the inner layers need more time to dry thoroughly as they are trapped underneath. Again a little bit of trial & error is involved here for the first time users.

Don't worry too much about what look like clotted areas, lumps or bumps as can be seen on 'my' mold above. These are both superficial & on the outside anyway. These will not be reflected inside the mold nor will they effect the copy your making in anyway shape or form. They just look very unprofessional, but then who's going to see it in the end?

Here you can see where i have marked where i will be cutting the actual mold open later. If you use enough latex to make a 'self supporting' mold then ignore the next stages i am about to show you. I only buy this in small amounts of one litre bottles along with a small one hundred millilitre bottle of thickener solution. I marked mine 'now' to show you the best way to cut open 'your' molds if you attempt this.

Now as i have said i am using less than the optimum amount of latex to form my mold here (I wanted some for other projects) so now i need to make a support for this mold. For this i am going to create a plaster shell around this 'un-cut' mold. I will make the plaster shell in two halves as if i were making a mold of the mold so to speak. This way the plaster support shell can be removed & the latex mold can be released allowing the de-molding of the subject inside as normal for a latex mold. Below is the card stock frame or boxing i created to hold & shape my plaster.

Ah pizza card stock i can't state just how versatile this stuff is lol. Here you can see i created a 'solid' disc in the center of the ouroboros & a walled ring around the outside too. All this requires to hold it in place at this stage is a little masking tape. Of course any kind of tape will suffice even glue but tape will allow me to remove the boxing much cleaner later.

Here it is on the reverse or back side view.

As you can see the boxing only comes up one half of the latex molded form. Since taking this picture i have filled the first side/half of the boxing with plaster. Once this is fully dry i will remove ALL the boxing shown here then create a new wall around the edge of the first plaster form. I will show this being done in the next posting. You can see this being carried out in an old post 'plaster casting a dolphine' if you can't wait. You can also see the video on YouTube too. My links to my videos can be found by scrolling down the page, they are on the right hand side of the screen as you go near the bottom.

More soon.

SOMETHING FOR MY ETSY STORE - UPDATE

2011-01-25T15:33:00.000Z

My ouroboros project has just gone under the 'last' layers of liquid latex today of which i decided to go with six in all. Now normally this whilst producing a perfect molded copy of all the details will not be sufficient to handle any real casting of any real worth. I created my early plaster pulp mixes with the intention of using the mix in such molds as the ouroboros project of course but i still have something else to do to the latex mold before i can begin to use it efficiently.

As the current mold is too thin to use (intentionally so) i need to give it some more support. To do this i am going to create a plaster 'shell' around the latex for that very purpose. I will show you the latex covered ouroboros soon then with the plaster shell in place. I will include the step by step creation to removal pictures as well of course. My finished ouroboros will come in three forms: A full free standing nineteen inch mirror form, A half body nineteen inch mirror wall hanging form & a full bodied none mirror form which can be hung or just placed as an ornament on a shelf etc

This update however is more intended to mention another special project that i am hoping to have finished 'alongside' my ouroboros project for inclusion in my Etsy store too. I am not going to give too many details away at this stage on this project but i will say that it or rather the three versions of it are going to appeal to those of you with a dark sense of humour. They as the unfinished logo shows below are something you can hang up. In fact they can be hung up virtually anywhere you'd like to display them. In the front of your car windscreen (though they'd suit a large car better), your truck or well anywhere you like.

They will be combined of a light weight mix of my plaster pulp & paper strips in construction & as i said before they like my ouroboros will come in three 'styles' to begin with but i hope to make other versions soon after. To make the creation process possible & allow me to carry on with 'other' projects both for my Etsy store & basic how too's for my blog here etc i have or will be employing one of my elder sons to do the actual casting & painting side of things. He will receive payment on a 'as sold' commission which he is happy with. The work he will do will of course be of a high grade as like myself he is adept at many art skills which include drawing, painting, sculpting as well as many others of his own he has learnt. Whilst they aren't important here they include qualifications in body piercing & tattooing amongst others.

So for now here is a sneak peek at the master logo (which will be displayed & updated as required later) in my right hand column. Which will 'later' have full details of these creations when they are for sale in my Etsy store.

The 'COMING SOON' text will of course be replaced with images of the three finished creations when er!, finished. Whilst the name of these creations IS as shown the 'hoody' part may not be what many might think it is right now, but all of this will become clear when you see them lol.

The final stages of the ouroboros project build soon.

SOMETHING FOR MY ETSY STORE - PART 3

2011-01-23T15:34:00.001Z

Sorry for the delay in this folks as normal for me (most of us too I suppose) much going on offline. This part of the ouroboros project is more of an update but I can show you what I have done so far as I changed how I was going to do the scales.

I was initially going to use a scale like mesh cloth to ‘imprint’ as scale effect onto the upper body of the snake & the effect worked but for one small detail. It turned out that the scales the cloth imprinted were too small for this size of snake sadly. So I abandoned that plan & came up with a more radical time consuming method. Seeing as I was sculpting the head scales individually I decided the best option in the long run was to carry on sculpting the scales in this fashion. All 1396 of them!.

51 scales on the stomach

104 scales on the head (upper & lower combined)

1241 scales on the upper body

As I say very time consuming & not I might also add not finished in a single day. Cutting individual scales then sculpting them onto the body is hard on tired eyes trust me on this lol. Below you can see the finished result:

To create the scales I used two sizes of plastic straws. I started at the snake’s mouth with the smaller of the scales working back over the body towards the top & back of the snakes head. Below you can see the two sized straws & a few of the scales I created.

The next stage will be to cover the entire project in around 4/6 layers of liquid molding latex. Now normally this would not be near enough for support of the finished mould when dry. Whilst all the details would be copied into the liquid latex when dry, the final mould would simply be too flexible to work with as I want to use one of my plaster pulp mixes to create the final ouroboros to attach to the mirror. In previous liquid latex molds (mini skull trophy project) I added support to the final latex mould by adding a layer of fine cotton mesh material in-between the final layers of latex as I created the final layers. At this time I no longer have any such material at hand so I will instead be creating a pure plaster shell ‘over’ the dried latex mould. More on this in the next post.

The final molded snake will of course be as hollow as I can create it even with using the plaster pulp mix instead of my more traditional & much preferred strips. Also the plaster pulp mix I will be using is of course almost as half as light in weight as it would be if I created it in pure sculpting plaster. I will begin the next stage of this project tomorrow & should have the pictures to show you in the next day or two.

AS THE WHITE RABBIT WOULD SAY "I'M LATE, I'M LATE"

2011-01-14T14:31:00.000Z

Okay i need to take a little time out here & play catch up on the blogs i follow. I have barely had time to think never mind finish projects. I have been trying to spread myself over several projects at once (nothing new there) mostly things to hopefully put in my Etsy store soon. The problem there is whilst this means nothings getting finished quick enough i simply haven't had time to visit & leave any comments on the blogs & websites i am following.

I am going to rectify that right after i post this little er!, post. So standby everyone posts & comments on your sites coming shortly lol.

Whilst i am here i will just like to mention the latest posts here on projects grunge skulls, realistic skulls, Mr Jingles skull, my ouroboros etc 'are' well underway & i will be posting updates on those soon.

Right i am off to spend some time amongst the blogs & websites i am following. I will be back to posting here soon.

SOMETHING FOR MY ETSY STORE - PART 2

2011-01-11T16:42:00.000Z

Well i was hoping to have the skin completed on my ouroboros to show you today but sadly i barely had an hour or so to do anything today. I did get the upper body skin on however & can show you that at least. It still requires a little work smoothing it out, adding the face features & of course the scales as yet. Here it is so far.

I will get some more done with it tomorrow. I was going to make it a specific breed of snake at first but then thought, no. If this turns out good enough to put in my Etsy store i could harm sales by making it a particular breed of snake. After all we all have our favourite breed of dog, cat, horse etc. So in the end i am simply going with a random snake design, no particular breed in mind. Saying that hopefully different people may see some familiar snake similarities in the design who can say.

I have also decided not to go with the way i was going copy the final design too. The ideal method for creating the skin would of course have been to use real air drying modelling clay or sculpting clay. Not only would that be a little expensive it would also go against the point of this blog ie: You 'don't' have to use what the experts say you do nor do you have to buy the most expensive tools either. More on the tools i am actually using in a second. I was going to cut the final design in two then copy it in plaster but then decided to leave it whole as the soft clay i am using would get damaged too easily whilst cutting into the harder PM armature underneath. As i know that this type of clay won't adhere to liquid latex i am going to use that method instead. Also if i give the liquid latex a supporting shell of plaster i won't have to use a huge amount of liquid latex either. Thus saving even more on the projects already minimal costs.

Modelling clay wise i am using my tried & trusted 'cheap' favourite child's plasticine, or as it is being called now modelling clay. The last time i purchased this it was a great bargain at 70p (UK Pound) but now i can get it at a much lower 40p. Here it is for those who have not yet read my earlier custom mask making posts.

You don't get a whopping load of it but a few packets for the current price still works out cheap, I purchased the stores entire stock of thirteen packets for £5.20p. More than enough for this project & one or two more i have underway lol.

Now to my inexpensive tools that mostly would be found around any home especially any crafters or sculptors home anyway.

In no particular order:

1: A section of bamboo skewer.

2: A craft knife.

3: A simple household knife.

4: A small section of plastic straw.

5: A small wooden rolling pin (The handles run free from the main roller).

6: A small section of webbed cloth (from one of my sons 'half mask' projects).

The use of each of these items i think is self evident? The bamboo skewer for poking small holes etc. The kitchen knife for smoothing etc. The cloth mesh for making the scales in the clay (more on that technique later), the plastic straw for cutting out the eyes etc. The rest i know need no explanation lol.

So that's how things look so far. Hopefully tomorrow i can get a lot more done. So until then have fun. More soon.

SOMETHING FOR MY ETSY STORE

2011-01-10T17:52:00.000Z

Whilst i have many many projects on the go at any given time i don't always show all of them during the project(s) initial build or the end results even. This project is turning out (so far) as planned & well i am quite proud of it (or will be when done) so have decided to show it to you as a simple tutorial. The project i am about to show you how ever is a project i have wanted to do for quite some time. Until last Tuesdays art supply run (last week) i simply had not found the right sized/shaped mirrors i wanted for the project. They being 19 inch circular type. Yes i know i could more than likely found them online however seeing something physically in your hands is not the same as looking at a 3 inch image whilst reading the dimensions of said object, I don't (or rarely) work from sketches or scale drawings. I much prefer to design in my mind, holding a real object whilst doing so helps me see (mentally) & plan out a project much easier even faster on some occasions. Odd i know but some of us just prefer to do things this way.

Ouroboros the ancient Greek symbol often represents self-reflexivity, or the sense of something constantly re-creating itself, the eternal return. Or as i & i am sure many others see/say it as the symbol of eternity, or never ending re-birth. An actual drawing or sculpture of oroboros can be either a snake or a dragon. Whilst i personally like the concept of both these forms i do prefer the snake version. Why? That i am not sure to be honest. Anyway my (one of) 'pet' project(s) is a classic style 'snake' oroboros on a mirror if you had not guessed already lol.

I plan to make this project into two versions but they will initially be of matching designs. One will be a wall mountable version & the other a free standing version. The wall mountable version so that it can hang fully flat against the wall will only have a front (flat back), whilst the free standing version will be a full (two sided) complete snake. Both versions will (if i do it right) be fully detailed. By that i mean they will have fully detailed snake skins. As to colours this i have not decided as yet. I am torn between simply making them a basic metallic single colour, gold, silver or even aged bronze effect or paint them in true snake colours.

To make both versions i am making a single free standing version (minus the stand of course) that can be cast in plaster then mass copied later. The wall version would then simply be the front of the full free standing version with built in/on wall attachments that come already on the mirrors.

So to the actual project build then. Below is the start of this project giving you the step by step method i used. Most more regular readers/visitors to my blog should have mastered most if not all of the basic methods i will be using. I am going to add a 'new' element to this project for adding the finer scale details to the master copy. More on that as i go though. Here are the first stages for now:

To gauge the right size for snake that wraps around the 19 inch mirror i simply drew around one of the actual mirrors i will be using in each build on some pizza card stock. This was cut out then a length of rolled foil was then wrapped around the newly cut out card stock disc. The foil ring was then fixed in shape by adding about three layers of PM strips.

A simple snake head was then constructed from again pizza card stock by using the simple template below.

The red dotted lines show where the eye cavities were cut out 'after' construction. To make the bottom section of the head an identical copy was cut out of the upper head section (minus the eyes) then the edges were trimmed down so it fit 'inside & under' the already constructed upper head sections shown here.

In the pictures above you can see the eyes are actually plastic ruby's. these were added now so that when the mold is made they will also be formed. Of course i will have to cut out the then paper eyes & replace them with new ruby's but more on that later.

Once this first 'armature' stage was completely dried i then cut the inner card stock disc out using a craft knife. I then finished off shaping the snake with more PM strips as shown below.

Now the next stage is to add the detailed scales to the snake as well as finish creating the head shape too. That is for another post though which will be posted in the next few days.

JUST A QUICK POST - WHILST I WAIT FOR SOMETHING TO DRY

2011-01-10T14:09:00.001Z

Amongst the many (too many) projects i have going on right now. Some of the key projects i am trying to concentrate on are skull related. The skulls range from what i am calling my grunge skulls, skulls that are a step short of cartoony in design. To not quite grunge skulls, skulls that are a step up from the grunge skulls but still not quite realistic skulls. Then there (i hope) comes my realistic skulls. These last versions are to be around 80% realistic in design.

Obviously the more realistic i make them the more time they are going to take to make, but then i can make (as i want to soon) higher end projects from. Below is the first attempt at a more realistic skull. Of course this first skulls lacks the detailed features at this stage & does not even have any teeth as yet. I apologise for the poor image bad light here right now. Better images will be posted later when i have more to show on these creations.

More soon.

PLASTER PULP EXPERIMENTS CONTINUES - BUT NOT BY ME

2011-01-07T12:18:00.002Z

I am often told by visitors/friends etc that they are going to or have or are trying out some of the projects 'methods' or my experiments i post here in my blog. Which IS of course 'why' i post them here lol. Sadly i rarely get to see the results or better still any on-going improvements anyone might be attempting to what i post.

Fortunately one of the top PM artists on the scene today who's own work required a fast cheap molding method that produced good high end results took up the experimenting reigns recently & tried out one of my test batches. With some slight adjustments to one of the batches i listed she managed to come up with a good working result that almost suits her needs. The artist in question of course being the renowned Jonni Good. You can find a link to Jonni's blog in my right hand column or you can jump there from here: http://ultimatepapermache.com/

Like myself (though with much better pictures) Jonni documents her work step by step making a great read & supremely easy to follow should you wish to attempt anything she does yourself. As i mentioned in my own 'original' plaster pulp experiment post. I will be going back to experimenting on the perfect batch as soon as possible. Of course whilst not yet getting back to it however i HAVE been thinking it over - The missing magic ingredient that is. Looking more closely at the commercial purchased pulp i used as a comparison mixture to my own two types of pulp. I have come to the conclusion that since the commercial pulp only requires water to be activated & dries to a true hard finish for this, then they HAVE to have included a bonding agent within the pre-mixed pulp. Well it only stands to reason does it not lol.

So as i say examining the pre-made commercial pulp more closely i have come to the conclusion that the manufacturer must be using a form of dried 'starch' more than likely a natural root or bulb (potato etc) form of starch at that. Again i feel this to be the case as a natural starch would not only better comply with health & safety being sold as part of a multi content mixture for public usage it more than likely bonds better to the fine cotton & paper pulp they use.

So when i get to experimenting again i will 'definately' be seeking out one or two starch's to use. When i made up my first early test batches using the commercial pulp the results were 'extremely promising' indeed. But that is for later for now i have too much going on. I thought you might like to know what was going on as regards to my own work & how others were trying it out. Call it encouraging the masses or calming the doubters lol.

More soon on my own experiments i promise lol.

GOING CRAZY IN A CRAFTY WAY

2011-01-06T12:17:00.004Z

Not being one for giving huge successful commercial companies a free meal ticket I don’t tend to add commercial business links or indeed any kind of advertising anywhere I hang out such as any websites I create or my blog here for instance. I won’t even wear any branded clothing or footwear that openly displays a company’s slogan or logo if I can help it. If I paid they’re outlandish high purchase fee’s then why the hell should I then walk around as a living human bill board & advertise for them for free? Not going to happen if I can help it!.

I DO however like to give a helping hand to any close friends or local small businesses. The reasons simply being that not only do they benefit me but they benefit the community at large too especially in a manor that could have sections of a community working together such as in creative art. One such small local business & as it happens one of the places I like to stop by once a month (or when I can) when I do my monthly art supply run.

I freely admit I don’t call in as often as I’d like but for reasons that are not relevant here I won’t go into them. Also when I do I unfortunately don’t spend very much in the small shop but that’s only because whilst it currently caters for many, many hobbies & arts & craft forms I am restricting MY paper mache to as close to a none mixed media as I possibly can. So obviously this restricts my choices of the wealth of available goods on are on sale. Having said that I am always delighted to find a new range of paint brushes, paints, papers, sealers & other ever growing additions that I can use in my art that ensure I’ll be back next art run.

Not only is this little arts & crafts shop a true little Aladdin’s cave the ever cheerful owner (Sue) always has time for a quick friendly chat be it art materials related or something neighbourly & friendly. If there is something you can’t find in the shop there & then Sue can more than likely arrange to have it in the store for you then next time you drop in.

Having said all that following my recent art supply run I discovered that Sue puts out a news letter both as printed free to pick up ‘in shop’ & by Email if you choose to receive them that way instead. So with kind permission from Sue I will be featuring each new news letter I receive right here on my blog. The first of which you can find below:

Also known as (The stuff shop)!!!

JANUARY 2011

NEWSLETTER - ISSUE 10

Hi Again,

Happy New Year!

What a December that was! Let’s hope the snow has gone for good, and we can all get on as usual without the problems the snow brought.

Hope you all had a good Christmas, and didn’t over indulge too much, and hopefully you’ll all have and absolutely great New Year.

As with all businesses, Crazy Crafters suffered due to the weather problems, but it’s 2011 and things can only get better, so it’s business as usual and looking forward to seeing you all very soon.

Here’s some dates for your diaries…

Harrogate craft show – 7^th to 11^th January,

Rainton Meadows Arena show (Houghton le Spring)

Sunday 23^rd January 10am – 3pm.

Stitch and Creative Crafts (Surrey) 3^rd – 5^th February.

Valentines day 14^th February

Mothers Day 3^rd April

Easter 24^th April,

Papercrafts (Edinburgh) Saturday 30^th April.

Papercrafts (Newcastle) Sunday May 1^st.

Father’s Day 19^th June.

So…What’s New?

I have designed and packaged some aperture cards packs which are now available. They are £1.99 for a pack of 5,

Get some in, ready for Easter and Mother’s Day.

We have coloured acetate available to buy as single sheets at only £1.25 in blue, red, green and yellow.

Card packs printed with Happy Mother’s Day and Happy Fathers Day also available @ £1.60 for a pack of 4.

Toy stuffing and wadding also available in 250g and 70g packs.

Artist carry packs to transport or keep work safe from £3.99 to £6.99

Carry all craft bags, large, at £21.00.

PLUS…

All the usual items needed for your crafts,

Loyalty Cards

The loyalty card system proved to be very popular last year, so we will continue with this throughout 2011. So remember, for every £10.00 purchase, we sign your card, then money off your purchases when the card is full.

Gift Vouchers

The gift vouchers were again very popular at Christmas time, but they are also a good idea for Birthdays, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Easter, or any other occasion, or simply to say thank you. Available in £5 and £10.

Due to the expense of postage, I will be unable to post out any further Newsletters, so please, please, let me have your email addresses so I can keep you updated. However, Newsletters are available in the shop. Email crazy.crafters@hotmail.co.uk.

Wishing you all a very happy and crafty New Year.

See you soon,

Happy Crafting,

Sue @ Crazy Crafters

WHAT TO DO WITH THE LEFT OVERS?

2011-01-03T18:31:00.000Z

Whilst starting work on some old skull projects today (adding the faces), it occurred to me that I don’t recall the last time I stood by my blogs name sake & actually ‘sculpted’ something start to finish, I mean completely. Paper mache after all does refer to ‘pulp’ does it not?

Do you remember a while back I started mass foil copying of blank skulls up to fourty of which I said I wanted for a single project alone? No, here is a reminder picture of the first wave of those very first skulls:

Click on image to enlarge

Since I have a good pile of pulp from my recent (pre-Christmas) plaster pulp experiments at hand (both first stage ‘nuggets’ as I call them & second stage the ‘fluff’ stage) I figured why not actually sculpt something with it? Well amongst the projects those mass copied skull blanks were destined for three of them are destined for new wall mounted reapers. Grabbing three at random I then chose again at random one of the three to work on with pulp & sculpt a skull face. I will of course only be sculpting the one skull then copying that finished ‘face’ for not only the other two reapers faces but all the other ‘blank skulls’ too. Whilst throughout this blog I have shown you how to copy simple forms using three main methods they being: foil, plaster & latex moulding fluid. Which of these methods I will finally use for the three reapers project I am not certain as yet. Each will work perfectly for what I want of them & of course the foil is the fasted of the three. At this point in time that is not relevant yet so I will leave that for now. I apologise for the poor quality of the pictures it's winter & combined with these stupid low wattage light bulbs we can only buy in the UK now, well as you can see below.

THE FIRST OF THE THREE REAPERS SKULL STAGE 1: THE BLANK SKULL

Click on image to enlarge

As you can see the blank skulls are literally that, blank, devoid of any real (or grunge like) features to speak of. This seems like a backward time wasting way to do this the mass copying I mean but for the large fourty skull project I have planned only around ten at most will have the full face or even full or partial profiles of the faces showing to any real degree. I can’t explain this fully in any real kind of details without giving the project away ahead of the completed build. Once I finish that project you will understand clearly ‘why’ these blank skulls were copied as they were much more clearly, well instantly.

THE FIRST OF THE THREE REAPER SKULLS STAGE 2: SCULPTING THE SKULL

Click on image to enlarge

If you have never sculpted using pulp you will quickly discover that if you have sculpted with any clay then pulp IS a totally different medium entirely. Whilst you can use it ‘like’ clay it will not & does not follow the same rules as clay. The main rule being with clay you CAN add & add & add clay & sculpt all day long if you wish. Pulp however no matter how well you mix it or even if you mixed paper clay (Pulp & clay combined) you HAVE to go slowly & in stages then between stages allowing each stage to fully dry out before adding more pulp to your sculpt. Unlike natural clay no matter what type of glue or how well you mix it in large pulp sculpture WILL get very wet & during the construction very heavy. Once you reach a certain point the weight of the pulp will literally sag & in a lot of cases pull itself apart under its own weight.

Not counting a single ten minute break to let my reaper skull air dry out a little as I worked what you see above so far only took me around thirty minutes. Of course owing to the size of this sculpt & the speed at which I personally could have sculpted the whole thing (not adding the final finer details at this point) it would have taken me an hour to finish completely. In the end I held to the rules as dictated by the nature of the pulp. This being a pure pulp (nothing but paper & PVA glue) I thought it best to let the pulp dictate the rules above everything.

As I said I have not & am not going to add the final ‘finer details’ to this skull yet for two reasons:

1: The pulp being too wet & not quite refined to give me the final smooth finish I’d require it will make sculpting the finer details tricky at best since I have to smooth the final skull out using my dragon skin later & because of the way I work a little pointless at this stage.

2: Not yet having chosen a copying method for the face of this skull to use on the other ‘blank’ skulls due to the fact the majority of them wont require such finesse anyway.

So that’s the new reapers skull for now. I have placed it above a radiator to dry over night. With luck no one will knock it & it will be nicely dried ready to add the rest of the back of the head & start on remaining facial features (cheek regions temples etc) prior to adding the dragon skin to smooth out the skull for final copying etc.

More soon.

END OF YEAR BREAK OFFICIALY OVER- LET THE POSTING RE-COMMENCE

2011-01-02T19:11:00.001Z

Ah so soon i was just getting into the doing less if nothing on this end of year break from my hectic online life - Oh well better get my brains in gear & this wreck of a body too which is worse thanks to this wonderful (unseasonal - even for the UK lol) weather we are having this year. I'm another year older & the year is ploughing on ahead with or without me.

I have lots to finish & loads more to do & post about too (De Ja Vu') i made a mental new years resolution to get at least half of my ever stacking higher unfinished projects finished so i can get to posting some serious stuff in here at last. Reapers, weapons, dragons, bowls, vases & much more to finish & finish posting about. A much loved pass time (one of them anyway) of my childhood & adulthood is yearning to be attempted using PM. That of course being 'flight' or more specifically making actual working/flying PM planes, ones that won't fall apart on impact if they crash too. Not just gliders either planes that can potentially be fully converted to sustain RC (Radio Controlled) flight too. Ah but that's for later i have much to finish for the blog here if not for selling best not start the year how i ran the last one eh lol. Plus i have not built a true flying plane for many years a knack i seemed to have, will i still have what it takes to build a working plane anymore even? More on this later though when i get some unfinished posts & projects er!, finished eh lol.

So enough chatter i am off to get back into the spirit of the art & WILL be posting again very soon folks. It feels good to be back, so come on folks lets create & have fun shall we?

THE Mr JINGLES PROJECT(S) PART 1

2010-12-26T12:42:00.002Z

I would like you to meet Mr Jingles. Like the skeleton hand featured in the previous post below, Mr Jingles was made just before Christmas. The skeleton hand around two weeks before & Mr Jingles here about a week before. In terms of true life or as I call them my ‘grunge skulls’ Mr Jingles here sits right in the middle of both classifications. He is a realistic looking skull but falls just short of so (his jaw region just under the cheek area) but is more life like than my current grunge smaller skulls.

Now if when you scroll down the pictures you will see that Mr Jingles here is slightly larger than true life in terms of a real human skull. There are two (possibly three) good reasons for this. That is to say I have two possibly three future project ideas in mind for this skull. I am not going to say what they are not quite yet because as with my grunge skulls & the new reaper hands Mr Jingles is to be mass copied from plaster molds using the same method as for the grunge skulls. That is why he has a pen line down his face (in case you were curious lol) to remind (guide) me where I want to cut him along later.

The reason I am not saying what Mr Jingles is destined for just yet is the jaw sections where it meets the cheeks ‘may’ be a little ‘snug’ when it comes to casting him in plaster & then not only removing him (the original copy) but also the actual copies too. He & this project may go all skulls up if I can’t remove him from the plaster mold, or indeed the snug fitting copies later too. I did want to show you Mr Jingles in advance though as I am proud of how he turned out initially.

Click to enlarge

As this picture shows Mr Jingles is slightly larger than the avergage human skull in true life. I painted behind the teeth to make them stand out a little more clearly for the picture as the light here is poor at the moment. This red has nothing to do with the final project(s).

The project name is also a hint to 'one' of the project ideas i have in mind for this skull by the way, just a hint/clue to what one of them may be to keep your minds ticking over while you wait for the future out come of this (these) projects future aren't i wicked lol.

More on the progress of the Mr Jingles projects soon.

NEED A HAND?

2010-12-26T12:04:00.000Z

I find the best way to make a skeleton hand is literally in sections how these sections can be made is entirely up to the individual creator of course ‘my’ method can be seen in my YouTube HOW TO videos showing how I made a surreal hand. The first selection of videos being: parts 1-7 (0f 9) refer to the actual skeleton section of the build. The links to these are below.

MAKE A SUREAL PAPER MACHE HAND:
PART 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qORY8PnSVc0
PART 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2f249uDmF3
PART 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjaBoBvE8Ik
PART 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQMyRzq4GIk

PART 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Md-xz1gdww

PART 6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COa83_dpowU
PART 7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ds45gxcJu7g

The problem is the human body (as with many things in nature) when divided down the vertical plane are not exact mirror copies of the opposite side(s). Whilst this is hard to see with the naked eye alone of course this odd feature is there. Below is a ‘new’ skeleton hand I made recently to be part of some new grim reaper builds (amongst other things) I have planned. Now two things immediately spring to mind here (if you are paying attention?) I said “a ‘new’ skeleton hand”. Surely if I am going to be making reapers then they’d require ‘two’ hands each? Okay that’s the first thing to spring to mind.

THE NEW HAND:
Click on image to enlarge

Now the second thing to spring to mind, (still paying attention?) is if you are making either a true to life or as close to as need be project (such as a pair of skeleton hands) the best way is to make the individual bones separately. No matter what size, method or even materials you are going to be using unless you are very skilled you are going to have some problems gauging the sizes & the shapes of individual sections etc. Not to mention it is going to get pretty tedious & very time consuming after the first pair.

Not including the ‘between joints’ sections in ‘my’ skeleton hand I have constructed this single hand from ‘thirty one’ separate pieces. I have three new reapers in mind for future project builds, so I need six hands in all. Now for me each hand is only going to take a day to make all six hands but even then I don’t want to spend the whole day making the same parts over & over all day long so would probably take say three days to make them all. Now again it’s making all these separate sections as close to the same size & shape to each corresponding hand that’s even for me going to be tricky & tedious to say the least. For those less skilled it instantly becomes a daunting task & possibly even ends up seeing the whole project going out the window in favour of something simpler.

Even those not so well skilled can still make all the skeleton hands they want however. Remember this blog is not about what I am ‘making’ nor is it about how ‘you’ can make the same projects as such (you can if you wish of course), no this blog is more about showing you more simplified methods of doing things. Having said that if you have been following each of the mass copying either by plaster or ‘other’ mould making techniques then you should (with practice of course) then be able to employ ‘those’ skills in then making as many pairs of hands as you choose once you have made the first ‘master copy’.

Once you have your master copy as I have above you then simply copy it using your chosen molding method. Once you have two copies then all you need do is turn the copied skeleton hands so the thumbs are facing each other. Then cut into the knuckles slightly (on the same facing side) to then be able to bend the fingers & glue them in the final chosen position for your project.

More on this & the reapers they are for later.

BACK SOON

2010-12-18T13:30:00.001Z

I will be popping in just after Christmas until then...

HOLIDAY WISHES & A QUICK QUESTION

2010-12-14T11:35:00.002Z

Hi all just popping in to say Merry Christmas to everyone & to ask a quick question.

Now whilst this question is broken up into several seemingly seperate questions it's all one (big) question really. I know i have a lot of lurkers (silent visitors) to my blog here, absolutely no harm in that. However if as many people could answer this question as possible it would go a long way in helping me with a long term project i have had in mind for some years now. During my holiday break i have started some work on it again (a lot of long term design/preperation work inviolved over the years when time permits it) & i have (again) begun to question its merit.

MY QUESTION:
Dragon heads (trophies) full dragons that kind of thing. How many people are interested in making dragons but don't know where to start, can't wrap their heads around a good dragon design, possibly stumped as to how to go about the actual build. Perhaps you have tried but they dont look anything like your idea in your head let alone a dragon. You have tried following blog/website instructions, videos (Dan Reeders are excellent as well as his books) but never been happy with the results. Basically these senarios & others stopping you creating them?

Before anyone asks no i am not doing or going to be doing any HOW TO videos on making dragons. Well not yet & not in relation to this question directly. I have had something all together different in mind for quite some time. Which in part explains why i have talked about dragons & my making them off & on for some time now but have never actually shown anything i have finished other than the odd WIP picture(s) now & then. I am not going to reveal 'what' this project is just yet as it will risk the idea potentially being scooped out from under me. I will say though that as many responces as possible will benifit me & a LOT of people in the end - potentially that is.

If anyone does not wish to answer through the comments section here then you can Email me directly my Email address is jontytheghoul@btopenworld.com. Thank you to all who respond & again Merry Christmas to all.

AAARGH! - ANOTHER POST I FORGOT TO ER!, POST

2010-12-04T16:23:00.000Z

When my youngest daughter (Megan 16 years old) saw my large 3D moon & stars mobile she asked me to make her a smaller version. I said i would eventually, but i actually started one last weekend for her. She mentioned it (the big one) to her art teacher at school who replied "Paper mache - whats paper mache?". So she took the big version to school to copy as an art project. I could not believe my ears what kind of art teacher has NOT heard of paper mache? It's been around for over two thousands years now? Anyway back to the mini version here it is so far:

Click on image to enlarge:

Whilst the original (Harvey Moon) is some 60+ cms (point to point) gave or take a few cms this one is much smaller at around a quarter that size. I will measure it another time, Of course this one is still waiting for his arms & stars but they will not take ling to make.

I also before i added the tissue skin on this version made a plaster cast copy so i can make more for my Etsy shop later. Some will have the arms & stars some will just have the stars hanging directly off the moon itself. As with the grunge skulls more on this little guy after the holidays folks.

You will find in the archived posts for the step by step build for the original large version of this project. You can also see a step by step series of videos on YouTube covering this build too. Here are the links for you if you are interested:

PART 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2mVz9f-bNc

PART 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jScDk23gok

PART 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYiteuWV97s

PART 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHo2qSpUGRQ

PART 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AAmQTye9nQ

Back soon have a Merry Christmas everyone.

GRUNGE SKULLS - QUICK UPDATE

2010-12-04T15:48:00.001Z

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.