LAST DEED FOR TODAY - LITERALLY 10 MINUTES AGO

When our third eldest moved out again & he packed all his belongings away. For reasons known only to the insane he packed a custom mask he asked me to make right on the bottom of one of his bags. Yes you guessed it under most of his heaviest belongings at that!.

When he got to his new home with his girlfriend he forgot were he'd put the mask until after he'd dumped his bags heavily on the floor. Needless to say whilst my PM is quite strong, such as a half face mask couldn't with stand that punishment. So of course a few weeks back he asked me to replace it for him, which i promptly did but i never got round to painting it. For the last few days he has been asking if the new mask was finished yet. So just before packing things away for today (dumping everything up on my work table basically) i thought i would paint his new mask for him. Since it was just a quick spray paint job it took only minutes to do.

So as of literally ten minutes ago here is his new replacement mask drying:

Below is my son wearing the original mask:

The picture is not very good of the new replacement mask but he asked me to tweak the nose ridge so the new mask was not so over the nose as more on the nose as seen on the original mask. I also changed the cloth mesh vents slightly too. The string needs cut too of course but he can do that later lol.

WHAT I AM CURRENTLY WORKING ON - SUPPOSED TO BE ANYWAY!

I am seriously thinking of using the motto/tagline "Late again - Whats new". Honestly i have so much crap going on right now in my life i just do not seem to have any 'me' time anymore!. It's so bad i am going to bed so late to try to stave off the coming of the next day i can hardly get up the next morning before 09:30am. When i do get up i am like a zombie for around three hours before i can get going both mentally & physically.

Right i am with it now (for today at least!) so whats been happening with the projects i have been featuring so far then? Well very little but here is the progress so far. Below is the first of four bowls i am working on:

As you can clearly see not ready for painting yet as i have to tidy it up somewhat yet. A small section on the inside 'blistered' on me for some unknown reason & i had to clean it up & add some new strips inside. This bowl when i come back to it will be ready for painting in a few minutes though so no time lost there in the end.

Next two matching style bowls though as you can see one is deeper then the other. Unlike the first bowl these are ready for paint & feature 'flat bottoms' rather than the typical half round form. Again I am not showing the fourth bowl i am working on 'yet' & all four bowls as far as painting on the design goes, well i am lost for ideas. I have a design i am thinking of using for the matching bowls above but am not 100% sold on the paint design yet.

Next up is my 'grunge skulls.

Before i begin to show you the progress (or lack of) here i think i will do a quick re-cap of what i was doing with these first:

If you remember (those following the blog so far) I purchased three styrene skulls just before Halloween. These were two jaw less & one full skulls, three for £5 GBP (around $10.00 USD give or take) shown below.



Now what attracted them to me was the fact one of my sons a trained tattooist has been self tattooing some gas mask skulls on his legs & these skulls are very close to these skull designs. I told him i would get around to making some real life versions one day. Well seeing these skulls i figured i'd grab some. However i wasn't totally happy with some small features, but these i was able to alter easily thanks to these skulls being made of styrene. Below are the skulls showing where i altered them:

Apart from the teeth the alterations were identical for all the skulls. The finished results below:

Normally when i make my own skulls i then mass produce them using my foil copying method. That generally only gives me crude unfinished skulls that i have to later enhance (ad the final details to) for these guys i wanted to get the full finished copy straight off to save time. So for these i copied them in sculpting plaster. Now for those who have never made plaster molds, it is not like latex molding. Basically you can't cast around large or sharp corners or curved edges at all. well you could but you'd never get the item your casting out nor the copy even later.

To reduce the problem you simply then have to break down the item to be copied into smaller easier to cast forms. In the case of these grunge skulls i simply halved each skull down the center (through the face) then framed each section in a half of a pizza box as shown below:

Now normally you would need to have the boxing slightly higher than the item being cast so you can form a more solid, stronger 'block' over the whole item being copied. Since i have a weak shoulder & reduced strength in my left arm i don't want a huge block of plaster to throw around when finished. So for this project i concentrated the plaster on the skull itself. The pizza box was there to catch any small crumbling edges that would more than likely break off on removing the whole thing when dry. I copied all the three skulls in this fashion but have only shown two of the final casts below:

The finished 'negative' molds. The copies look dirty but that's just the dark floor wax i used as a releasing agent. There are several commercial releasing agents available & many home grown types/methods, but i use this for two reasons: The first of course this blog is based on helping artists who may be working to a tight budget. Second i find this floor wax dries to a fine powder which i can brush/wipe off or simply paint over. I of course use water based paints so can not say what reactions if any oil based paints may have on the wax.

I had hoped the styrene skulls might have released from the molds intact, but as i feared they simply broke apart on removal. In the end they were cheap to purchase & i can make several dozens of new skulls from these molds anyway.

The next step for these molds will be to clean them up once the wax dries out (turns powdery) then i will give the insides of each mold a coating of water base paint as a primer, then follow that through with a layer or two of high gloss spray paint. By doing this i will reduce the absorption of future coats of floor wax increasing the length & use of the molds several times over. It is said that a high quality mold made from quality sculpting plaster such as i have used here can produce up to one hundred casts. I don't need that many as yet but by painting & sealing the plaster i in theory should be able to extend that 'shelf life' several times over.

Now these grunge skulls are destined for several projects some of which include new wall mounted grim reaper creations as well as those gas mask skulls i mentioned. Below are two sketches i made of some of the gas mask skulls on my sons legs. I have of course emitted several of the key details from the sketches but what you can see should give you some idea of how they should look when i get them finished:

Last but not least those queen conch shells i had to paint. Whilst again i have not started painting them yet they are now at least ready to paint. I do actually have six of these made but am only painting the two for now:

I  painted the underside with dragon skin (bone mix) to smooth them out to give me the highly polished smooth effect there.

So to round off my boo boo is at last fully healed leaving me with a wonderful pink scar so apart from 'life' & lack of sleep getting in the way this lot should be finished soon, well eventually lol.

More soon.

BOO BOO BE DAMNED I'M BORED - UPDATE

No really i truly am seriously bored now & fed up to the back teeth of this dam burn on my hand now. My little fix with the plaster & fingertip-less rubber gloves works a treat allowing me to PM a little here & there. Sadly i am too used to only wearing rubber gloves when painting, so in fact haven't gotten much to anything achieved this last week or so to speak of. I have been video editing more than anything. Mercifully i have done an excellent job of keeping the wound clean, dry & have not once knocked it in any way or dislodged any of the built up scab allowing it to heal nicely.

Er!, this was until very late last night. Having just watched two of my few favourite TV/SKY shows (Bones & Lie to me) i sat & did a bit of lite reading whilst waiting for the time for my last insulin shot for the day so i could get to bed. Unfortunately whilst reading (Tales from Earthsea - end of the second story of quartet) my burn never having stopped itching from day two got going good & proper. Without thinking I reached down & itched away.

You guessed it, i tore open most all of the new fresh skin as you can see below:

As you can see, all the wound is now a nice pink if some what 'dry' new skin. Not a bad healing job for a week on a small but deep burn i'd say myself. Thanks to my not thinking i have torn it all open nicely. When i did it i didn't know whether to scream from the fresh bought of pain i had just put myself in because it hadn't been hurting for several days now but now was in as much if not more pain or from the stupid mindless act of scratching it wide open again after a week of being so mindful of protecting it!.

There is just no way i am spending another week or so doing next to nothing though, no sir, no way. I have a couple of large queen conch shells i made the better part of a year ago that are waiting a paint job to finish them off. I also have several large dishes & bowls most of which are also waiting paint to finish them off too. So tomorrow i am going to get to doing some painting i think. I have the two queen conch shells  three of the bowls i have to work on they should get me over the next three days nicely whilst this dam boo boo heals, or rather 're-heals' again.

I haven't pictured the conch shells or the bowls here yet as one of the bowls are something i was messing around with experimentally design wise & i am confident i have not seen anywhere online or the real world for sale. So i am hoping it is something new & will be keeping its design as much a secret as i can until it is finished. Hopefully by next Monday/Tuesday i will have some finished pictures & might even get them listed in my Etsy shop along the way too.

Oh the wonderful life i lead eh? More soon folks.

BOO BOO BE DAMNED I'M BORED!

So four days in & the healing has begun in ernest at last. There is still a long way to go before this boo boo is fully gone but at least it's on it's way now. Trouble is i can't wait to get back to doing something if only something small. The stiffness in the muscle underneath the burn has dramatically reduced if not fully gone. I can't yet make a solid (tight) fist yet With this in mind i don't want to risk getting the wound wet so won't be doing any gluing today (for a few days yet still) but i do have some sanding to do. but basic movement & gripping is fine now.

Yes i know when you look at my work in the WIP stage nine times out of ten it does not require sanding down as shown in the pictures. Sometimes i rush things however & on those rare occasions projects require a little help from my sander lol.

So problem whilst my hand is recovered enough to use a little now i still have to keep this wound clean. My boo boo as it is now four days in below:

To keep it clean i came up with a very simple solution.

First of all a nice big piece of plaster.

Then a latex glove that i wear when painting but with the finger tips cut off. The plaster acts as the first barrier against any stray dust particles that get under the glove since the wrist & the finger tips are not skin tight, but also protects the wound from sweat as my hand gets hot under the glove. Then the glove of course as an outer shield against the heaviest dust from the sander - Voila'. 

I will be using this same method when i get back to PM'ing in a couple of days. Since the latex gloves get gummed up from my PVA glue the fingerless version shown here will work nicely lol. Right then i am off to dig out my sander, more posts soon folks lol.

BOO BOO STOPS ALL WORK

Typical of my luck. About three weeks ago whilst going to bed I stumbled on the landing, falling i threw out my good arm as you do. Then nearly fainted when my full weight behind my arm smashed into a door frame. A nasty bruise the next morning told me what i already knew - i had bruised the bone about three inches above my right wrist. Three weeks later the arm is still in a lot of pain but i can move it & my hand if some what stiffly  slowly.

So ignoring that i have carried on PMing as i can, here & there. That was until last night when i got me a boo boo i can not ignore. I had just moved a hot pan from off the heated ring it was on to a cooler section when i spotted a knife had fallen onto the cooker behind the pan. So i reached to pick up the knife, yes you guessed it i did not move the pan first!. Being in constant pain down my entire left hand side of my body 24/7 has me for a better term of phrase -  not so jumpy at new pain. So normally i'd have reacted quicker as my hand pushed up against the hot pans side, but no. I was more distracted trying to get a grip on the knife in the tight gap. Then after about two or three seconds the pain registered in the side of my hand. It is odd now i think  about it being in constant pain has left me calm when it comes it personal injury somehow. I calmly turned & ran the cold tap over my hand then calmly went & found some Vaseline to spread on the burn.

By the time i had layered on some vaseline the pain was lost to me virtually apart from a distant sting. This morning however the muscle under the burn on the side of my hand is extremely stiff & the thumb somewhat numb & distant. So not only being right handed, diabetic on insulin which means i have to be cautious of cuts & the like for infections. I have decided to put aside the PMing until my hand heals. This of course means everything is on hold until at least sometime next week. Sorry everyone. I will of course once i heal get right back on with things & get back on to some kind of order as quickly as i can.

My boo boo below:

A WET WET WEEKEND AHEAD - GOD HELP ME - UPDATE 2

Well as always (you'd think i'd have learnt by now) my plans got scuppered again. I would normally simply radiator dry anything i need dried in a hurry especially any pulp batches i use now & then mercifully a rare thing. Being well into the last stages of autumn now the weather here in the UK is growing much colder, more this year than normal it seems too. A great time if not the best for radiator drying for me. Sadly a little while back my wife B (Barbara) started going through the change of life as we call it here. Now 48 she started at mid 47 doing so.

Now as most women who have gone through this stage in life will know you can suffer many stages of irritating & awkward side effects. As it would happen B's main side effect is constantly being hot. You guessed it we rarely have the radiators on no matter how cold it gets here. Now do not get me wrong my darling wife has every bit of sympathy & understanding from all of us, but it takes at least two of us complaining that we are freezing cold &can almost see the cold breath leaving our mouths as we breath on a night time before she moans & gives in allowing us to put the central heating on. As a result i have from yesterday had to resort to oven drying my two pulp batches. To make things worse the larger of our two part oven cooker has died leaving us with the smaller oven/grill section to work with. So not only is the drying process a slow going thing i can only dry a small tray full at a time.

I have only just today (about ten minutes ago) finished stage two of the glossy magazine pulp which i started on yesterday & am around half way through the oven drying of the inner tube pulp now. I have another two tray fulls to oven dry then i can get to the final (second stage) on it today with some small amount of luck. So i am hoping to get to mixing up some test batches of pulp/plaster mix tomorrow. I am not however making any promises here or to myself not the way things tend to end up going for me lol.

More soon. 

ME & MACHE THE WHOLE STORY

Before i begin this post i must just state my answer was a little too big i felt for the comment section so have made my (full) answer into a post here:

GhoulishCop said...

Hey Jonty,

Is this just a desire to recycle and be frugal or is there some other reason, such as your preference for making these mashes. I've only just recently gotten into this paper mache mash business, but I've found Stolloween's method of using paper pulp for blown insulation a time-saver.

A bale of it goes for $11 U.S. at a big box DIY store and lasts just about forever. Mixing it with glue and his paper mache paste recipe also gives a clay that can be molded i just like modeling clay (well, close enough). I've begun using it to make individual finger joints and like the look I'm getting.

I know there are a million recipes out there for pulp, mache, and paste. Just curious why you choose the route of making your own.

Cheers,
Rich

I primerily work with strips of paper or sections of card stock. Folding. cutting & forming 3D forms from flat paper or card which i then strip over. Of course there are times when the need to use a small batch of pulp is required & i won't deny i DO use the 'odd small batch' here & there but it is rare for me. However being able to sculpt or carve pulp allows for finer detailing strips can not always provide so readily.

I always have & continue to love to experiment. Combine that with the readily available materials to experiment with around my own home alone & you get a simple answer, why simply purchase online etc ready made materials that do not always do what you either expect or want. Why pay when you can experiment  whilst recycling doing your bit for the planet, whilst the limitations of your current funds may or may not dictate what you can or can't do. Money is not the only solution especially in toady's 'throw away society'. For me art is not only something everyone can appreciate but something everyone can do, money be dammed. I can use the resources i have at hand to show those who otherwise can not afford to buy online out of convenience. Not all of us can do that. So i choose to combine recycling with creation (art) in a way that i can share (inspire) others who normally would have thought they could not do or especially afford to do.

I recently purchased 2lbs of Claycrete in two separate bags as i require the finest grade of pulp i can get but can't produce (or so i thought) at home. When i received them on inspection it turns out my very own but simple home made pulp was just as refined as the Claycrete was if not bleached as it was. Claycrete reports a drying time of around thirty minutes at which point it is solid & can be sculpted (carved) etc. No simple paper & Cotton lint pulp has those stand alone properties. The gritty fine white grain within the Claycrete (& loose in the bottom of each bag) tells me clearly there is some fine grade sculpting plaster in there too. Now bearing in mind my want to inspire but more so show those  who can not afford a 1lb bag of ready made plaster & pulp mix such as claycrete or anything similar at some £10+ GBP or 14  Euros, 18 USD etc to create something that may turn out badly & be a costly mistake to them. Why purchase online when you can easily make from resources at home something equally as good (especially for experimenting) in minimal time & piratically zero cost? 

Experimenting at home rather than simply purchasing what is readily available means you can create 'exactly' what you require for a particular need/creation. In most cases i use small amounts of pulp as a fast bulking form that i can sculpt/carve where my paper/card folding skills won't ordinarily allow. I have always loved working in plaster & want to explore that field more these days. I however don't want to totally abandon my paper mache either rather i want to combine the two. Even though i have the cash resources to keep purchasing ready made materials as i require them even pulps online. It will eventually become a very expensive set of experiments (even for me) that for the most part will result in failure time & time again as it may take me many attempts to find a pulp/plaster combo that suits 'my' particular needs. Home experimentation combined with my existing years of for knowledge of pulps & plasters give me an advantage i can share with others who may not otherwise have the cash resources to try. Not to mention i will hit on a working answer a lot faster by coming up with my own combinations of pulp & plaster that would eneventually become ridiculessly expensive even though i can easily afford to do so.  Basically i am looking at the bigger picture involving getting others involved in this simple art even if they are working with limited cash resources.

AMENDMENT TO ARCHIVED POST - A LOCAL CRAFTY FIND

Just thought i'd better update an old post from my archives. In the post i ramble on about a new (at the time) local craft shop (to my locality anyway) in which i mentioned the local craft shop (store) was bringing out it's own online presence. It appears since that time the craft shop created their website under another ISP, so the given website address in the original post is a dead link. Not my fault but sorry anyway.

Here is the new & working link: http://www.local-loyalty.com/crazy-crafters/

You can jump to the original post by clicking on the 'yellow healine' above.

A WET WET WEEKEND AHEAD - GOD HELP ME - UPDATE

Oh no i didn't, did i?

So help me i did. I created myself my own little one man pulp war here at Darkside HQ. Oh well since it is just between me & me the casualties should be low lol.

The plan was to make the first stage magazine pulp for my pulp/plaster mix experiments yesterday. Then today do the second stage. For those who have never made pulp there are a number of methods artists use. I use a simple two part method.

STAGE 1: Run a required amount of paper (varies)  through a blender with cold water. Spread it out to dry overnight or as long as required this depends on batch size normally just the one magazine is enough for my meager uses. Then when fully dried i break it all down into manageable nuggets.

STAGE 2: Take the dried nuggets then run through the blender again 'dry' until they become a fluffy lint like form. Voila' instant pulp. Just add chosen glue as required.

Now i was not going to mention this next bit (& won't fully yet!) as well as my pulp/plaster mix experiment i am running another pulp based experiment too, but full details on 'what' that is another time. For now i will tell you i am experimenting with toilet roll inners for a pulp too. I hadn't planned to initially as i am collecting the inners to use in a creation another time.  Along the way someone dumped a load of heavy items on a half black bin liner of tubes crushing them. Since they were then useless to me crushed rather than waste them i decided to use them in another pulp experiment. Anyway seeing as the tube inners are made of thicker paper i decided to tear these up then let them stand in a medium bucket of water for a couple of days, three in all, before pulping them.

Now back to this one man pulp war of mine.

It took me a little over thirty minutes to pulp  a single computer magazine (disabled remember in which i have llimited use of left arm & lower back?) to a satisfactory first stage pulp (see stages above 1 & 2) which i set to one side to drain then dry on a wooden board above a radiator.

After a brief break (okay an hour) i got to doing the toilet roll inner tube pulp too. Now my current blender has a two litre capacity. In which i was able to render down around twenty to twenty five glossy magazine pages per load in around two minutes a load. In the end i only pulped a single magazine which believe it or not gives you one sizable batch. Enough for my needs right now anyway.

Now the inner tube pulp was a different story all together which is why i am in part mentioning it here. Whilst i could only load around two handfuls (around two pounds wet - straight from the bucket) i found i had to use around one & a half litres of water each load so the blender could cope. as apposed to a couple of cup fulls of water for each load of magazine pages. However, to my amazement each two pound load or so only took me under a minute each (around thirty seconds or so) to render down to an incredibly fine mushy pulp that was almost a thick soup like in texture. Not only was the inner tube pulp at least two times finer than my glossy magazine pulp at stage one. I also pulped TWICE the amount in under ten minutes too - Awesome!. See the two pulps below:

The PC glossy magazine pulp is the grey pulp on the left. The toilet roll inner tube pulp is on the right.

This is where the pulp war comes into play lol. I am torn between which pulp to use in my pulp/plaster mix experiment now. I think i will wait until i have put 'both' pulps through stage two (the final stage) before i commit myself & these pulps to the test.

The war is on who will claim victory me or the enemy me?

More soon.

A WET WET WEEKEND AHEAD - GOD HELP ME

Is it Friday already?

Were did the week go?

So the week got away from me again (nothing new there then lol) i have been busy all week editing video but i will after this weeks delay be starting a batch of new paper pulp for my plaster pulp mix experiments which i will definitely be starting this coming Monday. My plans (that i WILL be sticking to for sure this time) are to begin to prep the first stage of the pulp (soak & shred) a large batch of glossy magazine pulp in stages from Saturday morning on & off through the remainder of the day. Since i don't pre-soak my paper pulps when i do make them that saves a lot of time. I say through the remainder of the day as standing is something i can only do for short periods literally only a few minutes at a time every hour or so. Most of the pulp preparation is going to be achieved from a perched sitting position, perched precariously on a three legged stool.

The last time i made any home made pulp i remember when gauging the water to paper ratio in the blender was to say the least messy. With me sitting most of the time i ended up with my top half of my body (yes including my face) well & truly splattered with watery pulp over spill. I will have to remember not to over fill the blender this time lol.

But that's this weekend (tomorrow) for today i plan on firstly getting some more work done on my dragon head trophies, my mini skull trophies & hopefully start some work for the grunge skull copying & creations feature space to work freely being the problem at the minute. A well & truly busy day ahead of me so enough rambling here off to it. Unless something comes up i should be back here with posts galore by mid next week lol.

More soon stay tuned folks.

EXPERIMENT TIME AGAIN

Along with  my  mini skull trophies & a few other things i have planned with sets of each project to be in plaster & PM. It occurred to me whilst i want to do some work in plaster for sure i don't want to totally abandon my PM roots. It further occurred to me that since i am not strictly sticking to the true PM code 100% more leaking into the realms of (God i hate the term) mixed media creations if i am to be honest with myself here. So i have set myself the challenge of blending the two worlds of plaster casting & (ugh!) mixed media creating which i do already. This way in 'my' mind at least i am still not straying totally from my creation method or materials i choose to limit myself to, well not so much more really.

As it turns out (whats new lol) i won't be the first to experiment with combining plaster & pulp which is just a variation on the paper clay theme anyway which consists of combining clay & pulp. What i have found (or not found so far - theres hope yet then) is anyone documenting anything relating to having had any positive results. Now this could simply mean that someone out there HAS found the perfect combination that produces a plaster like finish with a dramatically reduced weight ratio on the dried project  whist not compromising strength or even aiding it. Or it could simply be that no one has found a combination worth noting?

Either way apart from not wanting to go flying off totally into the mixed medial world regardless of the materials used as long as there is a token amount of PM involved to still be able to state is is a PM mixed media piece (what a contradiction honestly!) materials  such as metal, plastic, foam, cloth etc. I want to try to create a medium that IS as much PM as mixed medium. Also to be able to continue working as i do with as near totally 'hollow' creations as possible. Imagine it hollow plaster forms that weren't created in super expensive commerical pressure molding machinery. Plaster creations made by anyone at home by hand with or without some pre-cast molds involved.

So this brings me back to my new experiments then. Creating a working plaster pulp medium that can be classified either plaster, PM or even (cough!) mixed media if need be. A mix anyone virtually of any age can make at home in minutes & apply to virtually 'any' project creation. Projects that can be as hollow as they want to be & at any scale too. with half or less than the weight of straight plaster but twice (or more - ah i can dream can't i?) the strength of plaster or pure PM (no internal strengtheners such as wire etc) but more than anything reducing the amount of plaster with reducing costs in mind for large projects. Remember 'everything' i do & show you here IS with those who may be working on a tight cash budget here.

Okay before i begin this set of experiments i need to establish some ground rues for it since i don't own a high end testing facility (unless you count my kitchen as one?) i need to set some parameters that will be used on ALL the tests. It turns out my OWN home made pulp is just as refined as the commercial batch of Claycrete i purchased at £10+ (GBP) for 1lb so i will be using my own home made pulp in these experiments. The pulp will be made from old glossy computer magazines none bleached.

PREPARING SAMPLES/TEST BATCHES:

1) ALL test batch samples are to be made from the SAME commercial refined sculpting plaster & home made pulp.

2) Each NEW test batch will have a set of two 'control' samples of pure plaster made up to the same plaster content as each NEW batch prior to adding the pulp. Two plaster/pulp mixed batches & a single small two part crude skull mold.

3) ALL large pieces of each test batch will be cast in a simple mold consisting of identical medium sized ice cream plastic tub lids giving test pieces of around 3mm in thickness.

4) Each NEW small (two part) skull cast will be push molded to a thickness of approximately 1mm.

5) ALL test samples will be allowed to dry fully (air dried) before final tests begin including the sample skull mold castings.

THE TESTING:

The test samples will be judged on three levels:

1: strength. Each large flat 3mm piece will be equally stationed over two supports, then subjected to incremental weight additions to the unsupported center section. Strength will be determined at the point of breaking as the final weight is added. Both test pieces of each batch will be subjected to the identical test. Any difference (high - low) in each weight test with be judged as weakest/strongest accordingly.

2: Quality of each cast produced from the same small skull latex mold.

3: workable times. This will be determined by rolling, squeezing, kneading the entire amount of mix to be used in the small skull mold within my hands (no gloves) prior to adding to the two mold halves. The final dried skull casts finish will determine the final quality judgement & may vary according to mix ratios.

I think that establishes a fair set of tests for my experiments. I did run a quick set of test pieces using some of the Claycrete pulp as laid out in the test rules listed above. This helped me come to this set of rules & conditions for the final tests. I have not posted pictures of the large flat sample pieces for you to see since i will be using my OWN home made pulp for all the proper experiments later. I have posted a picture of the first run of the small skull test pieces.

I will be starting these tests properly mid week next week. How long they take to prepare then dry i cannot say at this time so i can't give any time scales for the results as yet obviously. I will how ever post the results here both in a standard post & in the files section (for any wannabe experimenters among us lol) as well as on my blog too.

so far the dry run test batches have proven to be as expected & in some small ways a little more than expected with the small two part skull being far stronger & smoother than anticipated.

WHERE IT ALL STARTED:

The plaster pulp mixture i used for my first dry run experiment that helped me establish the rules for my test consisted of:

PLASTER (FINE GRADE SCULPTING PLASTER): 12oz

PULP (CLAYCRETE): 4oz

WATER (ROOM TEMP): 10fl/oz

The resulting 'P&P Mix' or 'PlasterPulp Mix' (my chosen name if i make this work) remained malleable in my hands for some 15 minutes before finally adding to the small latex skull mold. For the mix ratios given above I'd recommend a 10 minute limit at best before attempting to add to any soft mold form (whilst it is still fairly wet). I let mine go a little dry on purpose to see the casting result. 15 minutes left my test piece a little too dry to work into the mold sufficiently enough to create a truly 'smooth' finish. Saying that the results are good if not fantastic considering how dry it was in my hands before adding it to the latex mold. See picture below:

So that's how my experiments are going to run, that's how i made my first dry run test batch to gauge my experiments on. You have (can see) my first ever attempt so come on experimenters or even those who don't lets see some messy results - It's fun trust me lol.

More soon.

GRUNGE SKULLS PART 1

Remember those polystyrene skulls i bought a couple of weeks back? Well i finally got two of them enhanced. Here is a reminder of the original commercial styled skulls:

Now here are the 'grunge skulls' as i have named them after a little re-sculpting:

First up one of the jaw less versions with the original on the left of course. When copying skulls in this way i like to paint the originals black for two reasons.

1) It makes following the skull easier to do for me anyway.

2) For some dark reason i seem to like them like this.

I will show you again in another post later how i am going to copy these i posted copying crude skull forms in foil before in an earlier post. These will be copied in a more refined way, i will explain that better in the later new post. For now back to these grunge skulls. Below i have high lighted just were i re-sculpted these guys:

Both the half skull shown here & the full skull were re-sculpted in exactly the same areas as shown above. With the exception to the half skull here i removed the missing tooth fully for a better look. Below the full & half skulls finished:

Much better, more 'grungy' lol. Whilst i plan to make some miniature gas mask skulls, as i had hoped too these guys will make great larger versions of my sons gas mask skulls he has tattooed on himself too, once i make the gas masks of course but more on that later.

More soon. 

MINI SKULL TROPHY/CANDLE SCONCE PART 2

So the first mold has been removed from the modified master as you can see below:

A second mold was made after this one was removed i have not gotten around to removing that one yet however. Below you can see the results of the first two plaster casts de-molded.

Below i have high lighted where the plaster spilled over the edges due to my overzealous pouring in blue. I have high lighted where i have to remove the plaster from under & around the fingers etc to bring back the original design shape(s) in purple.

You will have noticed by now that the arm bones & base have not been shown as part of the de-molded castings here. That's because there was no way i could cast those as thin as they were in plaster without them breaking off. I had hoped to add some internal support during the plaster pouring but the thickness of the bones did not allow enough room for it. I will simply cast those from reinforced paper strips or reinforced pulp later then glue them in place when dry & de-molded.

I  was hoping that the Plasticine i used as filer during the mold making stage would hold up. True modeling clay would have been the correct & proffered medium for that of course. As it turned out not only did the Plasticine actually work but also better than expected. Somehow (i am no chemist) the latex mould solution or more likely the separate thickening solution i added to the mould latex hardened the plasticine surface slightly. Which meant the latex mould once dried easily came free of the plasticine filler. Not only did this leave the plasticine in place giving me the chance to re-use the use of it again but gave me a perfect copy as well.

So i have some carving to do slightly more than expected thanks to over pouring the plaster but thats a man made fault not a fault of the materials i used. A lesson learned for next time so i have less work to do in the future lol.

More on this project soon.

SORRY EVERYONE

Hi all just a quick apology for the laps here. It's been utterly hectic to the point of being almost insane at Darkside  HQ more than usual & once again our telephone company did not send out a reminder for our telephone bill that's twice now this year a great way of getting extra cash out of customers i think (reconnection fee's!) but what can you do eh? Things being so hectic as i say we weren't paying attention so I've been offline a brief spell trying to catch up on things. I will get caught up on ALL running features very very soon i promise.

MAKING SKULLS USING MOULDING LATEX: PART 4 - UPDATE

Whoo hoo my modelling plaster came this morning two big honking 25kg bags lol. A lot i know but i have a LOT planned. Not to mention i always tend to make a few ounces (or so) too much when using plaster, just never gotten the hang of making just the right amount lol. I didn''t answer the door myself B (my wife Barbara) did. She said  the delivery guy looked small & weedy even though he had the boxed bags of plaster on a dolly (trolley) he look shattered & shaky poor soul lol.

So i have all the high grade modelling plaster i need for a while (quite a while lol) now i just need to find somewhere to store it out the way where the temperature is stable & dry, where it is out the way but i can get to it easily hmmmm!, i have no idea where lol. Anyway better get to finishing up the mini skull moulds & work on the other stuff i want to make in plaster too or rather the moulds for those projects that is.

The first of the mini skull skeleton hand trophy/candle sconce projects has now been fully coated in moulding latex & is off drying for a few days along with another (for now) slightly bigger secret project. Since i will be using these two moulds & the others when finished to do a lot of plaster casting they need to be a little thicker than the first test moulds i made so they last a little longer. Saying that thay will of course take a few days longer to dry fully before i can de-mould them.

More soon on all running posts folks.

MINI SKULL TROPHY/CANDLE SCONCES

Over the last two weeks (give or take a day) it has been rain rain & more rain every day & night.  This last week the rain showers have been coming closer together, harder & much colder. Through the night last night it got really bad resulting in my being in agony when i woke up. It is raining right now & has been since i came down stairs this morning. My disabilities as anyone will know who have any themselves ache more when the weathers rough like this. So because i store my WIPs & other things on my work table (almost to the ceiling) i am in too much pain today to move it all & do any PM per say.

With all that in mind i didn't want to do nothing today so i decided to shuffle my planned shedual around a little. Since I need to make more mini skull moulds anyway i thought i might just extend that to include the idea's i had for those plastic skeleton champagne flutes i got the other week. For those who missed that post (below) here is a reminder of how they looked originally:

They came as a pair but i am only going to be using one of them for now. I will be creating two new creations from the one flute how ever. First of all i removed the plastic 'tube' carefully & put that to one side to use some how on other things. Next came the simple task of remodelling the fingers slightly. Because they were made to fit around the plastic tube the 'inner' surface was not detailed & had rather sharp squared off edges to the fingers. A quick re-shaping using a fine craft knife took care of that little problem.

Now i want to replace the plastic tube with a mini skull, but of course the fingers are in the wrong position. Plastic being plastic it can be reworked with heat. Add to that mix these were made of a durable but soft plastic making the task even easier. I simply set a small pan of water to boil then immersed the hand in the water for a few minutes. Working quickly i then eased the fingers into the new position around one of the small wax skull copies i made earlier. Why a wax skull you may ask, well i will explain why further down the post. Below are a couple of pictures of the NEW look skeleton hand 'trophy' with wax skull in place:



I left the small plastic ruby in the fore finger, i can simply sculpt that out of the final design in the plaster & PM versions i will be making from this later. Now if you click on each image to enlarge them you will see more clearly the gaps under the skull & some of the slightly raised fingers too. If i were to attempt to make 'any' casts from it in this current state the moulding material that i am using liquid moulding latex would get under these gaps & make the removal of the final mould simply impossible. I now need to fill in these gaps some how. Modelling clay would be the correct material to use of course, since i neither have any & am working with those working on a tight budget in mind i a going to use my tried & tested material plasticine. Below are the pictures of the gaps now filled:

Not a pretty sight i know but then it is the final mould copy we are interested in here not the original item after all. Now this is ready for copying.

So before i close this post for now i will let you know what i have planned for this project. The first creation will be a couple of variations of almost how it looks now. As i say i will be making both plaster & PM versions. One of my sons who is now a skilled tattooist has been creating some rather nice images of skulls wearing gas masks. He has also come up with a brilliant twist on that theme too. I promised him a couple of them in plaster later for his permission to use the design. I might give him a couple of these skeleton trophies to lol. I won't say what the second gas mask design involves as i want to keep that design a secret until the last possible minute it IS awesome though i assure you lol.

The second variation i want to make using this skeleton trophy design i a miniature skeleton candle sconce.  This is the reason why i used a wax skull at this stage, After i copy this as is for the trophy designs, i will then sculpt out a small cavity to hold those small self contained candles that come in they're own foil containers. Picture on all those things to come as they develop later lol.

More soon.