Long Overdue Update, Part 2

Expanding Horizons!

Well, the Smooth-On rep man came to visit me a few weeks back, and boy did I learn a lot! So much so that I must apologise if this enormous posting causes anyone any bother - please get in touch if I'm filling your Inbox, I'm not sure how big these emails get with images in them.

. So, to start! Well the day went something like this - spent the morning at work, far too excited to be productive knowing that at 2pm a like-minded casting fanatic would be coming to share his knowledge and experience with me. I got home and got the kettle on (true Brit that I am), and he arrived on time (a good start!). He (Rob) proceeded to unload from his car several big boxes of "stuff" and then had to come through the back gate to bring the big Vaccuum Chamber and pump through. . I presented my prototype for Pickle V2 to Rob and he looked particularly un-daunted by her, which surprised me, Pickle V2 is a challenging model with many deep undercuts and delicate protruding bits that made me very frightened to attempt to cast her myself before now. Rob had a look over the model and placed a sprue (aka a chopped off bit from a wooden BBQ skewer) from her chin to the base (an old plastic art palette).

He asked me if I had a hot glue gun as he'd discovered his partner had removed his from his car, and grabbed a piece of cardboard. He seemed amused that I found these low-tech methods so fascinating, and proceeded to knock up a very sufficient mother-mold to hold the liquid rubber until it had set. (I didn't take any photos during our time together as I was so engrossed in it all, these photos are of my later attempt to make a mold for Pickle V2 on my own, I added a sprue to the ears as you can see in the photo above, and a "moat" or hot-glue bead to catch any liquid rubber that inevitably leaked from the card mold)

We mixed the rubber along with some catalyst (so we could use the mold in the short time we had), vacuumed it and poured it over the prototype. I was truly amazed at how simple the whole process was, but needed to see results before I'd believe this could be possible for me to take on for the whole edition (I paid a company to cast Pickle V1 for me, and would have to do this for Pickle V2 if I couldn't get this casting method to work for me)

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With the extra catalyst in the rubber (we were using a Platinum-Cure type of rubber), it was FULLY cured in about 20 minutes! Rob proceeded to expertly remove the Prototype model from the mold using a single cut - no multi-piece complicated mold for him!

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Next up we got to casting - using the Vacuum Chamber to degass the resin before pouring, then filling the mold with the liquid resin and degassing it once more (all within the 3 minute pot life* of the resin!), meant that the first casting was almost 100% perfect! We tried one more, adding some dark blue glitter to the mix to help to identify any problems (technically we should have added a pigment, but I don't have any, or bronze, but that's a bit expensive, so glitter was the next best thing). This model came out a complete success and I was thrilled! We then went on to make up a mold for Fly Fishing (Mold B) and then sadly Rob had to leave. (*Pot Life is the length of time that liquid resin, once the two parts are mixed togehter, can sit in the pot before it starts to cure, once this reaction takes place the resin turns to a jelly-type [jello?] state and cannot then be poured)

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We did, however, spend a few minutes chuckling and discussing something that had me quite shocked - when he went to leave, Rob opened his car door - and there was a baby's arm sitting in the door pocket!! Well I was quite shocked to say the least; it turned out to be a reborn* baby's arm, but it was so lifelike in look and feel that it made quite a talking point! (*Reborn babies are doll-like creations made to look so reallistic that it is quite difficult to distinguish them from a real baby. Normally the arms, legs and head are made from a silicon-rubber type material that is skin-coloured and has a very similar feel to that of real flesh)

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Pickle V2 will not be released until I have mastered a successful casting process (though anyone who'd like to register their interest can drop me an email and I'll email you when I do).

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The image below is of the precious few casts I have so far made. As you can see several are missing their ear-tips, unfortunatly it appears that the key to getting perfect casts is the use of Vacuum equipment. As such I've made some inquiries and hope to get myself equipped to take on this wonderful new venture quite soon. I'm optimistic that this will open the door to new ways of casting for me, and am so excited looking forward to trying out lots of new methods and models!

Long Overdue Update

My first ever completed pastel paint-job :o)

(with a little help from a friend)

This is the TIBBP Mare and Foal Medallion; ever since our beautiful Nellie lost her battle against sand-colic, I've been wanting to do a portrait of her and Lil' Angel (the foal she was carrying) as a gift for my good friend Beccy. Beccy moved heaven and earth to make sure Nellie found a home when The Animali Farm was asked to find funding and homes for over 90 pregnant ex-PMU draft mares.

I won't pretend this is amazing finishwork, it's not (apart from the eyes - I asked an up-and-coming finishwork artist Emily Prouse to paint those and she did a most excellent job). But it was the best I could do, and I did my very best in the same way that Beccy did her very best for Nellie. We can only do as much as we are limited to, but even if it's a little short of the miracle we were aiming for, it's worth trying.

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I slightly CM'd the model first by removing the raised ring fromthe round background part. Then I "painted" Nellie and Lil' Angel using soft pastels, ground up and painted on in layers using a matte sealer in-between coats. I painted the white markings with a water-based pigment paint ("process white") and added pinking to Nellie's nose with pastels. I wasn't sure how to deal with the base but I liked how it looked after I'd pastelled the grassy part so kept it an olive green. The round background part was painted with layers of a mix of white acrylic and a very subtle purple mica-type powder (see previous post), the flower was pastelled pink and then painted with a (different) metallic purple powder, and finally I gave the whole model a subtle sheen with several coats of the pearly powder, as Nellie and Lil' Angel aren't on boring old Earth any more. The sheen doesn't show up on any photos, but this model isn't for photographing, it's for reminding a wonderful woman about a wonderful horse.