Ingredients for a productive weekend!

An exciting day! I love receiving parcels, but today's didn't contain a resin horse (for a change!), it contained a bunch of materials for a weekend of mold-making and casting!

From left to right, there is:

1. PU Resin (I'll keep it wrapped until I get home from work, for safety)
2. Filmoront Acrylic Sealer
3. Ormoline Sealer
4. Powdered Brass
5. Powdered Bronze
6. Powdered Copper
7. Powdered Aluminium (dangerous stuff - must be kept dry)
8. Liquid Leaf in Rennaisance Gold
9. 50ml and 30ml mixing beakers
10. Wooden Tongue Depressers (mixing sticks)
11. PE Resin (Keeping that wrapped until I get home too)
12. In the background are a few of the orchids I have at work, I have 12, hehe!

A little info on all these ingredients:

1. The PU Resin is used to create regular "unpainted resin" copies, it has a creamy white colour and is very slightly flexible which protects it from chips and cracks. It cures very quickly and gets very hot during curing, sometimes I add marble dust or synthetic onyx powders to part A and part B before mixing the two together which slows don the process, making less shrinkage and less heat which saves the mold. Adding the powder actually makes the resin a touch less "plastic", so paint adheres more easily to it.
2. Filmoront Acrylic Sealer - this is a new one for me to try out, I'm going to try both this and the Ormoline Sealer on my cold-cast metal models, to see if I can keep the initial "shine" to them, as usually cold-cast metals do tend to dull after a short period.
3. Ormoline Sealer - as above, I plan to use this on cold-cast metals. Ormoline is a mix of resin and solvent, so once it is painted on the solvent evaporates leaving a film of resin behind. I'm curious to see what effect this has on the finished models.
4. Powdered Brass
5. Powdered Bronze
6. Powdered Copper
7. Powdered Aluminium - these powders, when mixed with resin prior to pouring, then polished carefully, come up to a finish that has the feel, weight, temperature and look of real foundry cast metal.
8. Liquid Leaf in Rennaisance Gold - I was thinking it'd be quite interesting to use this for adding gold accents to various resin finshes (slate etc), and also to add another angle to the cold-cast metals. I fancy making up a copper model, then painting the mane with this gold-leaf effect paint and then polishing it back.
9. 50ml and 30ml mixing beakers - I use so many of these things - at least one per casting. For mixed finish models I can se as many as 5 or 6 of these handy little beakers. They aren't too expensive at about 25p (50¢) each, but I get through so many that they are a cost consideration when I price my models.
10. Wooden Tongue Depressers (mixing sticks) - at just 2p (4¢) each these are much more affordable! These get used ofr mixing, for levelling out molds when they are uneven, and for many other uses.
11. PE Resin (Keeping that wrapped until I get home too) - I use PE resin for cold-cast metals, as it is a one-part resin that you cure by adding a few drops of catalyst to, it's much easier to mix the metal with the resin (metal is VERY heavy so sinks quickly, making a two-part mixture difficult to mix together fully before it starts to cure). It is a touch more brittle than the PU resin though is still tough, and with the added metal it does come out very tough. I do plan to experiment with using PU resin for cold-cast metals (it would mean I only need one mold, not one for PU and one for PE, which is a benefit) but for now I'm sticking with what I know.

• This weekend I have plans - my entry for the RESS BAS Relief sculpture competition is very nearly complete, I'm hoping I can have it finished by tonight so I can take the first mold - I made an error on the placement of the model to the background, it needs adjusting so I will make a resin copy of the sculpture, then put that onto a new background before taking a mold of that for the final copies.
• I have an order for a copper Frodo to make, so as I've had to buy in metal for that I went ahead and bought brass, bronze and aluminium too, and I now have plans to make up a cold-cast metal copy of my model too, for the RESS competition Metals section.
• So, if all goes well, I should end the weekend with at least one metal Frodo (I also need to make up a couple for donations that are very late!); at least a couple of resin copies of the new medallion, one to paint up for the painted section of the competition too; and possibly a complex (mixed) metal copy of the new medallion.
• I'm going to be needing a name for this new medallion, I feel a competition coming on...!

Many happy nickers!!! (I didn't quite grasp what that meant until I realised there wasn't a "k" in it!)

Edit

For those on the subscription, I got the website wrong on the last post - I've edited it but in case it came through to you wrong, the CORRECT address is www.ress.org

Progress Report

The Hyacinths are out - it's officially Spring!!!

They smell SOOOOO gooooood!!!

Firstly I'd like to welcome everyone who's recently signed up for email updates from this blog, Welcome! I hope you enjoy reading about my trials and tribulations, successes and (usually monumental) disasters. Comments are welcome (keep them clean!) and I will happily swap links to your blog if you're in the hobby too :o)

Here's a quick update on what's been happening recently:

• Below are a couple of photos of the latest cast I've made of Frodo, and in my eyes the most successful. I've been looking for a material that will both bring the sculpture forward off the background, whilst keeping the background interesting.
• I used a brown metallic paint flake (similar to glitter, but much finer - used in the car industry) for the background, and cold-cast polished aluminium for the head. I love using the metals for this sculpture as they bring out the textural detail so well.
• I've shown two photos, the first in natural light and the second in flourescent light to illustrate both the background and the shiny metal. Both photos are of the same model.

• And this is another sneak-peek of the new medallion, it is progressing well and should be ready in time for the RESS competition deadline if things go well. I'm quite determined not to unveil it fully until it's cast and I have one painted but I simply cannot resist showing off these little teasers!

• I also have an update on Jasper (trad. Percheron model that I've been working on for a few years now) - I have accidentally amputated his rear off-side leg (the raised one). It wasn't intentional but has brought lots of benefits, for instance it's so much easier to work on his hoof in my hand, than trying to sculpt it in-situ! I also have easier access to his other rear leg, and the back of both front legs, plus his belly. I'll update with pics soon.

The RESS Winter newsletter "The Boat" came out today, I can highly recommend this society as the knowledge of the member base is second-to-none and with it's 196 page newsletter (in .pdf format, so paperless too) it has to be the most in-depth and informative newsletter I've ever received from any organisation!! For just $25 a year I believe that becoming a member is wonderful value for money! I have an article in The Boat on medallions, and the Mare and Foal medallion makes an appearance in there too (little plug, hehe). I hope to put Jasper in for the Wind Ward program too. Go to http://www.ress.org/ for more info.