Mold Making for silicone cast

On friday I did a casting workshop with Mary Murphy. We learnt how to make a two part mold in plaster. First I made a plasticine head- i used a hard sculpting plasticine so it would be more resistant and not get squashed and mishapen.

First I used some super light sculpy to make a light weight core for the head. A piece of K and S to run down the middle- this will act as a brace to hold the model in place during mold making.

Light weight core with K and S throughout the middle.

Then using the sculpting plasticine i built up the head around the core. I used 2 beads for the eyes and built around them. I didn't sculpt eyelids because they would be permanent and wouldn't be able to change them if i wanted to animate a blink etc..
I think maybe if i was going to make a live action puppet i would sculpt eyelids onto the model for casting because they are quite good for enhancing characteristics.

Then once the model was at a stage i was happy with I used potters clay to build a casting bed. I made little balls of clay to build it up- using balls makes it easier to remove for the mold.

The clay bed should come up half way on the model and half way on the K and S (which needs to be sitting level on the clay). The half way line or seam is best when it goes along the back of the ear so it can be concealed.
The clay needs to be levelled out so its as perpendicular to the model as possible. Once I had smoothed it out as best i could with my finger, I used a piece of eraser cut into a wedge and went around the edge of the model to make a clean 'casting line'.

Using a rubber to make a clean casting line. The better the casting line the neater the seam will be.

The casting line needs to be as clean as possible so you don't create undercuts when the mold is flipped to cast the other side.

After i had cut away excess clay from the bed, I cut a location mark in the clay. Then I made a 'shim' which is a drainage channel in the mold. I helps to make sure the 'flashing' (the bit around the edge of the cast) is wafer thin.
To make the shim, I rolled a thin coil of clay and cut it down the so it was flat on on edge and curved on the other.

Location mark 

The shim goes half way between the edge of the mold base and the model. IT MUST NOT TOUCH THE MODEL! 

The shim needs to go right to the edge of the mold base.

To make the casting wall, I wrapped a piece of card very tightly around the clay and taped it in place with gaffer's tape. The I sealed the base with more potters clay. It is very important that it is tigt and well sealed so no plaster escapes.

Just like that, nice and tight like... 

And then.... I got pouring! Pour a little bit in careful not to pour plaster straight onto the model or it will splash. Stop part way and give it a jiggle to get bubbles to the surface. And pour more, about 1-2cm above the highest point on the model i.e. the nose.

Looking like a milkmaid...

 Leave the plaster to set- half hour or so...CUP OF TEA TIME!
                                                                     ................................

Remove the card wall and hey presto! i made cheese cake!

Remove the clay balls to reveal the back of the model

Once all the clay had been removed from the back of the model, I cleaned up the plaster mold. I sanded the edge of the mold with a wet scourer pad and cleaned the bits of clay left on the plaster.

Revealing the back of the model 

Clean up the edge of the mold, shim and casting suface, make them nice and smooth-

Make sure all bits of clay are cleaned off the model

Then put a coil of clay back in the drainage channel to keep it open when you make the other part of the mold. Then coat the plaster ONLY with a liquid soap solution to stop it sticking the next lot of plaster that will be poured on to make the 2nd part of the mold.

Unfortunately, this is as far as i got because i had to leave early- having a job and all that. But i will finsih it next week.

Really looking forward to casting it and seeing the result!

Cabinet of Curiosities

I've started some research for my next project. The outline for my project is to explore and develop fabrication skills and techniques- in particular casting.

I thought i should run with a theme and so I'm going to take mermaids as a theme because I want to be able to develop making both animal and human puppets. Also i thought i could try out lots of textures to cast for fish tails and skin etc.

I would like to be able to present my work at the end of the year as an installation because its a form of art that i love and it is so much more interesting for the views to look at.

So i will be creating a Cabinet of Curiosities- Findings of MerFolk- and this should be an interesting way to  display my fabrication development.

"A cabinet of curiosities was an encyclopedic collection in Renaissance Europe of types of objects whose categorical boundaries were yet to be defined. They were also known by various names such as Cabinet of Wonder, and in German Kunstkammer or Wunderkammer (wonder-room). Modern terminology would categorize the objects included as belonging to natural history (sometimes faked), geology, ethnography, archaeology, religious or historical relics, works of art (including cabinet paintings) and antiquities. Besides the most famous and best documented cabinets of rulers and aristocrats, members of the merchant class and early practitioners of science in Europe also formed collections that were precursors to museums." Charmaine Zoe

A sunfish skeleton

A Victorian curiosty

Wooden prosthetic hands/ puppet hands

Charles Byrne, known as the Irish Giant, was the toast of Georgian London after arriving to seek his fortune at the age of 21 and being put on show as a freak.

A double bodied calf- possible a fake

Rat clippings

Here is a little clip of my finished animation.

BBC... Ratty

I've decided that the best character for the voice is a rat.

The piece of audio sounds to me like a phone conversation and it is a stereotypical young woman/ teenager's phone conversation about something a guy did. 

I want the rat character to have a child or a few that she is absent mindedly looking after while in grossed in the phone conversation, as though that is all that matters.

BBC feed back

So the pitch seemed to go down well. As quite a few people had chosen the same track as me I was asked to keep the same style of a line drawing but animate to a different track.
I quite liked the track that sounded like a chavvy girl (is that inappropriate? whatev...) so decided to use that one.

I liked my bird man and wanted to use birds again. I thought i could characterise the voice as a chicken in a roost talking to others but she didn't sam to fit a hen's persona.

So then I thought it might suit a starling or swallow on a telephone wire.