Monday, October 29, 2012

Video Process Updates




Technical info: I used Polytek's Polygel 35 as a face coat. Worked well, although I don't know that I thought it was a lot easier to work with than the stuff I've worked with in the past. Set's up a little quickly for my taste, which means making A LOT of batches. In the first video you can also see us trying out Poly1512X (also from Polytek). This was a real disappointment. I had hoped for something light, strong, and with a quick set up time. This was much too slow, and surprisingly brittle. I elected to go with FGR and fiberglass instead, which works great, but which used up all of my FGR, so now I have to wait FOUR TO SIX WEEKS for my local supplier to get it in. There has got be an easier way.

Beyond that, everything went smoothly. In the end, all the pieces of the mother mold came off with no trouble, and went back together the same way. There's a little plasticine still sticking to the inside of the mold, but other than that, I really can't complain. Hoping to pull an initial Hydrostone cast this week.

The videos above are quite disjointed. I had high hopes, and a lovely tri-pod set-up, but the phone kept ringing, or the music wouldn't work. There's something to be said for having more than one gadget, I guess.

As I said to Amy at the time, there is nothing like sculpture for teaching patience. In the second video, if you watch close, you can see us stop pulling up the mother mold, which is coming up like a dream, and start thickening up a couple of the hydrostone and burlap pieces we had to use when we ran out of FGR and fiberglass. Inches from the big reveal, pulling up the rubber mold, and instead we have to spend an hour repair the piece in place. In the past I might have just pulled it and hoped for the best but, like I said, sculpture has taught me a few things about patience and delayed gratification.





Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Revisionism

36 hours turns out to have been wildly optimistic. This project will never end. I will be dead and in my grave, and this piece will still be taunting me, just out of reach.

Blerg.