I Made A Plaster Mold!

I'd like to dedicate this post to Deb Todd Wheeler. She told me to go home and smash some clay into a shoe box and pour plaster over it. I haven't made plaster molds in the past because they are heavy, mysterious, and I've never slip cast in my life. So when Deb made it sound so simple I thought, "I could do that."

So I shaped my original forms from clay first. Then I took a cat food box and cut it up and glued it back together into the size I wanted my cast to be. I lined the bottom with clay and inserted my handmade forms. I had some ideas I started with, but with sculpting and molding some of them had to morph into something I could manage. I initially thought I would use plastic army men and sculpt onto them, but I soon found that would not end in the way I wanted. I've been studying the history of adornment and most of these small cast pieces are going to be for my necklace phase of my project.

I had to do some research on how to measure my plaster. I hate math so this was the most painful part. I had to do math though or I wouldn't have had the correct amount! I slathered the form and box with Murphy's Oil Soap, made my plaster and poured.

 

It came out near to fabulous! I didn't even have to break my box to get it out. So it was really easy to correct bleed through and carve out my keys, set the plaster back in the box, oil it up again and pour the second half.

I picked it up and dropped it on the table a few times and sprayed the bubbles that surfaced with alcohol. So both sides came out nice and clean. I had a little trouble getting the ribbons out without breaking the side walls a little. Note to sell to space them further apart in the future. The clay in my vagina pendant got stuck too. I don't know if that is indicative of future mold issues so just to be on the safe side I carved it out a little.

Now it's ready to be poured. If only I had the slip here. It's on order and should arrive in a few days. I think I need to let the mold dry a few days anyway. I'm not really sure how these are going to look as finished products but I'm really happy with the way the cast came out. I really enjoy the sculpting aspect of my work. I don't think I would be as happy with just paintings. I actually think my future paintings will be sculptural in some way.

I also painted my prepped flag box. Should be ready for inkjet transfers when I return to my studio next. I've also been giving some thought to how I'm going to install the rebar into the front of the boxes. I may end up making them and my chocks out of ceramic. Metal is so heavy and I have no desire to learn welding at this point in my schooling. Ceramic always adds an interesting aspect of delicateness and hominess to the work...I think at least.

Finishing up my first paper and doing a lot of reading. My next post will be more insightful and less about process.