Molding the body of Ascaras was a big task. Most of the materials including: Bubblegum Clay, and Silicone can be found online at the Burman Industries website called Monster Makers. The fiberglass resin and mat I used came from my local hardware store. OK! First, he was sealed in plastic wrap and covered in an even thickness of 3/8" water base clay. Photo 1 is of the finished clay layup, which is ready to start fiberglassing!
The clay layup is what makes the outer shell of the fiberglass jackets. After 3 days of working on my back porch, the fiberglass shell was finally ready to be assembled over the sculpture and to begin pouring silicone. This particular shell is in 3 pieces as seen in picture 2.
Picture 3 looks like a leaky disaster, but actually the fiberglass jacket is filled with small air holes so when we pour the liquid silicone all the trapped air can escape. I used 3-inch zip screws to plug the holes after I let them bleed out a little. The white stuff around the mold are fast setting plaster bandages to help seal the fiberglass jackets together. I wanted leaks, but not at the seams of the mold. Then 8 hours later the silicone sets up and wallah! We have a silicone case mold! I then carefully take off the jackets and cut the seam line of the mold to free the sculpture within.
After cleaning and prepping the mold I poured a hard resin casting. I use this for a master tool. Which basically means when the mold dies after many castings I can re-mold Ascaras using this master tool. If you are serious about Case molding I recommend looking for how to DVD tutorials online from Gnomon workshops or Mark Alfrey DVD's on how to's. Remember that a mold maker’s best friend is his release agent, which is most likely Petroleum Jelly!
In the next post I'll show the final poseable casting of Ascaras and explain the process.
