A creepy light at the end of the tunnel...
Hello Again!
After creating the first section of the mold, I pretty much "rinsed and repeated" three more times, careful to not let the new silicone stick to previous sections. I'd rotate the existing section(s) and the sculpture, then cordon off the new section with clay. Here we see all four sections:
Near the end, I ran out of my silicone supply. Fortunately the art supply show down the street carries the same products, but I had to settle for a different variety that has a longer cure time. Otherwise, it behaves the same way, just a different color. At this point I was starting to feel uncertain about my efforts, especially the mold lines (whether they'd be too obscuring of the sculpture's texture) and whether I'd be able to alleviate the likely air pockets in the resin.
As Dr. Teeth would tell us, "There's nothin' to it but to do it!", I went ahead and did a partial resin pour test to see how the resin would behave. I only poured a partial to save on resin waste, but also because it was the upper part of the sculpture that I was most concerned about....
I can't express how surprised I was to not see a single air bubble, that really lifted my spirits! I had been preparing myself for a much different outcome, yet now it looks like I might not even need any vents! This is even better news because the vents would partially obscure some texture. However, I'm going to re-do the mold. The mold lines themselves are rather crude, and I learned quite a bit in the first process to have a better idea how to do a better job the second time around. Though it will be more costly than I'd like to admit, I think it'll be worth it in the long run. Less clean-up, and a better quality casting in general. I just ordered two more gallons of the goop, and look forward to another shot at it. As I said earlier, silicone loves to stick to silicone, so old molds can be recycled. I'll simply dice up the old sections and drop them in the silicone before it cures. I may need only half the amount of fresh stuff this time around, and that will cut down my costs.
In other news, I just experienced a very flattering thing. We've all heard of songs being covered by other artists, but rarely paintings. I got an email last week from Chad York of Vancouver, he's a musician and artist as well (myspace.com/4necroholocaust). Chad is a big fan of my 'Cthulhu Statue' painting, so much so that he made one for himself... but in airbrush and a heck of a lot bigger (it appears to be similar in size to newest "Red Cthulhu" painting on canvas). Seeing that he painted it from a tiny 72 dpi jpeg, he's truly skilled!
That's an honor I never expected.
~Paul
After creating the first section of the mold, I pretty much "rinsed and repeated" three more times, careful to not let the new silicone stick to previous sections. I'd rotate the existing section(s) and the sculpture, then cordon off the new section with clay. Here we see all four sections:
Near the end, I ran out of my silicone supply. Fortunately the art supply show down the street carries the same products, but I had to settle for a different variety that has a longer cure time. Otherwise, it behaves the same way, just a different color. At this point I was starting to feel uncertain about my efforts, especially the mold lines (whether they'd be too obscuring of the sculpture's texture) and whether I'd be able to alleviate the likely air pockets in the resin.
As Dr. Teeth would tell us, "There's nothin' to it but to do it!", I went ahead and did a partial resin pour test to see how the resin would behave. I only poured a partial to save on resin waste, but also because it was the upper part of the sculpture that I was most concerned about....
I can't express how surprised I was to not see a single air bubble, that really lifted my spirits! I had been preparing myself for a much different outcome, yet now it looks like I might not even need any vents! This is even better news because the vents would partially obscure some texture. However, I'm going to re-do the mold. The mold lines themselves are rather crude, and I learned quite a bit in the first process to have a better idea how to do a better job the second time around. Though it will be more costly than I'd like to admit, I think it'll be worth it in the long run. Less clean-up, and a better quality casting in general. I just ordered two more gallons of the goop, and look forward to another shot at it. As I said earlier, silicone loves to stick to silicone, so old molds can be recycled. I'll simply dice up the old sections and drop them in the silicone before it cures. I may need only half the amount of fresh stuff this time around, and that will cut down my costs.
In other news, I just experienced a very flattering thing. We've all heard of songs being covered by other artists, but rarely paintings. I got an email last week from Chad York of Vancouver, he's a musician and artist as well (myspace.com/4necroholocaust). Chad is a big fan of my 'Cthulhu Statue' painting, so much so that he made one for himself... but in airbrush and a heck of a lot bigger (it appears to be similar in size to newest "Red Cthulhu" painting on canvas). Seeing that he painted it from a tiny 72 dpi jpeg, he's truly skilled!
That's an honor I never expected.
~Paul
That pic indeed looks impressive, Kudos to the airbrush artist
Your casting did come out looking top notch and it's good to know you haven't given up on the project. It will be interesting to see what else you come up with for its future castings.
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Hey, Duffy!
I must admit, this blog (and especially the people who visit and comment) is what drove me to forge on and try to make it work. I didn't want to disappoint those who had invested so much time in watching the project develop. If I were working on this in a vacuum, I very well may have just let it collect dust and fade off to a back burner until I forgot about it. Thanks to everyone!
~Paul
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That statue looks amazing. It really came out beautifully, I am interested to see what it looks like with the new mould.
Paul, have you ever thought about picking up an airbrush? I admit that I have the 'Mall T-Shirt" stereotype imbedded in my brain...but that image that Chad did is really nice. How about doing a mimic of his interpretation in another medium...collage might be fun and different!
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In regards to airbrushing, I don't think I finished my thoughts on it. Interruptions and lost trains of thought are some of the penalties when working the phones at a tech support job
I wanted to say Chad's technique looks really good. I am kinda squeemish about that medium myself, after seeing so much of it in the mall. Recently, I have seen a few great examples of how powerful airbrushing can be, through Chad's art as well as some members of The Waaagh and other mini sites. I have a newfound respect for it! Have you tried it at all?
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Hi Des!
Airbrush has that reputation, doesn't it. I've dreampt of airbrushing a license plate with a sunset and palm trees with my girlfriend's and my name in cursive. How's that sound?
On the other hand, we've got people like H.R. Giger and Sorayama that really know what to do with an airbrush:
giger pic
Sorayama
And, then we have this hack!
Yep, I've used a bit of airbrush in the past, the above one is about half brush and half airbrush. I like that is has the ability to make soft gradients that are otherwise quite tedious to do by hand. However, I find the airbrush to be tedious in nearly every other way. There's a good deal of prep and clean-up involved, and they really need to be maintained properly or there can be some unfortunate accidents. A loud compressor and a bulky respirator (which is really necessary) can make it a bit of a drag. So, these days, I'll only use it if I really have to.
~Paul
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Wow, seeing how much time, effort and skill goes into making a mould makes me give those guys at GW mmore credit. Even when I spend 4 hours trying to get the two halves of a Killa Kan to fit together.
That airbrush duplicate seems pretty cool- it's interesting how the shading is subtly different. He seems to have more definite deliniation between tones, whereas you have the more subtle gradients. I'm rather inexperienced in these matters, is that more down to the fact he's working in a different medium or just artistic interpretation?
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Heya James,
I think GW (Citadel) does something called spin casting. Here's a bit of info. The mold-making would be two parts, but we'd probably see a number of models set up for each piece. Then the mold is spun while the molten metal is poured, centrifugal force helps the metal fill the mold. With professional-type resin casting, like Forgeworld, they're probably going to use a vacuum to suck all the air out of the mold in order to avoid air pockets. Granted, both companies have a lot more experience and can probably do it quicker and with more efficiency. But, they don't have a fancy blog.
I'm not entirely certain what Chad's approach was, though I can assume that the different medium and size combined with limited quality reference was the biggest factor. Some of the textures seem to be omitted, and they are the ones that might be harder to reproduce with the airbrush. To capture them, he'd probably need to go outside the airbrush and bring in a few techniques. Giger, for example, would use a toothbrush to spatter the rough textures. It does appear that Chad made some personal stylistic choices, like how he breaks some of the light and shadow into patterns. It's still quite impressive, no matter what.
~Paul
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