My First flat mold

So this was something I have been wanting to try for a while, and it did not go as perfectly as I would have liked. But what is it they say failure is just success training, you learn so much more through mistakes than if it was to go perfect. So i'll do a little step by step run down of the process.

So step one was the sculpt. I had no oil based clay and had no access to it so I ended up using some cheap air drying stuff from my local art supply place. This was my first mistake. While that stuff is soft and easy to sculpt with, the main problem is the fact that it is air drying, the edges would dry out and so I kept applying more and more vaseline. Second problem I had is something I'm still struggling with in my newer sculpts and that is, I sculpted the wound too shallow. So it ends up looking more like a cat scratch than a meaty laceration. And thirdly, I left way too much space between the sculpt and the overflow and the overflow and the walls. This led to a mold that was far too big for all the size of the appliance.

 

The second step was to add the plaster. Here is where the problems continued. I used plaster of paris, which was the only plaster I could get my hands on at the time. I should have just waited and got some Crystacal R and made the mould with it, because the plaster of paris is just too soft for this purpose, for reasons you will see later. On top of that I didn't use any clear acrylic lacquer. Usually you would spray a couple of coats of crystal clear over the sculpt prior to adding your plaster. This helps to de-mold the mold from the sculpt without too much clay remaining in the mold.

 

The next step is to de-mold the mold from the sculpt. This is where I found the plaster of paris to be lacking. Without applying much pressure, I chipped a piece of the middle of the mold off where it was still attached to the clay. 

 

So finally you clean up the mold and try it out. I had done a cast in gelatine (not the greatest homemade gelatine as I don't have sorbitol) and it turned out better than I expected but it was still far from what I wanted. The small chip really annoyed me, but when I apply it I might put sutures on it so they will cover the chip anyway. Thats IF I use it, I'll probably just sculpt and mold a new one.

 

And that's it, a cacophony of mistakes that I ended up learning from. I have made a couple more molds since this and Crystacal R is unbelievably better for making molds from. I've heard Herculite 2 is also excellent but the Crystacal R is easier for me to get. Also spraying the sculpt with an acrylic spray makes it a hell of lot easier to de-mold.

Phil