Masks and other Art

[Buster's Uncle]

[Buster's Uncle]

As a test case, I decided to try making a mold of this hoodoo Momma picked up out west a few years ago.  There was a project that ended up not happening where she and Mylochka wanted me to make copies.  If this picks up the details of them babies and I can get them out of the mold cast in plaster, silicone will have passed an acid test as a mold material...


I sprayed it with mold release to be extra cautious.

And I added a few drops of blue paint to the silicone for the heck of it, and because innerwebs people pointed out it let you know you'd mixed it thoroughly.  It seemed to have the effect of softening the calk -make up you own joke about me telling my maw I needed "the cawk" the other day- even more, which I'm not sure is firming up during kneading in the soapy water the way it's supposed to.

Anyway:

You may notice the ring of bluer around the top - it wanted to form another round-top cone, so to make a flat top in case it doesn't turn out to need a seam and a mother mold, I squirted a bit more silicone and went through all the kneading again to add a bit on top.

If this stuff will cure in as much as 48 hours, I'm still way ahead on patience-straining over latex.  Loose Blue Ponytail Barbie is currently at day eight of mold production...

[Buster's Uncle]

[Unorthodox]

As a test case, I decided to try making a mold of this hoodoo Momma picked up out west a few years ago.

Um...never heard that word to reference said item...

[Buster's Uncle]

I assume she got it at a tourist trap -I think it was in Utah, perhaps related to the hoodoo rock formations, which she did see- and haven't the foggiest what the label is about...

[Unorthodox]

hm.  Not related to the myths of either Ute or Paiute surrounding the general hoodoos around Utah. 

Perhaps a very specific formation. 

[Unorthodox]

Did some digging.

It's a storyteller doll from the pueblo people. 

[Buster's Uncle]

Now I'm out of something to do for a few days while latex dries...

[Buster's Uncle]

I'm running out of piano.

[Buster's Uncle]

So the silicone calk Mylochka brought home yesterday morning was Silicone II.  I'd asked for I, noticed right away, but didn't know what difference it made and proceeded - it turns out that, aside from the lack of an eye-watering vinegar stench, it takes a lot longer to set than people all over the nets claim for I with this technique.  -As in, nothing is set so far.  Used as intended, it's supposed to take 24 hours, and you'd think that the water and glycerin kneaded in would speed things up anyway.  We'll see.  Momma's shoe push mold is definitely not set yet this morning, but some Silicone I is supposed to arrive today and what's on hand should cure all the way through given enough time.

So, I decided to use up the calk tube already open and try a new wrinkle to compensate for the settling of soft calk as the mold cures...

The pitiful moai mold from before needed a backup anyway, and the figure is low detail and should demold comparatively easily.

So as before, except I mixed decidedly more acrylic paint in.

It definitely has a thinning effect on the silicone.  Blue got all over my hands again while kneading it in.  -If only I had some soapy water handy.

Then I turned it over into a small yogurt cup so the top would be flat and level and the sagging wouldn't mess that up like it clearly has with yesterday's effort.

There was plenty of calk to envelope the moai, but not enough to fill the cup, so I shored up the empty side with a couple of popsicle sticks.  Too early to tell, but the extra paint may be curing it faster...

[Buster's Uncle]

Anybody here old enough to remember Johnny West?

A male head at that scale is just the thing to practice on without using up much calk...



His neck is sort of a notched post that fits into the torso.


But I decided I wanted the back of the collar -I intend castings to end right under the chin and that makes for a broader base- so I set the head back in the torso and fixed it upright in a cup with some plasticine.


Squirted a small handful of the silicone I into the soapy water.

Lo and behold, after a few minutes of kneading, it started to get firmer!  Internets people seemed to have been being wimps about the vinegar smell.



I ended up deciding to add a very small amount -one squirt of the calk gun- to the top for that flatness thing, and to make the wick hole longer and less prone to leak.

15 minutes later, it was a lot firmer than the two molds from yesterday are even yet.  I think this is definitely gonna work.  I'm going to do a casting in plaster and make one candle as part of the testing - but not to sell, 'cause I ain't done anything original to it, so it's only craft, not art...

[Buster's Uncle]

Pain to get out of the mold, but then it would be at that size and shape.

[Buster's Uncle]

[rukaan]

See, we were alone in the house when some bad older boys were doing Halloween scaring stuff on that cartoon, so I carved the face in the apple, made a spider out of wire and chewed up toilet paper and showed her how to make a lame Halloween ghost out of a ballon and a blanket - just like the bad boys had used.  It worked so well that years later she asked me to make something new she was afraid of.  Her parents were quick to destroy the apple and the spider when they got home - one was dangerous pokey wire and the other still perfectly good food, so I won't kick about it.

[Buster's Uncle]

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