Disaster overcome. Hurrah!

Well that was a learning experience. Finally I managed to complete my mould and now I'm feeling good again. The plaster from Tiranti's was perfect and is stronger than i imagined. It did exaclty what it said on the tub.

The two halves with the liberated Diable in the middle

The Back

The Front

Now for the big clean-up operation there are just a couple of air bubble defects which look manageable. This is getting exciting again, there is nothing like overcoming a disaster to boost your moralle. I'm going to take my time over the next few steps just so as I don't make any stupid mistakes. It is so easy to get carried away when things are going well.

Disaster With My Mould

Well I'm just going to have to put this down to trial and error and most definately this was an error. My plaster should have cured after 24 hours and to me it seemed to have done so, I was wrong. When prizing apart the two halves the mould crumbled and all the layers of plaster soaked skrim had not adhered to the initial detail plaster layer. I guess my plaster was very old or something, I not too sure what went wrong. Thankfully I managed to retrieve my sculpt out of its crumbling messy tomb with just a couple of dents that are easy to fix. This set back is a bit disheartening but now i'm going to source a better plaster and start again.

Finished Diable Body Sculpt and Start of Mould

Its been a very busy and exciting weekend, having finished the body sculpt I have begun the mould making process. Here are some photos of the finished sculpt.

Here I used Lighter fluid to smooth the modeling clay, it worked a treat

The Mould Begins

I have used standard pottery clay to hold him in position while make the 1st part of the mould.

Gee what a mess. I hope Ron Cole will avert his eyes from the next picture. I have used Skrim with plaster to strengthen the mould

After going around the edge with a sharp knife I cut the excess plaster off.

Ok Ron you can look again. I made a wall with the pottery clay a step for getting my fingers between the two halves. Having applied vaseline to the exposed plaster I am ready for the next half.

This has been a great and messy weekend and I have learnt a lot. I am really looking forward to when the plaster if fully cured, which should be on Monday night, so I can begin casting.