Today, I worked in the 3D classroom creating an alginate mould of my hand, balloon mould, a plaster face mould, one and two part latex moulds. Learning all of the techniques that come with moulding and creating well crafter outcomes.
The first form of moulding I learnt about was a one-part latex mould, this particular type of mould involved me moulding what I want to make out of terracotta clay such as what I chose that was a flower then pouring thick plaster over the top of it so it covers the entire area, then once it's all completely covered you lay a piece of cardboard on top ready for when I flipped it over. Once the plaster had fully dried I then removed all of the clay from the inside of the plaster until it was fully clear of all clay and clay residue. When all of the clay had been removed I laid the first coat of latex that is the colour layer that adds colour to what I am creating, followed by multiple layers of latex that I applied one by one and dried in between layers using a heat gun. When i reached about five layers I removed the latex from the plaster mould and was left with my one part latex mould of a flower. I think that this was successful because I achieved all of the texture and detail within the flower as well as making sure the colours in the latex were really vibrant also, the latex did not rip at all when I removed it from the mould making it a very strong moulding. If I was to do this process of moulding again I would either stick with the naturalness of nature and created a leaf or even a bark like texture or I would make a reptile like animal and focus on the scaly texture of it's skin.
The second form of moulding I learnt about was a two part latex mould where I began by imbedding a banana in terracotta clay up to half way so that only half of the banana is going to be casted within the plaster. After casting one half of the banana I removed the clay that I used to imbed the banana and added a small bit at the top of the plaster where the banana is still visible I then poured plaster into the top half of the banana to mould the other half of the banana. Once I had the two half moulds of the banana I then added the colour latex layer like I did in the one part mould above, I tried to add as much of the colour and texture as I could to achieve a realistic outer skin to the banana.
After I had applied the colour layer to both of the halves of the banana I poured thin layers of latex into each half drying in between layers with a heat gun until I had a thicker outside with latex. Also, after I had applied the layer of latex I mixed latex with a latex thickener and poured it into one half of the mould before using masking tape to seal it shut and moving it around to spread the latex evenly and seal the two halves together. If I was to do this type of moulding again I would choose a fruit or vegetable that is rounded such as an orange to experiment with making a two part mould of something that has a very different shape to the banana I have already moulded. I think that this was very successful because, I achieved a realistic yet even colour across the whole of the banana and conjoined the two halves together securely. Also I made sure that I poured enough layers of latex in so that it was thick and strong so that it wouldn't easily break.
Another mould/moulding technique that I learnt and had used was a balloon plaster mould where I poured plaster into a balloon that I had already stretched by blowing it up repeatedly and moved around the plaster by squeezing it until it began to feel stiff as though it was starting to set. Once it reached the feeling of beginning to set I chose my final position and squeezed the balloon with both hands to reveal the outcome shown below that I interpret as appearing to look like 'Scream'. If I was to do this method again I would blow up the balloon over and over until it's stretched a lot bigger so that I could make a bigger mould from the balloon and hopefully achieve more details from squeezing it. I think that this mould was successful because I achieved a really interesting outcome through using a process I have never heard of, I really like how it created an almost deformed face and how whatever your de-mould ends up looking like it can be interpreted in many ways.
We next learnt about face moulding where we took casts of our faces, I did not cast my face but I did cast someone else's. When face casting I firstly had to apply vaseline all over the face including the eyebrows followed by placing clingfilm on top of the eyes to restrict the plaster from sticking to the face or getting into the eyes. Once all precautions have been taken I began to apply the strips of plaster where I would dunk it into the bowl of water and smooth out the plaster strips from top to bottom, then placing it starting at the forehead and smoothing it flat to the face. I then worked my way down the face before adding extra layers with the plaster strips to thicken and solidify the casting, once it was all dry we can remove the mask from the face. I think this was very successful as no area of the face got stuck making it difficult to remove and I ensure every aspect of the face was covered and smoothed over so that it all remained the same level of thickness ready for when it was removed. Also, the casting itself came up extremely well making sure all features were removed perfectly and easily identified. If I was to do this again I would see if there was another way to cast my face as I wasn't sure if I would have an allergic reaction to the plaster due to me having sensitive skin but, if I was to plaster someone else I would definitely approach it in the same way and just ensure that all precautions have been met.
The final type of moulding that I learnt about was alginate moulding where I poured alginate into a plastic tube that I hot glued to a wood off-cut (recycled) and then placed my hand into the alginate in my chosen position. I chose to keep my fingers as flat as possible against my hand almost as though I was making a fist with my thumb still sticking up, the only problem I encountered was when removing my hand as the alginate seeped into the palm of my hand making it a lot harder to remove. If I was to do this again I would have to make sure that no air gets into the position I place my hand as it would be a lot harder to remove however, although I encountered this difficulty I just pressed down on the top of the alginate and slowly wiggled my hand until it was released. Personally, I think that this was successful because despite the struggle to remove my hand I still had a very clean demould and was left with a very detailed hand texture to my plaster hand and the shape matched my hand perfectly.
The final part of the week was to transform the sculpt of our face into something else whether it's ageing ourselves, becoming a mythical creature or in my case zombifying a face. My first attempt as shown in the first face ended up cracking and falling apart meaning I had to completely re-sculpt and redesign the face completely leaving me with the end result of the second and third photos. I sculpted this piece using the WED clay and began first of all by creating very sunken eye sockets with cuts, scars and flesh deterioration marks all around the face to represent a sense of decay. I also, added wrinkles and bulging areas all around the face to emphasise a very dead, zombified look. If I was to recreate this piece I would build the base up a lot thicker so that it doesn't crack or fall apart as much and is a lot more durable, I would try to sculpt a completely different look of zombie maybe with the jaw hanging off or half ripped off to really bring the gruesome element. I think that it was both a blessing and a curse having to redo the entire sculpt last minute as I feel as though the second sculpt is a lot more detailed and realistic as well as durable as it's stronger making it less likely to crack like the first sculpt. But, the fact that the first sculpt cracked and crumbled allowed me to develop a completely new sculpt that was improved upon greatly allowing my sculpt to grow and become a completely knew better standard. Other than the problem I encountered when the first sculpt cracked I didn't experience any other problems and dealt with that specific problem easily just by having to re-sculpt.
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