Monday 24 October 2016

46th ENTRY - Something intentional





A photo posted by Joseph Feltus (@josephfeltus) on

A photo posted by Joseph Feltus (@josephfeltus) on

A photo posted by Joseph Feltus (@josephfeltus) on

A photo posted by Joseph Feltus (@josephfeltus) on
A photo posted by Joseph Feltus (@josephfeltus) on

Friday 29 July 2016

45th Entry - A Costume Mannequin

With the completion of each new mould, a costume mannequin is produced.  This is the first posable version of Rousseau, and though it is unpainted and hairless, and with blank beads for eyes, it is a step closer towards life.













The cast was made with the original black steel balls fitted to the mould.
These were removed gently, and replaced with white plastic threaded balls.
The eyelids had no bleed over the ball - a perfect cast.

Costume Mannequin. Wire armature with makeshift ball joints
in shoulders. Urethane legs with removable feet. Tinted PlatSil Gel 25 skin


Threaded steel ball, rod and cone (for body piercing)
positioned before pouring the silicone matrix.

First cast from the finished mould. A resin master.
The black steel eyeballs fitted to the mould, behind.

Front of the finished matrix mould,
with a view of the window in the shell for
accessing the cone and rods to unscrew the eyes
before demoulding.
Mould shell: urethane. Mould matrix: platinum silicone.

Monday 22 February 2016

43rd Entry - Final Mould Test

After avoiding the idea of casting silicone from a silicone mould for so many months, all evidence pointed back towards it as the final solution.  In the end it came down to comfort, partly.  I feel relatively comfortable working with silicone, in the comfort of my studio, instead of the highly toxic and extremely fast setting (low work time) urethane, for which the cold darkroom was reconverted as a mould-making workshop.  Silicone makes me happier, and it makes my cat happier, who sleeps in the main part of the room where I would be forced to work the fuming urethane.
The outer rigid part of the mould remains urethane, but the silicone allows for a slow, warm, non-toxic pour. And the newly discovered Platsil Gel 25 offers the options of slowing down work time, and hardening the cured rubber up to shore A 40, which is excellent.  Furthermore, it is much lower in viscosity.

A partial sculpture created for this mould test




yellowed by shellac to seal the clay

The sculpture was held together merely with a soft sticky wax.  When the mould was opened the head stayed with the eye pins, and the body chose the back part of the mould.  Both parts were removed and the clay was cleaned out, meaning that the figure changed position slightly for the next stage.

Shellac was only used in the third part after frustration with the acrylic spray which seemed to never dry.  Everything seemed to take longer to dry than the clay itself.

bleeders and pour spout.

Joseph Feltus' eye mechanism.

Plastic Gel 25 with 50% deadener cast over wire and supersculpey armature.  No overflow, nearly invisible seams on the head, where the mould was most carefully worked for this test.

Nearly invisible seams

Materials used.  Mould was released with hand soap diluted with alcohol before casting.