My objectives were quite simple: do as much as possible, but the main priority being to cast foam versions of the figures, to be costume mannequins for Liz to work from.
There seem to be two main suppliers for special effects products (Bentleys with Smooth-On products, and MouldLife, supplying Polytek), with very small reasons to choose one over the other. It was suggested to me, for my needs, to go for Mouldlife, who were quite wonderfully helpful over the phone, and impressively efficient at sending the order to arrive in Lauder before I did.
Donald picked me up from Berwick Upon Tweed, a now relaxed and retired professor, and after settling in we commenced with some tests.
I had prepared a mockup test version of the grandmother, made from wax pushed into the fiberglass mould, a mould I had half made in Italy, and half, months later, in Surrey.
Below are images from the test run.
I wanted a silicone mould as a backup and also to be able to recast the figures in wax, from which I could demould the original sculpture without damaging it, to then make a new mould in hard resin.
pins were stuck in the eyes to help keep the beads in place later during casting. A first layer of PlatSil© Gel 10 was applied with a soft brush.
perhaps one or two more thin layers were applied, before a thickened version.
Then a wall of oil based sulphur free Chavant clay was created half way around the figure. I had applied silicone keys (here seemingly deep sea monster nipples) in the last layer of silicone, so that the rubber mould would pop into place in the hard shell.
EasyFlow 120 was used to make the shell. This is a two part resin mixed in 100 to 90 ratio, and which can be bulked with Alithihydrate, and thickened with Polyfibre. It is transparent during working time, which is good as this allows you to see any bubbles, and it cures to white.
I was happy enough with this test at this point, so didn't bother with the other half of the shell.
the silicone skin came off of the sculpture perfectly, though the pins which were embedded into the ribber sliced through the eyelids of the wax original. We avoided this problem in the following moulds by removing the pins before demoulding.
The silicone mould was successful, and an important test.
A poured resin test of the mould. Detail seemed perfect.
A new wall was built in clay for a two part resin mould.
Again, eye pins were inserted, and a thin layer of resin was brushed on.
More layers were then applied, and after the first side was done, the back side was made.
I embedded pieces of hex keys into the back of the mould that fit into the shoulder joints and suspend the armature.
I used the old fiberglass mould of the grandmother to test the polyurethane foam which I intended to use for the costume mannequins. The foam is the S5 High Density Soft Foam. It is very tricky to use, as it goes off in seconds, but after a few tries you get the results you want. Here I pushed some clay into the face in case the foam decided to not let go of the detail in the mould. I'd had some unpleasant experiences with hard polyurethane foam when making the puppets for Solo Duets. This soft one is much kinder, but still a little scary.
My first silicone skin. A test made in the grandmother mould.
The test results. A resin head made to test the silicone mould. A silicone skin, and a silicone skin filled with S5 foam. This made a very nice head to punch hair into, but as the foam is so unpredictable to use, I don't imagine I'll take that rout.
And two legs. The one on the left was made with a silicone skin, filled with S3 Low Density Soft Foam. I wanted to try this as a substitute for Foam Latex (which I lack the facilities for), as a light weight soft bulk for the puppets. However, being such a high expansion foam, filled with so much air, its bubbles affected the silicone with a strange older than old lady texture, and the foam didn't seem to bounce back to its original shape as much as it needed to.
The leg on the right was made with solid PlatSil© Gel 10 silicone encompassing the armature. Amazingly it is soft enough that it does not resist the tension of the armature. Hence I believe I will get away with just building a light weight hard bulk skeleton onto the armature, under silicone skin which will be solid in the joints.
Donald and I spent the week on these tests, and on Friday morning we traveled into Edinburgh, where I participated in a crit with 2nd year students at ECA, and spent the weekend with Atzi, my composer friend, and my brother Tobias and Sophie.
Tobias and Sophie hosted a brilliant animators evening at Moat House, with Atzi, Ainslie Henderson, Will Anderson, Catriona Bruce, and Vitali Sichinava.
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listening to Atzi read out loud a Hans Christian Andersen tale.
Atzi and Vitali, a week later during Tobias' Roman birthday dinner.
During the weekend Tobias and I did some tests for eyeballs. I am unhappy with the shape of the beads I am using (which were pretty much the only round 4mm beads I have been able to find). They dip inwards around the hole, the opposite of what they should do to mimic an eye. This was so problematic during sculpture that I ended up turning Isolde's eyes so the hole was hidden within the head, which meant later needing to drill holes for the pins into the mould.
We tried sanding down the front of the bead flat, to the size of the iris, and then adding a drop of Araldyte as a lens, after painting the iris on the flat surface. It was a good experiment, but not satisfactory.
Tobias Feltus sanding irises into beads.
My dear friend and mentor, Professor Donald Holwill, in his kitchen in Lauder.
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