Waste Mold

I have documented the process of making the waste mold for my sculpture of a smiling head. If you scroll down to the bottom of the post you can see the step by step of the mold making process.

After I cleared away the clay sculpture and armature I put the pieces back together and used segments of bike tires to tie the pieces into place at their supports. After letting the mold dry and letting my swollen finger rest, I turned the mold over with some help because it was very heavy.

After the burlap and wood supports were added I began to remove the individual mold pieces from the clay sculpture. The suction of the clay and the complicated detail of the hair made this process very difficult. After releasing the first piece I chose to collapse the armature inside the clay sculpture and remove the clay around it to make the remaining sections of the mold easier to release.

At this point the mold is half made. The first 3 photos showed the seem lines being created with aluminum shims, the first splatter coat, and the slip layer. I still need to add a layer of burlap and then some wood supports. At this point I had to stop working because my left hand ring finger started to become sore (I have "trigger finger," a sort of inflammation of the flexor sheath at the base of my ring finger causing it to stiffen and lock up).

Then I added some brush strokes of slip which will help me later when I need o remove the layer of burlap that I will be adding next.

Next I added the first layer of plaster over the whole thing. I used molding plaster which is much softer and easier to break away later then the plaster I will use for casting the piece.

I began to make the waste mold by deciding where the seam lines would be and building in shim walls. This was difficult because I had to imagine decide how large I could make a piece before it wrapped around too much of the sculpture and would then not be able to be removed. I managed to break it down into six pieces.