Shrink a sculpture, make a reverse

[Factoid]

Does anyone know a good way to take a large sculpture and reduce it in scale?

The only way I know to do this is with a repeated casting/molding process using a material that shrinks after casting. It would probably take a LOT of casting and re-molding to bring a 20" sculpture down to 6 inches.

Anyone know of a material that has considerable shrinkage and still retains a decent amount of surface detail?


I'm also just curious if anyone knows of a way to make a mirror image transfer of a 3D object. I have two angel wing carvings (left and right) that are essential identical except of course that they are hand carved and not quite perfect.

Is there a way that I can flip the left wing and turn it into a right wing?

The obvious answer for both questions is to laser-scan the objects into a CAD program and do it in the computer, but this is a home project and I don't have that kind of cash.

If all else fails Plan Z is to just hand-carve a replica at 1/4th scale out of clay or sculpy or something and make a new mold of that when I'm done.

[GlennT]

If all else fails Plan Z is to just hand-carve a replica at 1/4th scale out of clay or sculpy or something and make a new mold of that when I'm done.

Your plan Z would be my plan A. After all, I am a sculptor.


Regarding left/right wings, on my recently posted series of 4 bronze angels, I only sculpted one wing, but detailed both sides with feathers. I sculpted it flat in clay. Then I made a plaster mold, and poured 8 waxes. These I could then bend with heat to form 4 left wings and 4 right wings.
Of course, right wings are always better.

[Andrew Werby]

There's a sculptor/lifecaster named Mark Prent who sells some stuff called "reducit" and "expandit" which might be of interest. I tried the former one - it was a lot like alginate, which was put in a slow oven to dehydrate and shrink. It worked okay but not great. But there's now a Reducit II which is supposed to work better. Check it out at http://www.pinkhouse.com/

Of course, I'm in the scan-it camp; there's a lot less uncertainty in the process, and more control. By the time you buy all these materials and make all these molds, I'm not sure you're saving much money over sending it out for scanning and reproduction, especially if you count your time as being worth anything. And I don't know of anything (short of computer processing) that's going to take a left wing and automatically convert it into a right wing - I shudder at the very thought...

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com

[marblecutter]

"Of course, right wings are always better."

[The Forge]

Since we do not have any ' in the flesh angels', what makes you believe that their wings are symmetrical? ;)

[marblecutter]

"Of course, right wings are always better."

Bending a Right Wing to make a left?

[Mold Man Mike]

http://www.sculpture.net/community/showthread.php?t=9232