Winged dragon

[Landseer]

I finally got around to doing the mold of this whole panel today, it's used one gallon of silicone and while that's probably enough I'm going to pile on some more to be real sure as well as make it heavier thickness.
I used the QM140 but this time ordered the regular cat and the thixotropic cat along with 2 gallons of base.
With the regular cat I wanted to have it stay liquid so I could get it into all those DEEP egg-dart moulding crevases and details and fill them completely solid, then go over the whole thing with that, and then go over it with the thixotrophic. That way I can get the stuff into all those details with hopefully a minimum of airbubbles, unfortunately this sculpture has a LOT of texture, incised lines, deep undercuts- 1/2" or more, so this is going to be a pain in the behind and I know there's going to be air bubbles.

Have one more application to put on now and since it's late, Sunday I won't get to the plaster shell till next Saturday which is fine since the silicone increases in strength over 2-3 days and with all the deep undercuts the extra strength would be good.
Not sure if I'll get to do anything on the owl panel tonight but I did find some good owl photos that should help.

[Scout]

Damn, you work neatly. How do you do that? Especially with that goopy stuff. I'd love to see you remove that. Is it difficult? Would you take a picture of the mold after you take it off? Scout

[Landseer]

Originally Posted by Scout

Damn, you work neatly. How do you do that? Especially with that goopy stuff. I'd love to see you remove that. Is it difficult? Would you take a picture of the mold after you take it off? Scout

It comes with practice as well as using materials that are MADE for this purpose! i.e silicone window caulk is not the right stuff, the purple QM140 IS
Yeah I'll take some pics, won't be done till next weekend, the silicone just peels right off like saran wrap.

[Landseer]

Ok, phew! done with this one, so let's just say I'm glad to have the model AND the table it was on for weeks OUT of my little modelling room once and for all!!

Here's the inside of the rubber mold



And the first hydrocal cast, wet out of the mold it weighed 94# and took 17 quarts of water and 60# of hydrocal, roughly half of the water will evaporate and the other half is chemically combined, so it should wind up about 75# when dry.
I'm not sure how practical it will be to ship if someone buys one, it can't be made less deep or hollowed out- it's just big and big is heavy. I was thinking after seeing the photo of it on the floor drying that I posted, that one interesting way to display something like this instead of on the wall would be on an easel tilted back and set in the corner of the room, hmm that has some interesting possibilities that eliminates clients' having to drill and attach huge mouting points on the wall.

[Scout]

Landseer, that is awesome. How will you patina it? Can it go outside? I'd like to slip cast mine, then fire it. I'll bet it would be lighter that way. I have made some reliefs like yours (not that big) and fired the original. Not too many made it out of the kiln in one piece. In the beginning I fired one along with 54 tiles that I had hand painted. The piece blew up sending pieces all over my tiles. Hence I had particles stuck in the glaze of my tiles. GRRRRRR! I think I'm going to make the next ones in sections like some of yours are. That would be easier to handle and I can fit a bigger one in the kiln. I like to high fire so they will be OK in the weather. I like to include them in the pond fountains that I make.

Show that newly cast one with it's patina on it, I'd like to see what else you have in mind for it. I assume you are planning more.

Scout

[Landseer]

Thanks Scout,
This could be stained or on this particular cast- #1 which I'll keep for myself I plan to give it my red terra cotta finish. This is interior only though it could be made in concrete- concrete is about 50% heavier and this would wind up being about 125#
It's now 90# so it's lost 4# of water overnight with the fan on it part of the time, but it'll be a while before I can apply the finish on it.

Slip casting would be lighter but something this long would have to be pretty thick walled, with all the deep undercuts on this it can't be slip cast as is and would require plaster piece mold anyway.
I plan to make another mold, of the 3 main pieces assembled without the egg & dart border so it can be obtained in 3 different configurations.

I never had a piece blow up in the kiln, but then I've used slip or clay that had a lot of grog, I'd guess your blowup issue might be the clay itself- needs more grog, or the kiln's temperature is going up too fast, or the piece wasn't bone dead dry inside when it was put in the kiln.
That sucks losing 50 tiles to a blowup- aggrivating, but we've all been there in one form or another...
I can rememver having a board on top of the dog's wire crate years ago, and the board had on top a large number of slip cast standing dogs made in commercial molds, they were drying out. I forget what happened exactly but the dog bumped his head up going in or out of the crate maybe at feeding time, and the bump up was enough to bounce that board about an inch or less and that's all it took...

... to break the legs off every one of the casts on the board- must have been about 50 of them- total loss.


Here's a couple of my patina finishes- Old Limestone Grey on the left, and Old Dirty Bronze on the right- that takes 6 steps to do, so it's more time consuming but it's effective and I get a lot of complements, but it doesn't show up will in photos since many of the reddish tones are subtle and get overpowered by the darker areas and any flash used, or if the light isn't right.

[Scout]

Landseer, The gray looks like carved wood. I like the bronze one better. I use a finish on bisque fired things called Sophisticated Finishes. They have Bronze or copper or brass. They also have a wash to make it appear greenish. It is weather proof outside on bisque fired things. It might not hold up on something like gypsum for outside but it would be a one or two step procedure. It's very durable. It might work on Plaster. I don't know. Kind of expensive. It contains the real metal, suspended in some kind of acrylic base.

Yes all my pieces were porcelain. No grog at all. This time I'm using terracotta or stoneware. When I order clay again I'm order terracotta that matures at 05 or 06. All my other pieces came through bisque firing OK. It was after I glazed them and high fired them that they blew. And when I say blew I mean they cracked across in a few places. The ones that ruined my tiles were pottery and they really did blow!

Did you have to shoot 51 dogs? Scout

[Landseer]

Originally Posted by Scout

Landseer, The gray looks like carved wood. I like the bronze one better.

Yeah like driftwood I guess, I like the broze but like to steer clients to the grey as it's effective, more durable in handling and so much easier!

I use a finish on bisque fired things called Sophisticated Finishes. It might not hold up on something like gypsum for outside but it would be a one or two step procedure. It's very durable. It might work on Plaster. I don't know. Kind of expensive. It contains the real metal, suspended in some kind of acrylic base.

These can't go outside except in a porch area like these two samples were, there isn't a finish or paint that will last indefinitely outside, they will all eventually fail.
I want to try that rusted iron finish I've seen, it uses real steel powder, I think it's on Ron Young's patina page.

Yes all my pieces were porcelain. No grog at all. This time I'm using terracotta or stoneware. When I order clay again I'm order terracotta that matures at 05 or 06.

Ahhh there ya go, the porcellain has to be pretty thin I gather. If you do bigger stuff you might like that Three Finger Jack I bought, I like it, a bit sandy in texture.

[Scout]

So that's Three Finger Jack clay you are using? I'm wondering how to fill a frame like yours if I'm going to eventually fire it. I can't just slap it in there. Do you think I should have it wetter. I guess I could slab it and cut it to size and build the frame around it. I have been having a problem with how to handle the edges and also keep it level. Your frame idea will help with both of those problems if I can fill the frame without any air bubbles.

I finished one last night. It was just an idea I've had in my head for a few years and only just decided to try. I have a habit of plunging in with out model or references to go by. After seeing it finished, I decided to take pictures of us for reference. Problem was when I tried to pose us that way our bodies just don't bend that way anymore. I did work out a lot of problems by doing this one from memory. This one was oval (sort of)!

I really like your easel idea. I'll bet it makes it a lot easier to work and see your perspective.

One more question...is your topography ever raised above the rim of your frame? Can you flip it over with another board on top to get to the bottom without touching your design? After it's leather hard I mean.

Your movie was cool. The piece is bigger than I thought. Putting yourself in there is a good reference. Show us a clip of you pouring a mold. Scout

[Landseer]

Yeah that's the stuff, it's nice clay. My frame was coated with lacquer on the inside to keep the damp clay from warping it, and the backer which is smooth plywood was also sprayed but I laid out a layer of thin packing foam to prevent sticking. The frame method give good straight sides and a way to "strike off" the top surface nice and flat and smooth.

The clay as packed is pretty soft and moist as it is.
You need to use care packing the clay in, small amounts, press them in, on something this big the back would need to be hollowed out like a concrete block anyway, so the main area of concern would be the edges and face.

If they could do this in 1890 and be successful with massive sized pieces, so can you. So try something plain and small- a foot square, 3" deep say for a test. Press ther clay in the form, remove the form and see how you did, hollow the back out and see too.

I have a habit of plunging in with out model or references to go by. After seeing it finished, I decided to take pictures of us for reference. Problem was when I tried to pose us that way our bodies just don't bend that way anymore. I did work out a lot of problems by doing this one from memory.

Yeah you really should have something to go by, memory is not perfect.

I really like your easel idea. I'll bet it makes it a lot easier to work and see your perspective.

It sure does, only improvement might be to make it adjustable in tilt angle. It's by no means my idea however, I got the concept from 100 year old photos of sculptors in studios making the very same architectural pieces I am, most of them massive- 8-10 feet tall, as wide and more, and several inches deep like this clay panel, sorry about the flash just easier to do a quick photo than firing up the scanner

One more question...is your topography ever raised above the rim of your frame? Can you flip it over with another board on top to get to the bottom without touching your design? After it's leather hard I mean.

ALL the details are raised above the frame, the frame was only to get the shape of the backing block/slab and all the clay packed into it was leveled down and smoothed, then lightly tooth tool textured, then all of the details were added on TOP of that surface.
It cannot be flipped over- by the time it's leather hard it's too late to hollow the back out real well, and as thick as it is it would take forever to dry inside and likely crack before.
what happens is, as the 3 slabs firm up as they are doing right now, I will separate them a few inches and smooth their sides along the two cut lines, it won't be long then to where I can slide them off one by one onto individual small boards, and then set them on one side to hollow the backs out.

Your movie was cool. The piece is bigger than I thought. Putting yourself in there is a good reference. Show us a clip of you pouring a mold. Scout

Glad you liked the clip, I'll do more. The sculpture IS large, 3 feet long, remember- this took 150 pounds of clay!

This will be 3 molds, one for each section like the original was, easier handling etc and clients can purchase the center owl alone or with the side pieces, so that makes it more versatile and i'll do the mold of the Owl center piece first.

[Landseer]

Ok here are two photos of two finishes on the first cast, I now have it hanging on the wall but for the photos I took it outside where the light was more natural.

The first picture is of the original terra cotta panel, followed by my modelled copy;