Everything Gone Green

This week has really seen a change in the seasons - it's spring!

I finally finished the sprout bench and made a base for it, too.

This functional sculpture is 45" long by 21" high by 18" deep, Indiana Limestone and weighs approximately 1,000 lbs.

Other news for this week is the completion of a 1/8 scale model for what I hope will be a new commission to be made in Indiana Limestone, 72" high by 37" wide by 27" deep. I am making a plaster cast of the plasticene model. Here, I have made a part-line shim in clear plastic and have sprayed everything with mold release.

I placed the model into a bucket. The part-line shim was custom cut for this particular plastic bucket. Then, I mixed molding plaster and poured it over the model.

The next morning, I removed the plaster mold from the bucket. I carefully separated the mold and removed the clay model.

I took the two halves outside and sprayed them with paint, which I hoped would help work as a release agent when it came time to pour in the plaster for the model. I also used the spray mold release, however, next time I might try a spray graphite. It didn't want to release very easily, and fought me every inch of the way.

I was worried about the plaster mold leaking when I tried to pour for the model. I used a ratchet strap to tighten it together and put it into a large container to catch any leaking plaster. Actually, I decided to make the model in Ultracal, which is a lot harder than molding plaster. It is also a different color; dark grey against the bright white of molding plaster. I'm very happy that I had the Ultracal, as I'm sure that it wouldn't have worked with just molding plaster.

After letting it harden overnight, I chiseled off the outer mold of plaster.

This is the Ultracal model. It has a few air bubble holes, but that won't affect its use as a working model.

Additional news at the studio - someone left these children on a bench near our outer gate. There is also a dragonfly ornament near their feet.

They also left these concrete mushrooms. A random act of kindness - How Cool!