Final Cast

Casting

Silicone

Fibreglassing

First I added a layer of gel coat until it was completely dry(took around 40 mins -1hr 30). This is gel coat with 2% catalyst. Then another gel coat with fibreglass sprinkles in it so that the fiberglass matting will cling better. I waited until it was sticky but the gel didn't come off on my glove (took about 30mins, but can take longer on a cold day). Then I painted resin with 2% catalyst onto fibreglass matting onto my piece using a paint brush to dab into the small spaces.

 

 
 Once both sides are dry, there's a loooooong process of getting the clay off the fibre glass mold. But it is very satisfying when it is clean.

 

Then so that the two sides of the mold will fit together, i sanded then edges and drilled holes through both sides so that i can but a nut and bolt through later to keep it together.

Molding

Silicone mold supported by a fibreglass jacket.
I made this jig below, so that I could roll out slabs of clay in the same thickness. Then I added them on top of the cling film and smoothed it all together. But I didn't want to push too hard, so that I didn't ruin the sculpt below.

Here I have added keys and along the split line, on the sides and around the bottom edge so that the silicone will fit nicely into the fiberglass mold and the detail will line up properly.









Paint the edge with blue PVA, so that the fibreglass won't stick to the wooden board

I have added a clay funnel that will later be used as a pouring hole for the silicone.







Then I added vac formed plastic to create a shim. There were a lot of gaps so I simply filled them in with sellotape

                                

Preparing the sculpt to Mold

I made a wooden back for the head to lie against and for the flange to be made on. Then I covered it in cling film.



 

I had never made a mold before this, So I have taken lots of photos so that I can use it next time. I am making a matrix mold.

Final Sculpt before molding and casting

I have taken a photo of the sculpt before I mold and cast it, in case anything bad happens in the process, so that I still have evidence that I have done it.

Sculpting

Next I made Milliput eyes. These were good because they were really quick and cheap to make, but they aren't as accurate as buying eye forms or molding and casting a sphere.

I gradually improved the sculpt over two weeks using different views of babirusas.

Massing out

I am going to use WED clay for my sculpt because I have tried lots of different materials and this has been my favorite. It dries out quite slowly, its quite oily and is really nice to use. I bought mine from 4DModelshop.

I have just roughly added clay and tried to get the basic shape. I used lots of reference images and I printed an image of a babirusa at the exact size I wanted so that I could use verniers/calipers to get the proportions correct.

I realized that the when I mold and cast the final sculpt, the pole with ruin the shape slightly, but I can sand that off later.

Armature

I forgot to take a photo of the armature by itself so here I have started putting clay on top. Basically I made a MDF base with a steel pole hammered and glued in. Then I cut blue foam into the rough shape of the head. Next I covered the foam in plaster bandage (mod rock) so the the foam would stay securely to the pole. Finally I painted two layers of shellac over it so that the plaster bandage wouldn't absorb all the water from the clay later.

Maquettes

 

 Here are some practice sculptures of the creature. I have done some from WED clay and some from Chavant to get used to the materials.

New project

I looked at animals that I could based the creature on, and as it is part Rhino, part boar, I thought a perfect combination of the two would be a Babirusa, shown on the right.

I got creature designs of a creature based on a rhino/ boar. Partly designed by Twinsfx.
I am going to make static creature head with decorative armor.