Molding Workshop

During one of our tutorial weeks, we came in on Thursday and Friday to learn the basics of how molds are done. Compared to the Armature workshop, this workshop went by pretty quickly and was a lot less stressful, we thankfully didn't have to rush with our works as much as we did with our armatures and clay heads. 

It was also a pretty fun and messy experience, especially when it came to making the plaster and foam (I mean I was the one watching but still...). I was fortunate enough to avoid getting any drying foam on my hands, unlike one of my classmates, who had to painfully remove it with a sander later on back at home... eek.

These are some examples done by the first years that Donny
showed to us, apparently they have a slightly different
curriculum to us.

Donny showing us how to set up our little workspace when we
begin sculpting our clay head. We simply need to use one of the
wooden squares and wrap it in newspaper to protect it.

I think I was a little more ready this time round when it came
to working with clay, this one looks a lot smoother as compared
to the previous piece I did last year.

I hadn't had the chance to work with this clay last year,
and I can see now why almost everyone else prefers it over to the
blueish grey one.

After our clay faces are completed, Donny then showed us how
to set up a make shift tray for it for when we start pouring
in the plaster.

We start by flattening a large slab of clay that we can place our clay head on top of.

After that, we use a long strip of vinyl and wound it up with tape.

Make sure it's big enough to place over the clay head.

Like I mentioned earlier, tape it up.

Seal up the bottom with more clay and this is what you should have.

Rosy and Bex volunteered to make some liquid plaster for us.

Seeing that a lot of powder is going to be used, they needed protection.

They were interested, we were all just super tired with
upcoming deadlines.

We had to make sure that there were no bubbles after pouring
the mixture in.

Anna's plaster covered clay head.

Elliot helping out with pouring the second batch in.

And then we just needed to wait for it dry...

Once the plaster has dried after lunch, we then started taking
apart our tray.

This is where we begin digging out our clay faces.

Not too shabby.

On the second day, Donny shows us how to make foam,
which is comprised of wax and white spirit.

Seeing that we are not doing half a face, we didn't need to make a lid for
our molds.

Before pouring in the mixture, we needed to make sure that
our molds were well waxed. So that removing our foam heads
later on will be a smoother experience.

Oh yeah we have to wear gloves.

Everyone taking their turn to mix their foam formulas.

The 1st foam head looks better but overall I think they both turned out pretty alright, it took awhile to clean off most of the clay stains though.