26.11.12

I had to move out of my uni accommodation on Saturday, meaning that I might not get to complete my resin project soon, due to everything being in storage.

Anyway here is a drawing that I've been working on the last few days. I put more effort and time into it compared to some of my previous drawings.

resin cast

These two pictures here, show the 2 halfs of the laytex mould.  They worked well, however the thickness are uneven and kind of ugly.  I read that some people use lego blocks to build the outside walls (instead of cardboard), because they are even, can be broken down easily and are re-usable.  I think I might try that technique at a later date.

Then I poured some resin into one half and shook it to make a hollow cast. 
(A hollow cast is when you coat the outsides of the mould so that the inside is hollow).
The resin I usually use takes about a day to dry, however I used a different type of resin this time that only takes 5 MINUTES to dry.  That's crazy!!

So crazy that the resin dried before I finished the pour, so i'm going to try it a second time.

the front

half the back is missing

my fork dried like this within 3 mins

Couldn't sleep

I'm having a hard time getting to sleep because the neighbors are having a party next door. In the mean while I decided to do a drawing.

Naked guy drawn with graphite on paper

Mold

Thank you Vaseline <3

The first half of the mold came out nicely without everything getting stuck together.

I then put Vaseline all over the back side and made a new box for it to sit in, (made out of the sophisticated material called cardboardium).

Then I mixed up a new batch of latex to cast the other side. The small cup, with a hole, is put there so I can put more latex on the raised part of the head, without it leaking down the sides.

Sketchy stuff

Not too much serious stuff today. Just random drawings and storyboard ideas.

figure part 2

I meant to post this yesterday but I forgot, so here it is. 

In the first picture, I pushed half of the figure into some clay, so that I could mold the first half of the figure and the second image is of me pouring the laytex into the box, after I covered everything underneith with vaseline.
I'm a bit scared that the bottom layer of clay will dry and stick to the figure (I put vaseline in between the figure and the clay, but who knows).  However the laytex is still wet (and smelly) so I can't check yet.

In the mean while, I'm going a little bit crazy because I have my final French exam tomorrow.  I hope everything goes ok.   0(>o<)0

Primed up!!

The picture probably looks the same to you guys, since the clay was white to begin with. However since the last post I've sanded and primed the figure with gesso and a little of mod podge to smooth and water proof it.

new sculpture

Yesterday I was looking up resin figures expecially Paul Shih's work, such as Pandara, which I though was pretty cool.

Pandara resign figure by Paul Shih

After seeing that, I thought that I wanted to try making a resin figure too.
First I drew up what my figure would look like from the front and from the side. I decided to chose a simple shape, since this is my first attempt.

Then I used "Basic Fimo Air", which is a cheap-ish air dry clay, that I bought from the supply shop at Uni. It was the only type of clay that I could buy there, so I took what I could.  I also got some primer and sandpaper, which I'll use after I finish sculpting.

After several hours of trying to get every thing in perportion (the head is kind of big though) I finally make the body and head.  The arms and legs have little bits of wood in them to help them stick to the body.

Due to the fact that the clay is still wet and heavy, I had to hold the head onto the body in this picture.  In comparison, resin is lighter then clay so the head be ok by then.

The next thing that I have to do next is to wait for the clay to dry, then I'll sand the uneven bits and try to make it as smooth as I can.

After that I'll make sure to use a primer to seal it, that was my failure last time.  Because clay is so absorbent, when I make a cast last time, the clay sculpture absorbed some of the moisture from my casting material (it might have been plaster or laytex, I forget) and got stuck in the mould.  So this time i'll pay attention to that.

Anyway that's all for now!!

13.11.12

white charcoal on black cardboard

10.9.12

Morning sketches

2am

I couldn't sleep.

The black and white drawings are screen shots from the movie 'Ocean Waves' and the second one is based of me posing in a mirror.

Quick sketch

Some quick 30 second sketches

9.11.12

30 second sketches

30 second sketches

woman hanging on fabric

woman holding fabric

white charcoal

I think I started to get withdrawal symptoms from not drawing this week

Anyway, I fixed that by doing some more charcoal exercises.  This time I used white charcoal on black cardboard to work on contrast.

back

left arm and back

based of a photo of myself, but something happened to the eyes.

knees

sculpture

I'm not sure if I mentioned anything about this in any of my last blog posts; however I made another sculpture for my class.

My concept was based on the Greek myth of Icarus, who make wings out of wax, however he flew too close to the sun and his wings melted and he died.

 This was the first time that I’d ever made something out of bronze, it was a real challenge.  Not everyone in class chose to bronze something; however I thought that it was a great opportunity to learn some new techniques for future use.

I just realized that the pictures that I took of the waxing process are on my other computer, so I can’t upload it today.

For the process, first I had to mould the wax into the form that I wanted to cast, and then I attached some wax rods to the bottom (piping) so that, when the bronze is poured in, the gas bubbles can escape through the rods.  After that I had to make a mould out of plaster (and some other stuff), then it went to the foundry for the pour.  When I got it back, I needed to cut off the excess metal, sand and polish it.  Then I used some chemicals to give it a blue stain.
 
Then I put in on to a piece of old wood that I got from a bonsai nursery and left it in a dry bin in order to grow crystals on the bottom (I bought a crystal growing kit from the National Geographic store).  In the mean while I made the wings out of wax, and attached it to the figure.  The crystals ended up being small, since all the crystal mixture ran down to the bottom, but it still created a nice effect. 

bronze figure



blue stain

crystals, detail

crystals, detail 2



left wing



right wing



figure, close up

full body

final piece