Before I could begin to cast the final sculpture from the mould, I needed to first create the wax insert that was to be the genital area. This was so that I could hair punch genital hair eventually. I began this process by colouring some microcrystalline wax to the desired colour using my skin as a reference. This wax will eventually be painted to match the fiberglass cast. To colour the wax I used wax pigments melted with the wax in a crucible. It is important to note that the pigment of wax colour was used sparingly and that it changed colour when set.
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Once I had created the desired colour of wax, I began the process by building a clay wall that surrounded the genital area in my mould. I then carefully poured the molten wax into the mould. Using a brush I created an even thick layer of wax, and to add strength, added some hessian material to the top layer of wax. This will also aid in bonding the wax insert to the resin. When the wax was set, I removed from the mould, and created a second to use as a tester. The original was then replaced in the mould and this was then ready to have fiberglass added.
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The first step in createing the final cast was to add the first layer which is called the 'Gel coat'. This will be the surface of my sculpt. It is made up of resin, catalyst, colour pigment (in this case gray) and INSERT TERM HERE!!! one layer of this is added to all the mould pieces. This layer isn't as strong as the second layer which includes the matting, but it gives a better finish to the surface. The wax insert was simply covered over with resin.
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Once the layer of resin matt was applied to every mould piece, I then began cleaning up the edges of the mould and making sure that the mould went back together correctly. This will eventually make the seams better. Points in the mould were difficult to apply matting to, as the material had a habit of creating air bubbles. I corrected this by simply filling any void with spare gel coat.
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The next process was to add poles to the legs, so that eventually the sculpture could be secured to a base. This was done by measuring a pole to each leg, and bending according to the leg shape, and by using car body filler, securing temporarily in place. The pole was then resined into place inside the leg.
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Finally the time had come to attach each piece of the mould together to create the final sculpture. To do this we began with the main body piece (the front) and began securing the back of the leg mould to it. This was done by piping a mixture of gel coat, resin, catalyst and chopped strand to the very edge of the mould. The two halves were then pressed together and where possible smoothed over the seam on the inside of the mould.
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The next morning the mould could be taken apart carefully. Beginning with the smallest mould piece (the back of the head) I undid the bolts, lifted away the resin jacket and peeled the silicone to reveal the final cast. You can see in the picture that the wax insert is now fully imbedded in the resin. I was happy with how the seams turned out, the overhang shown is simply the gel coat bond that was squished into place when the cast was being put together.
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weak points in the cast began to show themselves when I began the process of sanding the seams. The biggest being the right hand wrist. This was an area that I failed to coat with a layer of the fiberglass mating, and therefore was only the brittle gel coat. A hole appeared, so to fix it we covered the hole with duct tape, allowing us pouring access, and poured in a generous amount of resin mixed with chopped strand. When dry the tape was removed and the seam was covered using car body filler.
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When the body was finally cast, I concentrated on casting the arm. It was exactly the same process as the body, first a layer of grey gel coat was applied, and then a layer of fiberglass matting was added. I made sure to only apply the fiberglass matt up to the wrist section of the mould. The fingers would need further strengthening.
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The mould was then secured together, and bolted in place. Where I could reach inside the mould I began to wet down fiberglass mat with a little left over resin, and patch over the join to strengthen it. The fingers should have been filled more than needed so that when the mould was secured together, the resin should have been squished out.
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Once the filler had hardened, the whole figure was then tipped upright, so that the runny resin would flow back into the arm. It would then fill up around the join and the pole connecting the arm to the body. It would be stopped by the newspaper block we added earlier. This meant that around the join of the arm was now solid resin, making it one of the strongest parts of the piece.
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When the resin was set, the residue filler could be sanded away and any imperfections could be filled and sanded off. My arm came out of the mould very well, aside from the joint that ran up the side of the thumb. This was slightly warped, so I had to use filler and almost re sculpt the detail. Once I had sanded the arm completely I continued onto priming the surface ready for painting.
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