Moulding

This week I took the nose sculpts and moulded them in different ways. I first moulded one of the noses using a simple silicone mould. This method is fine but takes up quite a lot of silicone. Although not a problem for the size of the nose, when I mould the whole head it will take a lot of silicone which would be wasteful. The pictures directly below show the noses I cast in fastcast. I used varying quantities of black pigment to colour them.



The other method of moulding I tried this week was a cavity mould. I had not tried this method before so it was a good experience, and beneficial to my project and learning.
First I took one of the nose sculpts and covered it in foil. I used a layer of foil to protect the clay nose underneath. I then covered the foil in a layer of clay and formed some locators and a pour hole. Once this was done I Covered the clay in a layer of Gel Coat about 2-3mm thick. Once this was tacky I began the process of fiberglassing the mould. After a few layers of fiberglass I left the mould to dry over night.
The next morning when the fiberglass was dry, I Drilled some holes into the fiberglass and baseboard, these acted as locators and a fastening point for re-ataching the fiberglass to the board for the next stage of moulding. After the holes had been drilled I Removed the fiberglass jacket from the board and removed the clay and foil. I then placed the fiberglass jacket back over the master (nose) and fastened it with bolts and wingnuts.

The next stage was to make and pour some silicone into the pour hole I made in the fiberglass, therefore filling the cavity made by the clay and surrounding the master inside. I left this over night to set and the next day I took out the master leaving me with the finished cavity mould.