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Fun with Resin and Rubber
Resin hands with fingers! yay.
Dragon Skin a two-part mold rubber |
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Some of the fancy new materials used nowadays in mold-making.
This mold rubber is called "Dragon-skin" because it is so flexible.
See the little Sculpey hands disappearing slowly
into the liquid mold rubber!
Help! Help!
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later....
After the original sculpy hands have been removed from the rubber mold, it is time to pour the resin into the mold.
Notice how the resin is also a two-part mixture.
First the resin is clear- but see it turning white...
As the resin hardens, it heats up- an internal thermal reaction.
(reminiscent of your old plaster-of-paris).
Then when the resin cools down-
the resin hands can be de-molded- in around eight minutes.
These hands can be reproduced many times from the same mold.
They look like porcelain but they are much stronger.
These don't break if you drop them.
The white is just the natural color of the hardened resin-
it can be dyed or painted.
This is the first Wee Peeple Doll made with a hard head and hard hands- and believe me, she is a hard-headed woman!
But it is hard to tell that her head is not full of fluff.... that it's solid as a rock.
These hands were painted... the Dollmaker is having problems getting the paint to stick to the resin.
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Now then... About those mermaids....
(Feel the ZING! All that recently-released pent-up mermaid energy accumulated after years of wanting to make mermaids and never being able to figure out a way to make out of fabric an easily reproduceable doll body with lots of fine detail and a very fine tail!
Oh yay! Hear the slow and deep rev-ving of the Mermaidian Engines!)
This Mermaid stands only 7 inches high. The vision for this one is for her to be suspended in the air as if she is swimming through the water... this is a work in progress....
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Meanwhile...
The Dollmaker, on a roll now, created
the
Mermaid Queen
The above photo shows three stages in the casting process:
1. the original brown model made of clay
2. the dragon-skin rubber mold and it's supportive outer companion mold
(technically the dragon-skin rubber mold is a one-part mold- the supportive companion mold is in two peices because it is stiff and will not bend or stretch to release the finished sculpture)
3. the final white resin cast (center)
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The Mermaid figures above are studies for doll bodies
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Kandra Niagra, Dollmaker
PO Box 326
Smithville, Texas 78957
Phone: 512-360-2443
Email: bigkandra@aol.com
12/10
