Body Mould 1

(image 1) Firstly I added a funnel to the neck portion of the body (the head had been removed during a previous stage). The next thing to establish was the seam line, as with any mould this is usually the widest point or points. I began by pushing metal shim into the plasticine at regular points around the figure.

 

Images 2,3,4 and 5: The shim formed anchor points for me to cellotape the sheets of shim to, this was continued around the edges of the figure getting as close to the plasticine without disrupting the detail. The figure was then loosely covered with cling film (Image 5).

 

Above: In the first 5 images above you can see where I have layed a 6mm thickness of clay around the figure. Then a blanket of clay was layed over the the whole figure smoothing out the surface as it progressed. Triangular keys were added around the perimeter (to hold the rubber in the jacket later) along with a cone of clay (to pour the rubber in) and a natch (to help hold the rubber too). This is all covered in plaster backed up with scrim for strength, exposing the top of the clay cone.

Above:In the next 6 images you can see where the mould was rotated to reveal the back. The shim was removed along with the aluminium support (the plaster jacket holds up the figure now). A protective layer of cling film was added again, circular keys were cut into the surface of the plaster and the clay steps were repeated for this second side.