How can I mold this sculpture ?

Maximilian Schmid

I am now at the mold making step and wanted to ask if you think a 2 part mold will work although I have many undercuts and complicated area. Wouldn’t the plaster get locked there when I pull the mold away from the sculpt especially on the detail on the side and under the chin. And where would it best to make the separation walls and would I also need a kind of clay wall around my sculpture since it goes over the life cast ? But of I do so where should i attach this mold wall since there is no where where it could rest or it couldn’t also get the support of plaster bandages because I can’t attach them. And would it also work that I can easily pour latex in this mold because there aren’t any shoulders right or left to it. 

I would be so glad if someone could help me,  I hope my sculpt will survive this step.

Chris Ellerby

Hi Max,

As long as the bottom of your mold (neck area) is open you should be able to go in and clean some of the clay away in areas that have undercuts to help you remove the sculpture from the mold.  It's important to be aware of where the base/armature is when designing how your mold separates as well, since the clay can be removed but the armature may be solid.

You also need to consider what you plan on casting inside the mold to insure that the mold is designed in a way that will allow for demolding your castings.

/Chris

Maximilian Schmid

Thank you so much for your reply, so how do you mean as Long as the neck area of my mold is open ?
so how should I be aware of this armature because it’s very deep inside all those tons of clay 😅
should i just make a mold way in a right angle to the sculpt and we’re exactly would you think it’s best to make it ? In case of my sculpt. So should it also be a inch like Tim martins or because mine is maybe a little bit bigger on same areas.

and something I really wasn’t sure about was that I cannot pretend the plaster running down the long breast because there’s no way I could but white clay or plaster bandages to hold it. But I i think there should be like a frame like mold walls around the whole sculpt since it already got off the armature. And when I would Demold it is it ok that these long pieces are standing out ? Like you can see in the sculpture. Because my mask has this special shape. But I think it will make the casting process more difficult because I can’t fill the mold all the way up.

thanks I m just a little concerned about this step 😅

Chris Ellerby

It was hard to see your armature, but looking at the bottom picture I'm guessing that it would prevent the neck area from being open at the base to aid in removing clay like I suggested.  So you can ignore that.

With some of the shapes you have you may need to make more than a 2 part mold (or go in and change your sculpt to be more compatible with molding) to allow the mold segments to pull away from the sculpt without locking.  This is not something I can really design for you here, so you're going to have to work that out by looking at the sculpt from every angle and visualizing how to design the mold.

You will likely have to use a softer clay (like white clay or "klean klay") to build up mold walls to divide your sculpture into smaller sections so you can create individual mold segments one at a time.

Things like the teeth would likely have to be molded on their own and then attached to your final casting.

As you are new to this I would suggest making molds on simpler sculpts first so you are comfortable designing multi part molds.  This sculpt will be quite challenging to mold for a beginner.

/Chris

Maximilian Schmid

Okay thank you so much for your help, i already thought of 3 part but it has to many seams.
But I will think of it. Thanks Chris !