11-03-2007, 05:38 PM
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Werewolf
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Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Tucson, AZ
Posts: 61
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Why did you create a version to mold then pour a wax copy to then re-mold? Could you not just sculpt one then just mold the first sculpt in plaster and save a redundant step and extra materials?The original sculpture was made using oil-based clay so that it could be sculpted off-and-on for a couple of months without worrying about the clay drying out and cracking.
If we had directly cast a plaster mold of the oil-based clay sculpture, the exothermic reaction caused when the plaster sets could have caused the oil-based clay to droop and lose its shape. It this were to occur, and the mold did not turn out properly, then the sculpture would be lost.
Using a two-step approach ensured that we would have the clay sculpture in reserve should anything go wrong during the molding process. And why a 6 part mold? Did I miss something?A six-part mold was needed due to the complexity of the mask. If only a two-part mold was used, the ridges and valleys of the mask would not allow for an easy separation of the casting from the mold (this was especially true when casting and releaseing the wax sculpture).
Since I have not done any mold making myself, I asked the same question while we began placing shims in the mask, and as I saw how the mold pieces would have to come off of the mask in order to ensure its proper release, it all began to make sense to me. 
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