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Barnacles on a Beer Bottle

Posted by goregt On August - 31 - 2009

My kids and I recently went fishing and while my youngest was unable to catch fish, he did manage to find a beer bottle covered in barnacles (he’s six btw). I can already feel the “deer in the headlights look” as you are probably staring at the screen wondering what in the world does a barnacle covered beer bottle have to do with sculpting. Well, while most people probably would have discarded the bottle, I on the other hand was drawn to it.

Most of the reference material that I use when I sculpt is a collection of the different images that float around the web. In most cases this works out pretty well for me. At times it takes hours and even days of research but for the most part I seem to find enough reference from Google Images to allow me to work out the forms and details on my artwork.
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Sculpting Tentacles – Lesson One

Posted by goregt On August - 25 - 2009

I’m going to use wax for this tutorial but the same effects can be achieved with polymer clay.

Tools needed:

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Mold Making – Step Three

Posted by goregt On August - 19 - 2009

In the last lesson we covered the steps to created a mold box. Creating the mold box is half the formula in the mold making process and the next step will bring us closer to being able to replicate our artwork. The next process is time consuming and dirty but the results are worth every bit of the effort.

  1. In the fist lesson we went over silicone as one of the materials needed for making a mold. There are a quite a few different brands of silicone out there so the key is to follow the manufacture instructions on whichever silicone you choose to use. My silicone of choice is the Smooth-On Mold Max 20. It’s a great rubber to work with and has been worth every penny in my investment. The rubber comes in a two parts (the silicone and the catalyst)
  2. A scale is crucial for weighing out the silicone. Ideally a digital scale would be preferred but a food scale can work just as well (just don’t use it for food anymore). Normally what I do is calibrate my scale so that the weight of the cup brings the scale to zero (0). I also pour my silicone in stages, for example if my box requires 30 ounces of silicone I’ll pour 10 ounces at a time (with 10 ounces of Part A and one ounce of Part B – the mix ratio is included with the instructions on the silicone but in most cases it is 10:1).
  3. Follow the manufacture instructions for stirring the silicone. A paint stick works great but keep in mind that as the silicone thickens it will become harder to mix. I usually mix mine for a minimum of 3 to 6 minutes. Make sure that the color is consistent all the way through (in my case the color is a bright pink). You do not want to see streaks of the base color in the mix (doing so will result in sections of the silicone not curing). Read the rest of this entry »

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Nothing special, just a self-taught sculptor having fun with my art and showing all of you the tips and tricks I use to create my own artwork

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