Urgent Molding Assistance Needed Please!!

Dear All

I am writing this on behalf of Anibus who is my fiance. He completed a fantastic clay sculpt of the underworld lycan which he tried to plaster mould yesterday. The plaster has fallen to bits and when I say bits it crumbles in your hand, luckily the sculpt is intack. He is absolutely devestated, he followed the instructions to the letter, but to no avail. He is terrified to doing another plaster mould in case he ruins the sculpt. If anyone out there has any suggestons, it would be greatly appreciated. It may also give him the confidence that he needs. Please if anyone can provide advice, I could not thank you enough.
I look forward to hearing from you and it may stop him jacking in which would be a shame.

Kind regards

Karen

What sort of plaster did he use? It sounds like either the type of plaster or the mix was wrong.

Thank you for replying, it is greatly appreciated.

It was Taranti Basic Alpha Plaster, for casting which was recommended by another. He followed the instructions by weight. Any suggestions please.

Best Wishes

Karen

It also sounds like the plaster was not reinforced with anything like burlap, or cheesecloth.

Be sure to use a stronger plaster, like hydrocal, or hydrostone, and reinfoce it with some type of fiber. You need 2 or 3 layers of plaster, and not every scuptis strong enough for supporting the weight of that much plaster. SO be sure to do th epours in layers and reinforce it so that the weight of the plaster doesn't disfigure the sculpt.

Al Elliott said:

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What sort of plaster did he use? It sounds like either the type of plaster or the mix was wrong.

clonesix said:

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It also sounds like the plaster was not reinforced with anything like burlap, or cheesecloth.

Be sure to use a stronger plaster, like hydrocal, or hydrostone, and reinfoce it with some type of fiber. You need 2 or 3 layers of plaster, and not every scuptis strong enough for supporting the weight of that much plaster. SO be sure to do th epours in layers and reinforce it so that the weight of the plaster doesn't disfigure the sculpt.

Again thank you, he did use burlap in layers. I watched him cut it carefully and add it between the layers of plaster. He is devestated as he has worked so hard on the sculpt and for it to fall to bits on him has gutted him. He did everything he should have includind reinforceing the plaster. I can not thank you enough for responding. I only wish I had the knowledge to assist him! If you could provide any other suggestions it would be heart felt. He has even thought about fibre glassing the sculpt but he has told me that it would melt it. Here it shows my ignorance. He is upstairs at the moment wondering what the devil to do next. He does not even know I am on this fourm asking for assistance. He is embarrased and a proud person and he really wants to get this costume completed not just for himself, but, so that it could be used in charity events.
He is terrified in ruining the sculpt that he has worked so hard on and has even considered trying to get someone else to do it for him, but getting the right person to do it will be difficult. That is why I am on here trying to get some advise for him to boost his confidence.

Kind regards
Karen.

We have all been there. It is quite devastating to see you hard work ruined by the slightest thing. There are many steps to go from start to finish, and lots of ways to go wrong each time. It takes a LOT of work to make something that looks easy.

That said, photos would help. what material is the sculpt, oil clay, water clay, sculpee? How is it supported (armeture)?

If he can clean off the original molding material from the sculpt, he can set it up for another try.

Best of luck.

The one golden rule in propmaking, or any art for that matter - there's nothing which can't be fixed.

If someone is having a Vincent Van Gogh moment and is ready to cut off their ear, the best advice is to leave the thing alone, have a nice glass of wine, do some research and live to fight another day.

We've all been there, in the "phantom zone" where noting goes as planned, but really it's not the end of the world. You just need to kick back, gather your thoughts then try again. It all works out in the end.

Al Elliott said:

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The one golden rule in propmaking, or any art for that matter - there's nothing which can't be fixed.

If someone is having a Vincent Van Gogh moment and is ready to cut off their ear, the best advice is to leave the thing alone, have a nice glass of wine, do some research and live to fight another day.

We've all been there, in the "phantom zone" where noting goes as planned, but really it's not the end of the world. You just need to kick back, gather your thoughts then try again. It all works out in the end.

Vincent Van Gogh is a good comparison in certain ways. I think I have slowly but surely confinced him, thank goodness. I think the problem was that the room was too cold and he did not leave it long enough, even though the product only stated 24hrs. So the next episode is to turn the heating on, turn the radiators off in all the rooms apart from the room he is working in so neither I or the dogs suffer. Keep the fingers crossed and try and convince him that it will happen and it is trial and error. However, he is petrified that he will muck it up. So everyone please keep there fingers and toes crossed so we have a happy result and to all thank you once again.

Kind regards

Karen

^ This is very sound advice, Listen to Al!

It sounds like he's done everything right, the one thing that may be the issue is just the fact that you said he used "Casting" plaster? This may be a finer, softer plaster used to be poured into a mould, but not for making moulds. I imagine the sculpt is pretty big too? It may be that the mould sections are too thin for their size? I have not made a plaster mould for a very long time, I only ever use silicone and fibreglass, this is a much more expensive way of doing things, but gives you much more control. If he really thinks plaster is the way he want's to go, then I'd call up Tiranti's and expalin what I did and ask them what I may have done differently?

Keep calm and carry on!

Has he tried mixing a small batch of the plaster, pouring half over some clay and setting the other half aside and letting them cure to see if it does the same thing? If the control test is still bad, you may want to call the manufacturer and see if something is wrong with the batch or the instructions. If the control is good and the batch with clay is bad, then there is likely some reaction taking place.
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Edit:
Hopefully the additional heat will work. The behavior does sound like the plaster still has some moisture in it.

I've only seen large molds like he needs done with Hyrocal or Ultracal, both with burlap strip reinforcement.

I hope all goes well with your fiance project,I'm sorry I cant offer anything more

okay well hydrastone, ultracal and hydrocal are not available in the u.k. there are 3 stones i would use. herculite, crystacal or my personal fave and the strongest by far of the bunch dentstone k.d. you need a minimum of an inch thickness all round. also add upholsterers hessian . its cheap. easily available and realy strengthens the mould. if your fiance was going to fill the mould he made with latex (the one that crumbled) even if the mould worked there would be a risk of it collapsing due to the wieght of the latex creating a real mess ! hope this helps. its all a learning curve and at least the sculpt is intact. these things happen, trick is to learn from it and move forward.

One more tip for you...be sure to wet the burlap ( or whatever material ) before you add it to the plaster.
If you do not pre-wet, the filler will draw water from the plaster making a weak,crumbly plaster.

Plaster is like concrete...it needs enough water to cure correctly.

Hey Anubis, i hope the next try goes well for you, dont give up, trust me i have had my fare share of fails, but the best part is we learn from them and become better at what we do. I am sure you will have a few nice pulls of that lycan before you know it

Thanks guys for the much needed help, advice and good will thoughts! I had seriously lost the plot when the mould decided to go to pieces on me! My fiancee Karen (Apologises to the Mod's for her stepping in, won't happen again!) was really concerned about the whole project being shelved, hence her intervention, as I was trying to figure out what the hell had happened?? Still not sure even now??
Well after a long and hard deliberation I have decided to go with what I know and mould it up in fibreglass, doing a two part mould, then casting in Silicone, the more expensive option but I will not lose any detail with repetative casts and having never used plaster before, it's been a serious learning curve, once bitten, twice shy as they say! So next week I will order the materials to make a start on the fibreglass mold, so my sincere apologises to all those waiting for updates on the Lycan, he's not dead, just a bit delayed.So I am seeking some serious advice from anyone who has done a fibreglass mould to give me some pointers etc to aid me along the way and I will seriously appreciate this help guys, believe me!!!!

And thank god the sculpt survived!!!!

Glad to hear you have figured out a solution!

Do you have any pics to share of your lycan sculpt? I love 'Underworld' (and werewolf movies in general).

Al Elliott said:

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Glad to hear you have figured out a solution!

Do you have any pics to share of your lycan sculpt? I love 'Underworld' (and werewolf movies in general).

Here you go buddy, the link to my project.

http://www.therpf.com/f24/underworld...derworld+lycan

It has progressed a great deal from the original start of the skull etc, sculpts pics are on page 3 as I remember?