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so after an original sculpture is finished, what happens to make a mold? and how long does it take to get a mold done?
4 things I'm looking for:
1. Mother Meerkat
2. production color Sitting Young Oriental dragons to be made in more colors besides VF, Brimstone would be awesome!
3. Female Griffin – Siamese with White
4. September Raffle Prize 2022 AHD Male GriffinMarco, our mold maker has an elaborate way to make the molds. They are things of beauty.
The original clay will have a quick mold made on it to get a plaster master for me to carve the details onto.Marco makes the molds by covering the first clay sculpt with a layer of plastaline clay. This will be the shape of the rubber mold. That is then covered with a plaster shell. When the paster is set, the shell is opened and the clay is removed. The shell is keyed to a base so that it can be replaced on the sculpt in exactly the same place, leaving a void where the clay had been. This void is then filled with liquid rubber to make the mold. The sculpt is removed and the upside down rubber mold is filled with plaster to make a duplicate.
This gets repeated on each successive master as I refine it. I do test paints on the near-finished castings to see what I did wrong (always something!) until we think it is good to go.
The final master will have a very carefully crafted mold made on it to be the shape of the production molds.
Then the production molds will need to have precisely fitted “carriers” to support them when they are being filled with liquid plaster.
The molds are usually made in a few days, but the whole process from the first mold to final production castings can be months or years! Finishing a piece depends on my available time to work on the sculptures. Small things don’t take too long, but a large dragon can take a year or more to produce.ah, thanks for answering! interesting!
4 things I'm looking for:
1. Mother Meerkat
2. production color Sitting Young Oriental dragons to be made in more colors besides VF, Brimstone would be awesome!
3. Female Griffin – Siamese with White
4. September Raffle Prize 2022 AHD Male Griffinfollow up question…I seem to remember the lions who were on Ebay a few years ago were made from a new mold…so if something was to have a mold made from something that was already all done from before and or possible all painted, how would that be done and how long might that take?
4 things I'm looking for:
1. Mother Meerkat
2. production color Sitting Young Oriental dragons to be made in more colors besides VF, Brimstone would be awesome!
3. Female Griffin – Siamese with White
4. September Raffle Prize 2022 AHD Male GriffinBack in 2012 Melody posted a few photos of the mold making department on her Blog. They show the first stage in the process:
August 30, 2012 – Peek into the mold dept
“These are four of the new things, in the mold department. They have had a layer of clay put over them. This is the first step in the mold making process.For some reason, I’ve always found this stage of the process to be beautiful.I guess it is because I like to see the forms simplified.
There is a standing baby kirin, a grab bag dragon, a winged baby meerkat, and the unicorn colt. The foo-mom master is sitting in the back waiting for production molds to be made on her.”
September 21, 2012 – Male foo-dog
“This is the clayed-up male foo dog about to have his first mold made. You can get an idea of what he looks like. Both front feet are down, like the foo-mom.
If you guys REALLY want me to change him so that he has his front foot up so it can be on a globe,you need to SQUEEK NOW! He can’t be changed later!
I want happy foo-dog owners.”
follow up question…I seem to remember the lions who were on Ebay a few years ago were made from a new mold…so if something was to have a mold made from something that was already all done from before and or possible all painted, how would that be done and how long might that take?
If we can find the original master, the master mold shell and carriers, it wouldn’t take too long. New rubber production molds would need to be made
Did we make new lions? I remember we did make new molds on the baby bears.
Starting from a finished production piece, the mold making process would be almost as much work as new sculpt because everything: clayup, mold shell, master, master mold, production molds, and carriers would need to be made again.ah…
I seem to remember you said lions were made with a new mold when they were up on Ebay awhile back in their description….
4 things I'm looking for:
1. Mother Meerkat
2. production color Sitting Young Oriental dragons to be made in more colors besides VF, Brimstone would be awesome!
3. Female Griffin – Siamese with White
4. September Raffle Prize 2022 AHD Male GriffinStarting from a finished production piece, the mold making process would be almost as much work as new sculpt because everything: clayup, mold shell, master, master mold, production molds, and carriers would need to be made again.
so basically like having a master with paint on it rather than just clay master….thanks for answering!
4 things I'm looking for:
1. Mother Meerkat
2. production color Sitting Young Oriental dragons to be made in more colors besides VF, Brimstone would be awesome!
3. Female Griffin – Siamese with White
4. September Raffle Prize 2022 AHD Male GriffinAmazing process; I had no idea so many different stages were involved in making every single work of 3D art.
You are such an inspiration Melody🦋; your commitment to perfection in everything you do 2D, 3D, writing is so admirable!!
Thank you for making such fantastic works of art, in every form, for all of us to enjoy; we are most fortunate!!
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