Pebbles à la Maya Hill?

Yeah, finishing them like the Maya hill pieces was the whole idea… it didn’t work out. -But,wow, you should FEEL those things when finished the same way! -Sooo sensuous… like a bar of creamy soap.

Just out of curiosity, why didn’t this work out? Are they too small/detailed to take that type of finish?

I’m not sure how big of a pain the grab bag pebble wolves were for you to do, but they were certainly a hit – do you think you’ll ever be doing something like this with any of the pebble creatures again?

I recall reading that Maya’s sculpts are not painted, but smoothed down (or something like that).

Since the pebble creatures are a pain to paint, do you think giving them the same treatment would be easier? I just love the pebbles, and I think it would be great if they could be a regular production piece. Plus as some of Maya’s stones are meant to be manipulated, the pebbles seem the same to me. It’s so easy to roll them in your hand!

That, or you could make them PYOs, using the itty-bitty stamp you use on the Muse… I wouldn’t put any pads on those; it goes against the whole idea of the pebbles, I think.

Yeah, finishing them like the Maya hill pieces was the whole idea… it didn’t work out. -But,wow, you should FEEL those things when finished the same way! -Sooo sensuous… like a bar of creamy soap.

They aren’t very suitable for hand painting because they are so smooth, every brush stroke shows.
Those pebble things were a major fail. I have an idea about how to finish them in a better way, but it will need some equipment designed, and our equipment designer hasn’t had time to deal with it.

Augh noooo! That’s so sad. Pebbles finished like Maya’s statues were my true Windstone Dream. Like little netsukes that I could fondle. BUMMER!

I guess I need to get back to work on this. If there was just some way to hang on to them it would help, but the bottoms are an important part of the concept and need to be finished along with the tops so there is really nothing to hold them by.

Is it possible to dye the mineral stone before casting?

The reason I ask is because the resin casters in my other hobby dye the resin and release them without any other painting or such. For example:

These are by Sarah Minkiewicz Bruenig.

Just curious. 🙂

Resin is awesome ( extreme envy) but we cast in gypsum. We would still need to finish the surface somehow. I wish we could just cast them in something that looks nice and be done!
I am open to suggestions.

I’d love.love.love to see Pabble Wolves get figured out somehow, I absolutely love the sculpt, and I can’t get enough of the GB wolves 🙂 My household is currently harboring 8 of the GB wolves (6 of them are mine, 2 are my moms) Wolves done in that natural finish sound absolutely amazing..

We should try a wax finish on the wolves. They are big enough to hold onto while being polished.
These pebble things are so darn smooth, ANY crumb or splat of an airbrush shows as a blemish on the surface. They are an absolute disaster as painted pieces.
I could do another grab bag batch as “goof-ups “, like I did last time, but I guarantee they WOULD all be goofed-up.

What about the idea of having some type of stick put into the bottom of the mold as it’s drying then sanded off after it’s painted and finished?

Yes that was my idea, and it seems to work, but we would then need a nice way to finish the hole left in the bottom. I was thinking of making little pewter inserts with our logo that would both plug the hole and serve as a stamp. I think that would look cool.

That does sound pretty cool! Kinda like an offical seal made of pewter!! I’m hoping that ya’ll will be able to find a way to produce them again. I look forward to the fox. 🙂 Even a pebble dragon would look cute!

I second that fatalbeauty. I adore those foxes!!