Yes, we do have a Phoenix!

The Phoenix has been found and will be rising soon. This is a photo of the Paint-your-own Phoenix looking very lumpy in his partially completed first master mold. He is sitting in a cabinet next to the larger Winged Wolf sculpture which is at nearly the same stage in the mold making progress. These two are having dribble molds made on them. This is a method of making a “quickie” glove mold. Layers of the liquid silicone are dripped directly onto the gypsum sculpture. It takes days to build up sufficient layers of silicone to make a mold this way, but it is less work for the mold maker than making a production-type glove mold, which requires days of careful clay and plaster work.
From this dribble mold we will make the “master”. That is the sculpture against which which the final production molds will be poured. We don’t invest time making the final master mold until the sculpture is 100% finished.
I will test paint one or two pieces that will be cast from these dribble molds so I can find and fix any of the problems that surface. I fix simple things like: areas that don’t take paint well because the details are too deep or too shallow, areas that look messy or need a little more sanding, and eye sockets that are too tight , too loose or set catty-wampus. Then there are the real disasters, such as the sculpture tipping over because the base is too small, or the mold being excessively difficult to remove… The small base and large wings make the Phoenix a prime candidate for both of these problems! Oh joy.

If you would like to see this Phoenix and wolf sculpture without a mold in various stages of completion, here is a link to the Windstone forum’s gallery: http://www.windstoneeditions.com/galleries/thumbnails.php?album=16
(You can search on Phoenix, or just click through the numbers at the bottom of the page, until you come across them.)

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