Baby Rabbit continued...

I have been dying to start this mold, but since the rubber I had on hand didn't fully set up, I had to order a new kit (The rubber I had was leftover from a commission I got in 2008 so it really didn't owe anyone a thing...I was surprised it lasted as long as it did...) Because it hadn't arrived before I left for the studio (sometimes Polytek's turnaround time is ridiculously fast) I decided to do a blanket mold instead of a paint on mold. Below are some of the process photos.

  Baby bunny before the mold (I still have a few things to tweak before he's fully finished, but like to do that after making the mother mold...just in case.)

I covered him with a thin sheet of plastic to protect him from the clay blanket.

This is me cutting slabs of clay to use for the blanket...which is not easy to do while simultaneously trying to take a photo.

Covering the rabbit with the slabs of clay.

Fully covered. (It looks like an ugly potato.)

   

Now for a flange around the bottom and a strip of clay along the length of the piece.

And 2 pieces of clay that will end up as a pour hole and a vent. 

I then added some metal shims along that key that runs the length of the piece so I could do both sides of the mother mold at once. I Vaselined the board and the shims and then mixed up some plaster, threw on a splash coat and then one layer of burlap. I thickened up the edges so I'd have something to bolt through. Because I did this in about 12 minutes (I was running late to pick up Justin for a meeting at our new space!) and had plaster on my hands, I didn't get any photos of me making the mother mold.

After our meeting at the new space, we stopped at Rocket Cat for some coffee (and an apple for O'Rae). Then back to work.

 

I pulled out the metal shims...

...then carefully removed the first side of the mold...then the other.

 

 

He survived!

I cleaned out the clay from the inside of the mother mold, placing it all in a multi mix bucket to measure roughly how much rubber I'll need to pour into the mother mold.

I then cleaned up the edges a bit and put it back together. 

 

Once the rubber arrives, I'll finish the mold, so stay tuned for Part II!