Hello creatives! Susan here for another installment of Mold Rubber Monday! Today I'm sharing a very special project combining Amazing Crafting Products and Frog Dog Studio – our Partners "In-Crafting". I want to advise you that this post may be a little creepy but done for the love of art... and so the fairy tale begins...
I live in South Florida which is summertime 80% of the year. This winter has been HOT and relentless, as pretty much everyone, everywhere else has been buried in snow. We had a 48 hour cold spell {which dropped to the mid 50s at night} back before the holidays. When the universe brings you "creative gifts" you have to run with them. I set off on a journey of creating a mixed media art doll... but he's more like a FROG PRINCE to me.
On a chilly morning back in mid December, I ran out to say goodbye to my real life prince charming as he was leaving for work and grab the newspaper. As he pulled out of the driveway, a precious gift was revealed lying under the car.
I live on the edge of the Florida Everglades and with the continued hot weather, we have been overrun by critters such as frogs. This guy seemingly had "croaked" of natural causes as he was in pristine condition – having no bruises, cuts or bite marks. The frogs in these parts are poisonous to dogs and most predatory animals, a natural defense mechanism. I think this guy had been living RENT FREE for many months in my garage {scaring me to death on an occasion or two in the wee hours grabbing laundry}.
Nonetheless, I scooped him up gently with a piece of cardboard, I brought him in the garage to warm up and make sure he wasn't just in a hibernating state from being stuck out in the cold. After 4 hours... he was still stiff. I couldn't let this gift from the art gods go to waste... I knew I had to MOLD HIM! Though I am an adventurous and spontaneous creative... I did feel a bit leary and guilty about proceeding. So I asked for advice. After several early morning messages to my fellow creatives... it was unanimous... Do it!!
I had to work fast! I only had two boxes of Amazing Mold Rubber so I would need to do some creative improvising. I gathered up a salad container from the recylcing bin and EVERY mold rubber mold and slab I had created. This tip of reusing cured mold rubber as filler for new molds from Lonnie was so helpful in this project. I covered a sheet of chipboard with waxed paper, cut my container to remove the base, and hot glued it to my base board. Now I had my mold box. To widen the corners of the container walls, I cut away a wedge from each side and filled the gap with strips of scotch tape.
I lined the bottom of my mold box with cut up sections of my Amazing Mold Rubber slabs. I will lay the specimen onto this and let the liquid mold rubber fill in the gaps.
Wearing gloves {2 pairs} I placed my sleeping beauty in place and added more filler around. I cut up every mold, slab and stamp, I had created with Amazing Mold Rubber {and being just a couple of weeks away from CHA... yikes}! I had to work fast...
I strategically placed strips of Amazing Mold Rubber to keep the feet and head from touching the container so the liquid silicone could fill in and around.
Now I mix up the first of two containers of Amazing Mold Rubber. This mold is very large, so I prepared an entire container of Amazing Mold Rubber {please CLICK HERE to view mixing/preparation}.
I used a chop stick to drag the Amazing Mold Rubber around to fill in around all the filler, and added more to make this pour go as far as possible. I also dragged the liquid mold rubber over the specimen so that everything was covered and sealed with a layer of silcone. I kept dragging it over and around until the mold rubber began to harden. I covered with a box and set in the garage to cure. I went to work, called around to try and get my hands on more mold rubber locally, then hurried home. I had more work to do before this guy begins to smell.
I only had one remaining Amazing Mold Rubber kit, and I had to make this one do the job. I mixed up this container and began pouring again, I added more cut up silicone molds to fill around the arms and legs – for support and also as a dam to hold the liquid where I want. Another hour of dragging the silicone over the specimen keeping it completely covered with an even coating. This would suffice.
We had another chilly night so I covered and let this set overnight as it was really thick in places to be sure it was cured all the way through. I woke up early and got back to work making batches of Amazing Mold Putty to back fill on top of the silicone mold. I was under the impression that the mold putty would fuse itself to the mold rubber. In this case it did not – but it most certainly does if you pour the liquid silicone mold rubber into a mold putty mold WITHOUT a release agent. Now that I have built up my mold to strengthen and support – I wait. After a half an hour, I'm ready to release my prince from the mold.
Outside we go! This proved to be a very delicate process... and smelly, too! I cut away the mold box and peeled the mold off of the base board. The mold putty layer peeled away when I set the mold on it's side. I used a box cutter to gently slice the mold in half being very careful NOT to cut the specimen. Yes I was totally grossed out... but I came this far already I had to see it though. Oh boy did he smell! No critter would mess with one of these guys. With the mold separated, I gently wiggled the legs free, then pulled the body from the other half. It seemed he shrunk a little since his ecapsulation, which helped demold him – for this I was grateful. I promptly submerged the molds into a bucket of water with soap and a little bleach to disinfect. I respectfully said my blessings and gave my friend an honorable send off. Then headed back to work as the molds soaked for the day.
With the molds repeatedly washed and rinsed, I set them aside to dry and air out overnight {for thoses curious... the inside of the mold still stinks... even now months later}. When dry, I used rubber bands to hold the Amazing Mold Putty supports in place on top of the Amazing Mold Rubber molds, and layered the two molds back to back inside a jumbo plastic ziplock just in case I have any leaks.
Views of mold in place... ready for resin pour.
I prepared and poured equal portions of parts "A" and "B" of Amazing Casting Resin. I added Alumilite Pearlescent Powder and Alumilite Fluorescent "FLO" Green Dye to part "A" in my mixing cup, stirring thouroughly before adding part "B". With both parts combined, I poured into the molds.
I let it set to cure/harden for a half hour before demolding.
Then gloves on and back outside for the demolding! I did have to make some strategic cuts to the mold to release the arms and feet. OMG!!! The digits didn't completely come out as expected, but I can live with that. In a couple places a thin layer of silicone peeled away when demolding, but I think I could get another usable casting or two out of this. Perhaps later on, I will remold this casting.
The Amazing Mold Rubber picked up every little detail of my frog prince. This is going to be great when painted and embellished. A note: this casting went through another bath with soap and bleach, and lived in my garage to air out the smell for quite some time. I didn't get back to working on him until well over a month later – since I had work, travelling to CHA and all. The mold still lives outside on my patio and is still smelly {even 4 months later}. I do feel guilty for this little guy, and I'm thankful to all that cheered me on in this process.
Now the embellishing and creation of my art doll begin...
Please CLICK HERE to jump over to
Frog Dog Studio Blog for the next chapter
of this creative fairy tale.
Thanks for visiting! If you would like to see more of my creations,
please visit my blog sbartist : painting in the dark by clicking here. ~ Susan
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