#Cre8time Monster Making... with Featured Artist Lara Hjorthoy

Hello Fellow Artists! Well, I have had SO much fun! I have a small monster army forming here at YourToy Creations, filled with colourful and now even BRONZE monsters! My children are coming to life!

So today, for this new year and in celebration of being Featured Artist with Amazing Casting Products, I'm pleased to bring you a step-by-step – making resin casts of my Baby Monsters!

Let's begin!

For the original monster sculpture, I use Super Sculpey, both original and firm. I'll first make a ball or shape with tinfoil, and lay the Sculpey over the top and using tools, my hands and beads or already shaped resin eyes, I create that days monster. I don't really use photos or reference pictures, I tend to let the original tinfoil shape dictate the direction of that creature.

Once its cooked and hardened, sanded if necessary and cleaned up, then we make the mold boxes. I use corroplast, and hot glue to make the boxes and once it's made, I glue down the monster to the bottom. Here you can see three boxes made and Floyd being measured out for his mold box!

Next step, mix up the Amazing Mold Rubber {CLICK HERE to view mixing/preparation}. I use this particular mold making material, as my molds are meant to be permanent and used frequently. Also, I like the pourable aspect to this rubber, it forms around my undercuts beautifully and really captures details nicely!

Let the boxes cure for the time suggested on the box. I live in a super humid climate so the cure time was much less than some places!

After removing the boxes from the molds, (I'm sure there is a way to do this without destroying them, but I don't know what it is, and I destroyed them!), I pop the original out of the mold and presto, we're ready to cast! 

An important feature to remember when creating monsters and creatures for molding is undercuts. Undercuts can be minimal and some can be quite severe. I keep this in mind when deciding on a one piece or two piece molds for my creatures. I prefer to have a one piece mold, so that there is no seams and a clean cast, so I usually keep this in mind when I sculpt the monsters in the first place. Nearly all the monsters featured here are made with a once piece mold, only one needed to be cut in half.

I prefer to use Amazing Casting Resin for my monsters {CLICK HERE to view mixing/preparation}. The clean white look reminds me of a clean sheet of paper, or a fresh canvas, and begs me to paint them! One box of this resin made: 12 individual monsters of various sizes, 10 skulls and 18 resin eyes for future monsters! That's a huge haul! 

Next up, I look up lizards and snakes and other cool creatures that might have cool colour schemes and use that as a reference. Line these bad boys up and airbrush them using Acrylic Inks.

Finished with a clear coat, these guys are not only super cute, but super durable too!

I hope you enjoyed this process and would love to answer any questions you may have about this process! Thanks again to Amazing Casting Products for allowing me to share this with all of you!

Stay Inspired Friends,

Lara

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I'm Lara Hjorthoy(your-toy), from Vancouver, Canada. I'm an Illustrator, Sculptor, and Makeup Artist! Also work part-time as a retail sales clerk for Opus Art Supplies, on beautiful Granville Island.

After a life long addiction to drawing and art, I spent a year in beauty and special FX makeup school and solidified another great love... sculpture... and zombies!

Now I spend my time, sculpting and molding cute creatures of all kinds, (available for sale at my Etsy Shop: YourToyCreations.etsy.com, painting calm and whimsical worlds and occasionally creating zombie madness! Learning resin and mold making is taking all these worlds to whole new levels!! You can check out my works and Blog at www.larahjorthoy.com or my day to day art stuff at Instagram.com/auntyluluscolours

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Thanks so much for dropping by! Check back next Friday for more from our Featured Artist Lara Hjorthoy! CLICK HERE to head on over to Lara's Blog larahjorthoy.com and see more of her fabulous work, or pop over to her on Instagram for her latest creations and sneak peeks of what she's working on!

Have a fabulous day! :) Sb