Dog Matrix Mold Fabrication

Cellophane is used to wrap the entire sculpture. This will temporarily protect the dog sculpture from having the water-based clay adhere to my Chavant clay (Chavant NSP hard was used to sculpt the poodle). The water-based clay mass will later be replace by the silicone.

Here you can see where one of the seams with keys is located.  A wall of clay is used to cover the entire area where the silicone will eventually go. The wall of clay is somewhat uniformed in thickness.  

Plaster and hemp are applied over the wall of clay. This section is referred to as the “mother mold”. The mother mold will house the silicone mold and help line up all the keys.  

Here are two completed (limb) molds.

This image depicts the mother mold after the cellophane and water-based clay have been removed.  The other half of the mold will be used to enclose the leg. The seams will also be temporally sealed in order to prevent the silicone from escaping. The silicone will be poured from the highest point of the mother mold.

This image taken minutes after removing one half of the mold. The blue material is the silicone. The silicone is used to capture all the detail from the original sculpture.  The next step is to remove the original clay sculpture from the silicone.

Wax is then poured into the mold in order to produce the wax-positives.  More on this later….

The American Fine Arts Foundry is the Bronze Casting Foundry I am utilizing for this bronze dog composition. The foundry is located in Burbank, California.

click on the logo to visit their site.

Preparing clay dog sculpture for the mold fabrication

This section show how large sculptures are broken down into smaller manageable sections. After the sections have been casted in bronze, they will be welded back together. The original clay sculpture will be reassemble in order to aid the welder.

The tail has been removed

This image show how a section of the jaw has been removed. The torso and legs have also been severed.

This is the rear section of the poodles torso. Red wax is used to seal the foam. Without using wax to seal the foam, the silicone will adhere to the foam and create problems when de-molding.

The limbs and jaw ready for mold fabrication.