Coral pinnicle with shark and conger eel

ive recently been working on a sculpture in chavant clay. its the soft variety as anything harder than this is impossible to work with in the cold uk climate
I still have a few coral pieces to add and the shark and eel needs finishing with more detail but i think im nearly there.
This is my most complex piece to date. I will have to dismantle it and mould each piece of coral seperately, and do a three part mold for the shark and a two or three part for the core of the coral pinnacle.
Heres some pictures

 

height is 25cm or just under a foot in old money

 

Interesting subject matter and lovely renditions. I guess simple and easy forms are not guiding principles for your designs!

Looking forward to learning from your input.

It might be nice to see pics of some prior work as well.

Denis

 

I havent cast anyrthing since my owl
Along tine ago. Although I wont be like a complete novice I predict lots of fails especially as Im jumpin straight in at the deep end

 

I do the sculpture then worry about the casting later. Im going to have to relearn and learn new stuff with this one.

 

Will do Denis. Ill put them in a new thread. Ill use this one soley for this piece

 

OK Mantrid. You owe it to posterity to make a step by step series of photographs of the mold-making process you use with this one. The horse was complex enough, and then came the owl. But this?

Richard

 

Some progress. Shark mould finished. Reef to do. Will have to break the reef up into smaller pieces and make separate moulds of each piece. Still some detail to add first though

first side silicone and POP mother mould


clay walls in place ready for second side silicone piece


two layers of silicone poured on second side


clay walls removed ready for applying pop mother mould to second side


All cleaned up ready for final part of the mould on the ventral side


completed mould with some old wax poured in to test. No leaks, looking good.


A good reproduction


snapped a piece of the mother mould but easy to repair


details of the cut out where the ceramic shell will be poured in. Slight defect here, but as I learn this moulds behaviour future pours should be ok.


Three views of the reef. This part will have most of the coral cut off an moulded separately. It will all be stuck back together as one piece for sprueing and ceramic shell

 

The eel is actually a moray eel not a conger eel (which is more temperate rather than tropical)

 

Wow man thats very nice work. I might have to give that clay stuff a try. Looks faster than wax sculpting and seems to hold details well. Not sure about the armature scaffolding stuff tho.

Very clean 3 part mold. I will have to try that one day when needed.

Those coral bits are going to take a while to mold. Are you going to block mold or multiparty them?

 

thanks. i will not do block moulds. it uses too much rubber. Clay sure is alot less hassle than wax. Detail is probably easier to achieve too. Ive tried all three main mediums. I like them all for different reasons. Water based clays are cheap and easy to sculpt. I'll always use this if im doing anything big. An armature is needed with both types of clay if you are doing anything large or has longish sticking out bits that need support. I like wax as upto now I have not needed an armature even with the outstreatched wings of my owl

 

Details added to the moray eel. I made it alot smaller than originally intended to keep it more to scale in relation to the shark






Some pics of the mould making stages of the eel. Can believe how untidy my moulds have become after years of not practicing. Take a look at the moulds of the bronze age horse for a comparison.
http://forums.thehomefoundry.org/index.php?attachments/img_3075-jpg.18635/







Coral pieces removed from the main reef for moulding separately. This is going to take some time.

 

Great work! A bit of a departure from your usual T&A...

 

yeswell i dont want people thinking i have a one track mind

 

Added alot more detail to the pinnacle and preparing it for hopfully just a two part mould





Clay wall to create parting line

 

Clay walls to keep in silicone


Silicone poured 3 layers


Clay walls removwd and silicone trimmed. Second clay wall built to keep in plaster that forms supporting mother mould


plaster poured over silicone


All clay removed and plaster trimmed. Mould turned over ready for second part