David. David who? David who just bought my first functional triceratops door knocker! Ain't that cool? Thanks David. He contacted me a couple weeks ago about the knocker. The Triceratops is his favorite dinosaur and he was excited to see my beginning attempt at a triceratops door knocker. I was scared to mold it myself though, I didn't want to risk destroying ANOTHER piece. Also, it's a knocker, getting banged around is it's primary function... it had to be done right or it would just fall apart. I looked into having it professionally molded and cast which turns out to be a pricey endeavor. In turn, for me to make a profit, I would have to sell a product at a price that I myself could not afford and that just doesn't jive. So, although mold making is scary and terribly messy (it's SO messy) the most cost effective thing...
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While gearing up for today's post, I tried to think of the perfect title while still keeping it modest. I feel terrible dropping down to one post a week, but I've evened that out with how good I feel about my most recent project that I'm about to share with you. If you caught my last post then you'll already know I've been sculpting a Spiney Orb Weaver spider; it's one of the few native critters in my South Florida neighborhood, besides myself. Like me, this spider has no heightened sense of style nor NASCAR-like driving skills on I-95. We like hanging-out around pools and we're lovers not fighters; I've played with this abundant species all my life and if they were poisonous... I'd be dead. The "awesomeness" I feel about this sculpture is partly due to the kinship I feel for the spider itself. I was born and raised in Hollywood Florida. "Where?!" Yes......
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We've finally finshed the cake. By "we've" I mean "I and my ever-numerous chins", by "finshed" I mean "gluttonously consumed in an absurdly short time", and by "cake" I mean "everything Halloween related in our home". How you doin'? During my last post's festivities I had a number of ideas and out of sculpture-less guilt, I cranked out a new belt buckle that became instantly ruined when I tried to make a mold of it. Argh! But no, to leave it at "argh!" would make us no better than the Peanuts Cartoon... See the shiny film in the above 2 images? It's shiny because it's wet and sticky. The clay inhibited the Smooth-On mold from curing properly and I don't know why. I learned that Smooth-On products don't work with sulfur based clay and had to do an absurd amount of research to discover that my previous batch of clay...
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I got my brass powder in the mail and worked out a couple belt buckles last night. You may have seen in my portfolio the Dinosaur Belt Buckle? Well... say "bye bye" cuz he's getting an upgrade! I give you... Cold Cast BRASS dinosaur belt buckle! It's still made with the same liquid plastic compound but with the addition of the brass powder. It's the real deal so it's about the same weight as brass too. The results look great... in fact, if your interested in a a brass dinosaur skull buckle let me know, I will be making a few more. Drop me a line, these handsome handmade buckles are priced at $44.00(plus shipping). If youd like to learn more about the process, here is a link to the Smooth-On Cold Cast demonstration. They've got fancy stirring cups and everything! The buckles I've made tend to be a faster process than...
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I'm spent some time testing the molds I made... As you may recall, the blue 3-part mold had not come out as well as I'd hoped, so I was very interested to find out what it would make. I have yet to complete the mold for the second half of the lighter case, so I still can't say with certainty what went wrong, but I hope to have answers on Monday. The 2-part mold of the Rook came out as planned, so I am more confident - knock on wood - that casting it will go smoothly. Otherwise, I've been brainstorming on creating a base for all the individual chess pieces. Something simple, I'm thinking a little wooden "puck" with a felt bottom. I've been poking around the interweb trying to find something like that. Ultimately, I suppose I could buy a wooden dowel and slice it into half or quarter inch...
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