It's coming down to the final hours... I hate when this happens. We knew a kink would rear it's head in this process,but who knew it'd be rolled in a riddle. I'm making a mold of the Owl now, and the cure time is 5 hours. Five hours for the new stuff I'm trying: Smooth-On, Dragonskin 10 Medium. That's right... I found it at my local art store and was curious to check it out. This Zippo case was not on the agenda, so in using what I've got, I'm faced with a 5 hour dry time. It's supposed to be a very stretchy "high performance" silicone rubber, so I'm considering trying this Owl case as a 2 part mold (easier, MAYBE). Last time, I spent an absurd amount of time creating barriers to make a 3-part-molds only to have the separate sections congeal into one chunk. I'm wondering if I should risk destroying ANOTHER...
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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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Today I'm working on parts 2 and 3 of the three-part-mold of HALF of Tod's Tribal Dragon (it's definately a dragon now). Amy is happy with the design which is now primed and Tod still hasn't found this site - like so many others... But here's a sneak-peek at the molding process currently: What you see here is the top half of the lighter case with it's bottom portion (and inside) embedded in the blue rubber mold compound. The piece was subsequently turned on it's side and is now being half embedded in clay. I'll then wall it in and pour part 2 of the 3 part mold. It's my first try at a 3 part mold on a piece I intend to keep. Oh, I've made 2 part molds of pieces before that came out undamaged... just not enough to count on one hand. "No worries Amy, you...
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