Casting, Part 2

To cast the figure I do the following:

1. Cut up many small strips of fiberglass mat.
   
2. Mix the resin. The instructions say 14 drops of hardener per ounce of resin. That ratio doesn't give me enough time, so I usually make it about 20 drops in a 2-ounce measure of resin.
   
3. Coat the inside of of the mold with resin mix.
   
4. Place a layer of fiberglass strips into the mold.
   
5. Paint the layer with another coat of resin mix.
   
6. Iterate the previous two steps until I have at least three layers of fiberglass. The two ounces lasts for about two coats per mold, so I mix more whenever I run out.
   

I put extra resin and glass on surfaces that might be prone to breakage—cheeks, nose, brows, anyplace that protrudes.

There are no pictures along the way. I don't have time to mess with a camera because the setup time of the resin is relatively fast, and I don't want to handle my camera with gloved hands all gooped up with resin and glass fibers. And I don't have a cameraperson on staff.

Here's the face cast, still in the mold. It's about ready to come out.


The back of the head comes out easily. The face, however, has undercuts, so I break the mold with a hammer and chisel.


That completes the casting process. Now we have a shell ready to become a head. Stay tuned...