At the end of second term, this is what I had accomplished. More information on the development during second term can be found here and here.

Far from finished I had a few goals I wanted to achieve in time for my exhibition in Lithuania in July and hopefully also in time for the next deadline in third term. They were as follows:

Make the glasses successfully, included the main frame, arms and tiny screws Improve the objects and their amber aesthetic— these objects were lacking in the cracks, imperfections, trapped things, veins and had a somewhat tacky quality to them Figure out what varnish to use.

(Side note, there are good links to explain the kinds of molds I’ve made here and here.)

1. The Glasses:

The Main Frame:

By the end of second term I had successfully made a ‘plug’ mold, but not cast into it yet. Here are, in chronological order the casts that resulted:

The first few casts lost their shape a little and flattened out. Through making more and more casts, I found the way to demold at just the right time. Demold too early and the shape of the glasses will be warped (they flatten out). Demold too late and the flashing is much harder to get off (may end up taking off a nose-pad or two).

Earlier versions on the left, very flattened out. Later, more accurately shaped versions on the right.

Arms:

This time I used the method of pouring silicone into a box I had made with clay. I bought Mold Star 30 which has a 45 minute pot life and 6 hour cure time. For this kind of mold, I poured into one corner slowly to avoid the formation of air bubbles. I was also hoping that a silicone with 45 minute pot life would have more than enough time to let any possible air bubbles float to the top…

Unfortunately that wasn’t the case:

I quickly moved on and tried again. Imploring the ‘plug’ method like I had with the frames:

I did an original thin layer in the Mold Star 16 (the lighter blue), so that there were definitely no air bubbles.

It turned out much more successfully:

2: Improving the objects and their amber aesthetic:

I knew that by casting repeatedly, the quality of the casts would most likely improve, so I simultaneously experimented with how to make the amber aesthetic more believable while perfecting the quality of casts.

On the left is the last turtle cast of second term, on the right is the first of second. Part of the improvement lied in applying more resin to the mold after the first part had cured to fill in any remaining gaps.

At the end of last term I had experimented with using “resin chips”. Unfortunately they lose their definition when more resin is added. I needed a new approach for how to create a higher contrast effect and soon tried my hand at using caramel.

Some of the caramel I made:

Placed it into the molds and added resin:

On the left are keys that did not use caramel. They were also shaped incorrectly from being in a vice— which caused the keys to warp. I decided to try the halves separately to lessen that effect, it worked.

Resin chips on the left. Caramel and bug/dirt on the right.

The effect of the caramel is more believable more in objects with greater depth.

The problem with caramel is that it dissolves. And the problem with resin is that it requires sanding under water to avoid scratches. I needed to devise a way to remove flashing and extra parts without losing the caramel. I solved this by removing flashing earlier with a scalpel and smoothing edges by carving into the casts slightly. I also needed a way of sealing in the caramel (For when it isn’t entirely tapped in resin, especially in flat/thin objects) to prevent it from melting in the summer heat etc— I thought more on varnishes.

3.What varnish to use

Above: sanded, but not varnished resin crayons.

Satin on left, Gloss on right. They look pretty similar to me. I decided to go with the gloss finish when I was varnishing things, but I didn’t feel like all the objects required the varnish.

Recap, this was at the end of last term:

And this is the end of this term:

Things that could use improvement still:

That turtle. I need to make one that is neat and contains the caramel for the amber effect. The glasses. Although the arms attach to the face, they are not as robust as I would like them. There are holes in critical positions that mean the arms come off too easily. Maybe the crayons. Not sure how, perhaps a greater range of colors.

Other than that, I’m quite happy with the progress I’ve made and I’m very excited to have these in my exhibition.