Putting Humpty Together Again...

Once the plastic hardens and we trim the edges so no plastic is on the edges that will be fit together, we take the mold pieces off the saw horses. One piece is laid down on the ground while the other is stood up.

Here we are standing the one piece up...now we have to lay it onto the piece on the ground...no easy feat...

Here we are tipping it. Once Justin lifts up, we're hovering it over the lower piece until its in the right spot. Then we bring it down to meet the bottom piece.

Whoomp there it is...

You can see the black line where the seam needs to be filled in....how do we do that all the way up inside the boot, you ask?

Like this...

Third Coat of Plastic

The last coat is the coat that goes over all that fabric we put in on the second coat.

Before adding the final coat.

Me mixing the final batch. This coat gets no thickener added, so its very runny.

We pour it in and then brush it along the whole inside of the mold as fast as possible.

Adam and I brushing the final coat in.

Finished! For now...

Second Coat of Plastic

Ok, here's the visuals for the next coat of plastic...

In this coat we lay down Titek Fabric. We cut it up into squares, rectangles and triangles so we can fit the pieces together easily and quickly.

Here is the cut up Titek...

In order to make the Titek stick, first we have to lay down another coat of plastic thats the same thickness as the first coat.

We then lay the fabric squares in, making sure to really press them into the plastic before it sets up.

Here's one side finished....now for the third coat!

First Coat of Plastic

Here goes the first coat of plastic... We're using Poly Tek 1512X Polyurathane Plastic.

First I mix up a 3lb batch of it and add Poly Fiber II, a thickener, until its the consistency of mayonaise.

Then I put the whole batch into the mold.

Here is Adam and I brushing it out as fast as possible, since it sets up very quickly.

The first side done.

Putting the Mold Back Together

So begins the casting process...
To make a casting you have to make sure your mold is put back together properly



Here are the mold pieces for one side of the boot

Here are Justin and Adam putting them back together. You have to line them up and put bolts through the holes.

Here's Justin holding the mold so we can tighten the bolts. We tighten the bolts somewhat, just so we can stand up the mold and it won't fall apart on us.

Here's the mold after we've stood it up and Justin is tightening the bolts.

The inside of the mold. We now will lay the mold down on saw horses so it will be flat when we put the rubber in and for the rest of the plastic process.

Rubber mold half. Boy are these heavy. We carry them over and basically thrown them into the mother molds. We then have to make sure it keys in correctly and that all the T's and strips are in place.

Justin and Adam making sure the rubber it in the mother mold correctly so we can start the next part...casting!

New Sculptural Forms Teacher at Fleisher

Starting September 16th I'll be teaching the Sculptural Forms class at the Fleisher Art Memorial on Tuesday nights! So anyone wanting to partake in sculpting fruits, veggies, animals, and some other weird stuff, come on down! Sure to be a fabulous time and classes are super cheap. Yay!

Click here and scroll down for more details.