Casting My Moulds 1

This week I began to cast my clay sculptures into my prosthetic moulds. Throughout the process of creating my moulds in previous tasks I have struggled with doing it neatly, resulting in moulds not working properly on the first application. Therefore this time I made sure that I was very methodical in my steps and was more patient and took time in each process. Although I will not fully know the outcome of the moulds until I take them out and apply them to the skin I hope that they are more successful. I have not yet finished the process of casting all of my moulds as it took me longer than I was expecting so intend to finish them off in a later session. I would also like to use one of my sculptures twice so have therefore been very careful in the removal of the mould from the clay. Last time I was too rough and snapped the plastic tray. This time however I was more gentle and was therefore able to remove it cleanly.

In the casting process I did however struggle with getting the quantities of Silicone A and B correct. I am not sure if this was a technical error with the scales as the about kept changing the amount. I however made sure that any batches that I was unsure about were discarded. The next step that I now need to undertake is that of applying the Baldiez and coloured silicone mixture to my sculptures. I struggled with this step in the wound application task, as I applied too little of the Baldiez and was too slow in applying the coloured mixture, resulting in a lumpy finish. This time, because it is so important, I will make sure that I spend more time and put more layers over my moulds, but work quicker in the final casting stages. I am pleased with how they have turned out so far; the details that I created in the clay have been picked up well and the shapes are good. I hope that I am able to carry on the next stages successfully and produce high quality prosthetics for my hybrid.

My prosthetic pieces so far: