Phelps Sculpture Studio

"American Beauty" mold making finished!!!!

The final day of mold making on "American Beauty" by the Deep in the Heart crew.

They got here on Wednesday, worked 17 hour days for 4 days, and left Sunday morning having finished a high quality silicon rubber mold of a 4 X life-size sculpture titled "American Beauty."
They loaded up the 81 separate mold sections on their trailer as well as a couple of my large sculptures that Clint will take to his gallery in Austin, Texas.

They left my studio cleaner than when they got here. ( I was very happy about that)

The next step in the "American Beauty" process is casting waxes into the mold sections. This will be done at the Deep in the Heart foundry in Bastrop, Texas (just outside of Austin)

more to come.........

Mold making crew (+ me)


plaster mother mold cont....



building the mother mold flanges


mother mold pretty much finished

getting ready to stencil mold IDs on each section

beginning to stencil


finished with stenciling


Clint drilling alignment holes in mother mold


first mold section being removed

off comes the mother mold section









cleaning up the rubber mold sections

removed mold sections layed out




50 mold sections on the torso alone


matching rubber to mother molds





mold almost completely removed



Patty helped match rubber to mother mold sections

mold removal done, loading the trailer


Early Saturday evening

beginning to load mold




Gary strapping down "Paradise"

Beginning studio clean up

rolling up tarp



moving torso off the tarp



Tarp is rolled up with all the debris 


Tarp went directly to the dumpster





early Sunday morning; ready to roll back to Austin


So long!!


Silicon Rubber Mold Making Continues......

Day two of rubber mold making with the Deep in the Heart Art Foundry crew.
The first unthickened coat of rubber is almost completely finished. The silicon rubber is white but the normal set catalyst is purple which gives the first coat the lilac tint. The second coat is slightly thickened  and some higher speed catalyst is used which changes the color to tan and makes it easy to see where the new rubber has been applied. The third coat is very thick and applied like putty.
Today is the third day of the crew being here. I expect the rubber to get finished today......next up, plaster mother mold.

last of the first coat going on

Gary is blowing the fresh rubber with compressed air to pop any trapped air bubbles






second coat going on








Clint pouring rubber into the belly button



beginning to add the thickened third coat

spreading it out








third coat is applied to the entire  surface first, only then applied to the shim line






mixing more rubber

preparing the second drum of rubber for use




at the end of day 2, leg rubber is done, torso almost done

Keys have been added and rubber flanges trimmed








Work is progressing well on American Beauty. Jose Rodriguez is up from Austin offering invaluable help in getting this piece finished with the attention to detail that I'm looking to achieve. I'm also getting great help from Christie Hackler and Christie Owen.
American Beauty

Red Head bad boy put back into service today
to make another 160 lbs of oil clay

Jose Rodriguez working on the hair

Jose Rodriguez working on the hair

Going over mig welding theory with Christie Owen

Christie admiring the pattern

Cutting steel panels with the plasma cutter

Cutting steel panels with the plasma cutter

Going over process

Christie cleaning up the panels with the Dewalt

Getting that steel sliver out

Inspection

Demonstrating interior welding

Sunday studio work


Working on Sunday with Christie Owen and Jose Rodriguez.  Sculpting on American Beauty and getting some pieces patinated to ship out to Whistler Village Art Gallery and to a private collector.




sandblasting

 heating up the Oarsman
patina notes and chemicals








Spraying Lacquer

finished "Dive"

finished "Oarsman"