"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

Mold making begins on "American Beauty"

I finished sculpting "American Beauty" today. I know I finished because Clint Howard brought his crew from Deep in the Heart Art Foundry and started mold making. 

David L Phelps

This is it; I have to stop now

Laying down floor protection

She's finally ready to go

Creating an efficient work space

using playing cards for the shim lines

Gary joining the playing cards with masking tape

If you knock one card down they all fall like dominos

Shimming is finished on the legs, some of the crew moves on to shim the torso while Clint demonstrates how to apply silicon rubber on the legs.