Fifty eight year old me is riddled with aches and pains after finishing this monster of a mould. Still, it was a very satisfying experience. It really tested my limits.
The mould was immoveable right after the last side was poured. Couldn’t even budge it at the end of that day. The next morning, I managed to get the wedges out from underneath. I heaved it over the edge of the bat a centimetre at a time until I got a little leverage. It pretty much took all my strength and the whole weight of my body to roll it on its side. Once I did, it parted easily. Fifty eight year old me really needs an assistant when working this big. That and more space.
I had to cut this model free from the base section just like the first. If it were still winter, I could have put it out in the cold. The wax would have shrunk free. Warm weather wax is different. It swells and sticks. The raised foot made a tight lock on both models.
Slicing the wax in thin layers told the story back to me. I could see before my eyes all the history that lay beneath the surface. The warmth of the sun would soften the exposed wax, letting me cut away a few layers until it became too stiff again. Then after a couple minutes, the newly revealed surface would be soft and I would cut away more layers and so on. There the story was revealed in concentric rings of shaded wax just like the rings of a tree. Two or three times I came upon ‘finished’ eyes buried in the wax mass. There to remind me of all those times I thought I was done but ended up doing another remodel. Finally, I came upon the original ping pong balls I had started the eye sockets with. These last eyes were no further apart than those of the average house cat. That original idea was the seed that grew until it reached the limits of both my kiln and body.
Time to recover physically this week. Lighter work. Furry figure character heads, tails, poses etc.
