For the final project i my goal was to make a plaque of the eagle, globe and anchor which is the symbol of the Marine Corps, the material being plaster. First i had to make the shapes of the base and the symbol, both of which came out pretty well.
Next i had to vacuum form the 2 pieces in order to create the molds i would need to shape the plaster. The molds actually formed pretty well, considering the fact that i used 20 mil styrene, which stretched to the point where it was very thin in some areas.
After pouring the plaster and letting it sit, the base actually came out pretty well, sturdy and with no bubbles of any kind. The symbol was a different story. My first 3 attempts were all failures, breaking before or right after they came out of the mold. My fourth mold came out the best, however, once i started carving in details it began to break in different areas, along where the plaster was thinner. I was left with a disaster, the final was broken in at least 4 or 5 different places. What i concluded from this mess was that if you want to mold plaster, do NOT make less than at least 1" thick, otherwise its probability of crumbling or breaking apart is greatly increased. To conclude, i wasn't really happy with how the final came out, but it would have looked pretty good if it hadnt broken all over. I probably won't be working again with plaster any time in the near future.
No comments:
Post a Comment