New technique!

Not a new subject, I admit! It's Barry O'Farrell again, pre diet, our beloved leader - not! But the technique is completely new.

I have been getting increasing frustrated by the weight of ceramic sculptures of any size and the lead time involved in making and firing them, particularly in our political climate! So here is my first lightweight sculpture....................

 

Although he's similar to the Barry who featured earlier in this blog, they are both approximately life size, this one weighs in at a fraction of the weight, at only a couple of ounces!

 

He originated as a clay model from which I made a two piece plaster mould which I used to slip cast a latex  skin which was then filled with flexible foam. I used S-foam from Barnes. Amazing stuff!  Finally he was painted using ordinary acrylic paint mixed 50 : 50 with liquid latex. This proved quite successful and much cheaper than buying special flexible paint. The only disadvantage is that, as the liquid latex is an opaque white but dries a darker beige colour, it was a bit difficult gauging the finished colours. Next time I will have a better idea of what to expect.

 

And the other advantage of this technique! I have a reusable mould that I can use to churn out multiple copies. Not that I want  multiple versions of Barry around the place you understand, but I'm sure that they could come in useful in other places:) Somewhere in Wahroonga springs to mind! And, luckily it's just down the road!