Friday, February 8, 2008

Use of Molds

Lets talk molds.
Now, in the art community it seems molds are looked down upon, and yes, its true that molds can give an artists art the look of manufactured imports, but used sparingly and appropriately, molds are a crafters best friend. I don’t like to use molds on the faces of the butterfly people, and not even on the hands anymore like I used to because of the “look” that it injects making the work just look unoriginal. I do agree with using molds for things like beads and accessories though because they can be very cute, a lot cuter than the 100% handmade versions. So Im for molds, but not for my butterfly people themselves, but anyway, I did make a mold from a rabbit some time back and just re-discovered it today! I’m so happy about this that I made a little rabbit girl fairy.
Below are pictures showing how to use a mold like this one, where you have two halves instead of just one push mold, you have to make two separate clay rabbit halves and then fuse them together. After I did this, I painted the rabbit a bit with black paint to create pseudo shadows in the creases in its legs and mouth-nose area. The piece is made of polymer clay and also used/found jewelry. I will put it for sale on my purchase page, if you link directly to the blog, my website is thebutterflypeople.com.

(below) the mold I made for a rabbit


Two halves dont fit perfectly together, and must be fused




fused and smoothed out, also etched in a face


now the sides need "fixing"




legs seperate

done


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