So far I have made 55 moulds and I am still standing but only just.
The problem is that in most cases a mould is a game of two halves. For the mould halves to marry up perfectly, they really need to be made one after the other and then dry together, tightly banded. In this way the seams or join lines of both halves are so close that water and slip will not trickle out of them. All of which means that when you embark upon a mould you are committed to making both halves.
It takes about an hour to prepare and pour each half and twenty minutes for the first half to dry out enough to be removed from the mould box prior to reinserting. All this series I have had to dig plaster out of every Lego brick between halves because of the size of the items being moulded. Plaster of Paris thickens, once made up with water and stirred for about eight minutes; if your joints on the mould boxes are a bit dodgy you can let the plaster thicken a bit more before you pour it into the box. This is a safety procedure that eliminates the most horrible sight, that of plaster evacuating the mould via a hole in the side, or, more likely, several holes in a couple of sides. When this happens you are into a beat the clock game show for one; if you want to win it there isn’t even time for the voluble swearing that should accompany such activity.
However, pouring thick plaster is less likely to capture the detail and in 48th scale detail is the name of the game. I did wonder, when I began, why no one else was doing porcelain in 48th scale and I think I’ve found out now. The only way to do it is to pour the plaster riskily wet and liquid.
I had an interesting pause on Saturday when I ran out of mould release and went to Stratford to get some with the other half in the middle of an extreme gout attack shouting at the tourists like a banshee. I drove back and he still shouted.
All of which left me behind schedule and making moulds, both halves, at midnight, so it was half past one before I got to bed. But, all things being equal I might be finished today. Maybe.
How will they pour?
Well that’s what I still have to find out and if the answer is: Rubbish! then I’ve just wasted a month before a deadline when I could have been writing for it.
A friend wrote recently complaining of boredom on a holiday; it’s not a problem I seem to have.
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JaneLaverick.com – plaster under the fingernails for a week.