Colored concrete bas relief panel for the new city pool building to be inset into the exterior concrete block wall by the entrance. The design has been discussed in previous posts last summer, the techniques on the original clay model which was  my own design based around the drawings of the actual pool  and walkway layout. The design incorporates raised letters which were executed on the clay model using some novel-to-me but time proven techniques for creating raised letters in sculptures found in a 1930s era sculpture book. The book suggested that such raised letters were almost never hand formed individually in the clay as they simply cannot be easily…

The rubber portion of the mold is almost completed, one additional application in about an hour will finish it, then it will cure overnight and I can build the plaster shell for it to-morrow. Once I have the shell done it can be taken apart and removed from the plaster master and I can cast a new plaster master to store away, once I do that I should be able to start making the positive rubber master mold. I can finish the rubber positive master mold but I don’t have any more molding plaster with which to make the plaster press-mold, either I’ll have to order a bag shipped UPS…

I have my master plaster cast taken from the original mold made from my hand-modelled 2007 clay master laid out on a board to prep for the new mold. I needed to do a little bit of repairs to the sides on this first, unfortunately the original clay model was fired in the kiln a year ago and for some reason I had not taken a plaster master cast from the first rubber mold immediately when it was made as is typical. That was probably because I had the original clay model, but later forgot I didn’t also have a plaster master and I fired the clay, as a result…

I now have my kiln back in my home studio after removing it from the gallery basement which seemed like the ideal place for it at the time I bought it. So it’s set up now at home where it’s much more convienient to monitor. I fired a couple of older raw clay original models with complete success, including the Astor Place subway beaver model which was just 1/4″ less tall than the inside of the kiln with the lid closed. I’m considering “converting” the Art Deco D5 model into a terracotta line, here’s the original clay model that I fired in the kiln a year ago after making the…

I have  the Nashville clients’ project finished, with the last two crates shipping in the morning, and the city pool projects’ concrete panel finished as well. The concrete pool panel turned out to be a major pain unlike any other! and to think, this is a donated sculpture and it was to be a simple matter to cast the concrete into the mold I made. After casting the first one there were two things I didn’t like, one was it had a lot of fair sized air bubble holes on the surface, the other was the acid stain I’ve used so well on many concrete casts absolutely looked all wrong…