Here is a photo of the sculpt after I extracted it from the mold. The latex seemed to soak up some of the oils in the clay slightly drying it out. It would still mold like clay, but I thought this a peculiar effect.
I then taped up the side and painted a layer of latex over the tape and the seam so resin wouldn't leak out.
Tada! Here is the cast I'll be using for my Mighty Mugg Custom.
Here is the first attempt at making a cast of the mold.
Detail.
Detailed detail.
Details.
Deets.
As you can see the result was less than spectacular. After discussing with my assistant what could have caused such catastrophe, we decided that not allowing time for the mold release agent to dry made the bubbles form. Had I properly used the agent, I probably wouldn't have had such a difficult time getting the cast out of the mold on the second try, but after some struggle I was able to get it out without destroying the mold.
Detail.
This was a great learning experience. This job is best done with help from another person if the mold isn't easy to work with. Since I had such an odd shape, and I did not take the time to make a brace that would allow me to properly pour the resin myself, my assistant held it while I poured and then we placed the mold in a cup stuffed with gift tissue to let it cure.
I was a bit sloppy with pouring the resin and I accidentally got resin all over my assistant's hands while she held the mold upright. She then waited for me to finish pouring (it starts to set in about 3 minutes) and the resin started to set on her hands. She spent the next hour washing her hands with dish detergent, lava soap, and nail polish remover to get the stuff off her hands and then another half an hour filing her nails.
Use rubber gloves! On the next try I used quite a bit less of the resin and my assistant wore gloves which she highly recommends as well. Because the resin cures so quickly it generates a lot of heat, which is another reason to wear gloves. After careful consideration my assistant and I decided it would be best to snip off the other end of EWJs head so that we could pour the resin in both sides, ensuring no bubbles would form in the narrow tip.
Now on to work on the Mighty Mugg's body, sanding the head, spraying with primer, and painting.
