Mediums
Mediums
Most of my sculptures and prototypes are made out of a 2 part epoxy compound.   When mixed and set up the epoxy has strength characteristics somewhere between stone and cement, but is non porous and can be drilled, cut and machined like wood or steel.  This is the same compound used in the automotive industry as liquid steel for body shaping and repair.  It starts off as a two part compound, when mixed together has the same characteristics as traditional clay, the two parts chemically react to one another and the hardening process begins.  Once the reaction starts I'll have a working time of three to four hours.  This medium is an epoxy so it will bond to just about anything including itself, this property allows me to layer my work and build up my sculpture with no need to rush, so my actual working time is unlimited.  Unlike polymer clays(sculpy, etc...) it is not necessary to bake my sculpture, and there is no material deterioration or chemical breakdown over time. There is no shrinking or warping of the sculpt, so no loss of detail.   Every pore and wrinkle will stay just as it was meant to be on the finished piece.  These sculptures will last through generations to put a smile on the faces of all who see them.


Epoxy
Fiberglass
Fiberglass is material made from extremely fine glass fibers, when laminated with polyester resin becomes an incredibly strong and lightweight material.  This is the same material used to make cars, boats and aircraft.  Working in fiberglass is a messy and involved process but the results are well worth the final result.  The first step is to sculpt the piece in epoxy, this is my choice material due to the tremendous amount of detail that is possible.  Once the sculpt is complete, I'll make silicone molds which will pick up even the smallest amount of detail from the original sculpt.  This can be quite time consuming depending on the complexity of the sculpt.  When the molds are complete its time to glass. Glass lay up is laying fiberglass cloth into the silicone mold and then pressing polyester laminating resin into the cloth so as to saturate the fibers, I'll lay in several layers of cloth and resin for thickness and strength.  Once the fiberglass has set up and hardened I can pull the molded piece out of the silicone to reveal a perfect duplicate of the original sculpture.