Installing My first Beetle Specimen Drawer
Today I hope to finish installing my first beetle specimen drawer. It has taken me quite some time to get to the installation stage for this project, but that is not too unusual. The original concept was fine, but my first attempts to actually create were not fine! My first simple arrangement of beetles in the two drawers were just plain boring. But with further thought, some help from my friends, and a good bit more work, I think my Beetles finally sing!
It was very helpful to get some feedback when I shared the photos of these first, disappointing, arrangements. I was able to make use of two comments from artist friends, in working up my final plan. So I have spent the past few days installing my first Beetle Specimen drawer, at the lower left below. The beetles are not lined up in the drawer, but installed into their own environments, surrounded by their favorite things…
I expect to complete a second beetle specimen drawer, and have the photo of my current mock-up here. However it does need further consideration. I think I will include some colorful backgrounds, but will probably swap out some of these shown here. It just looks way too busy at the moment, and that purple is awfully loud! The final version may include dividers as used in the first drawer.
My Golden Boy
My Golden Boy started life as another one of my yellow Lirio soap block carvings. So the casts, created from two different molds, will always be “Golden Boy” regardless of their actual color. I made the first mold as a partial mold of the front, resulting in relief casting that are flat on the back and can be mounted to flat surfaces.
The second mold is a full mold of the original soap carving, but my golden boy original is a wee bit flat in profile. The soap block shape constrains the piece. With some care, I managed to “glom on” a few very messy mucky additions using mushy soap chips, but that took a lot of patience! Hence this incomplete figure!
The soap mush addition process does not seem feasible for larger or finely detailed additions. Also it does not have the same smooth surface of the carved work. I have not tried carving multiple sections that could be attached with soap mush, but that might work.
I still hope to find the perfect medium for making my “originals” for casting. Of course that will never happen, but I do like to experiment. I enjoy carving, but my hands and wrists are compromised, so carving hard stone or wood is problematic. I struggle to get and keep good detail with oil based clay, and it can get distorted in the mold making process. Natural earthen clay might be more pleasing to work, but I don’t have clay, and have very little experience with it. I don’t have kiln, so the idea would be make my molds from air dry clay pieces. These would probably be scrap after removal from the mold.
One of the above arrangements is a finished piece; my relief golden boy at top right is permanently mounted. I shipped “Under the Thorn Tree” to its new owner yesterday!
Beetle Habitats
Finding and Mapping Beetle Territory
I am in the process of designing and mapping beetle territory: where do my beetles live? Where do they eat? And where to they go to sleep? Are they loners, or social beetles?
Here are some of my less dimensional, less colorful beetles! These are clearly herd beetles; they are moving en masse toward some unseen goal. They seem quite focused and content in their progress.
But other beetles will be different, I feel certain.
Beetle Mania Continues
My beetle mania continues, but the drawers are not at all final. There may be one drawer, but probably not two. After consideration, I find that I am bored by my the drawers at the moment. I am underwhelmed by them. So many of the beetles will not be in the drawers at all. If I do use the drawers that I have at hand, they will need to undergo considerable alteration, in order to be satisfying.
I count more than thirty beetles so far, made from seven different molds. The originals for the molds range from my first carved alabaster beetle, to a carved soap beetle, and several clay beetles. Most of the thirty or so beetle casts are made from polyurethane resin, a few are epoxy resin, but I have also made a set in plaster, and a few in an acrylic cement mix.
Now what to do with all my lovely beetles? TBD
Beetle Specimen Drawers Approach Final
I do believe, at least for the moment, that my beetle specimen drawers approach final arrangement.
I have added another round of beetles, two of them being brand new, and I have rearranged them. The arrangements in each drawer seem more compatible. I am still somewhat unsure whether I like these particular drawers, or even the idea of this collection as a whole. But the new additions and updated arrangements fit much better as two somehow congruous sets.
Now the beetles are all lined up facing the same way in both drawers, the drawers a bit cleaner, and these photos were taken with the higher resolution camera:
I may like to think that my project is on track, and that my beetle specimen drawers approach final arrangement. I am still considering though. One idea is add a background in the drawer, under the beetles. A mirror could be interesting, or then again just not! I am looking for the large mirror tile that should be somewhere in my studio… Perhaps the drawers could be stained a bit darker, or even painted.
But … do my beetle specimen drawers pass muster? I need to love them! Do I love them yet? TBD!
Beetle Specimen Drawers Project
I am determined: I will proceed with my beetle specimen drawers project! I anticipate at least two “drawers”, although I am toying with the idea of using closed cases rather than mounting for a wall hung “drawer” display. Old flatware/silverware cases might be quite fabulous. But those might require a different style of beetle than I have so far… so many options!
Second Editions of Mrs. Beetle and Golden Boy
I pulled the second editions of Mrs. Beetle and Golden Boy out of the molds this morning, along with another Mrs. Beetle I and another turtle! I like Golden Boy #2 better than #1; the color shading is better. But I am not quite as fond of Mrs. Beetle II in red & green, although she is just fine. Mrs. Beetle I and Turtle have been cleaned up and sprayed, but Mrs. Beetle II and Golden Boy have not been touched up yet. They are fresh from the molds.
Mold from my Recent Soap Carving
It worked: success! I made one excellent mold and one OK but partial mold from my recent soap carving efforts. I love Mrs. Beetle II, and I can clean and re-use my Golden Boy soap carving to make a more complete mold. I have already made a cast from each of these, along with newl casts from some earlier work.
Here you have some of today’s results, displayed with some earlier work. I set up the originals for mold making yesterday, and poured the silicone in the afternoon. The silicone sets up quickly and I was able to extract the soap carvings, pretty much intact, before dinner. I was so excited that after dinner I rubbed the molds with various pigments, then mixed up the polyurethane plastic and poured it into seven molds. I bought quick setting products, but I decided to wait until this morning to pop out the new casts.
The first casts are fine, and I am really pleased with the beetle mold and cast. I actually love that the cracks in the too dry soap are carried by the silicone, even exaggerated in the cast piece. The cracks make Mrs. Beetle II look rather venerable and distinguished. Golden Boy, with his repaired head, and the cracks, appears to be a reproduction of some ancient statue.
