This update on casting the bird is about relearning lessons learned! I am not methodical, I don’t track, write down, or review all the steps, tips, and lessons learned from my endeavors in art or life. And of course that can create trouble!

Before I made a new mother mold for my Fat Baby Bird, I did briefly review the process. But sadly I didn’t think it all through carefully enough! The outer mold failed when it leaked resin. I had two options for the remake: use the original stone carving with my still intact silicone mold, or use the new resin cast to support the silicone mold.

Foolishly, I chose the most convenient option: the resin cast. I pulled the silicone mold over the resin cast, instead of cleaning up and drying the original carved bird. Since the resin has leaked in the casting, it is about 1/5 shorter than the original and of course the silicone mold. So I added a bit of oil based clay to fill the bottom of the mold, and built my new plaster mold over that.

This was a mistake! I took the time to dry the plaster fully, coat it with oil based polyurethane, then rushed to make two cement casts without examining the first one carefully. It was only after I pulled the first one out of the overnight water cure that I saw the problem. My new mother mold was fatally flawed. My casts had misshapen heads, and I needed to make another rigid outer mold!

Here is the flawed mother mold, and the flawed cast, after I whacked them with a sledgehammer, which was somewhat satisfying…

The broken bird will not be part of the edition, but may become an amusing installation, TBD.

So now I have made a new plaster mother mold, using the original stone as the base. This was still problematic because the stone is mounted to a base, which crowds the silicone mold but this should be a small issue that I can correct readily in future casts. I have yet to use my new mold however, I may be a bit afraid to do so!

As of this post, I have fourteen good casts for my limited edition from the Fat Baby Bird limestone sculpture. I still hope to complete the planned edition of twenty-five. And that is the update on casting the bird. Stay tuned to see if the new mold will be a success.

Note: it may be telling that I do not find any photos of my flawed castings prior to destroying them. I was so disappointed, and not at all proud of them. So apparently I did not document my error. So much for even trying to learn from my mistake…