All images on this site copyrighted by Russell W. Taylor
The original was sculpted using an oil based clay. This clay never dries, so the piece can be worked on indefinitely. I made a wire armature, (attached to the 'L' bracket in back) to support the clay so it wouldn't sag. I intentionally worked the surface of the clay to be a little rough, so it relates to the texture I use in my paintings. It took me about a month or so of working between paintings to complete the sculpture.

Then the real work begins... making a mold that I could reuse and cast sculptures repeatedly of high quality.

Basically, here's the way it works. The mold is actually two molds, a rubber mold that captures every detail of the original and a hard-shell mold that supports the rubber mold to keep it from flexing during the casting process. Both molds have to be made in sections so they can be put together and taken apart and the sculpture can be removed without damage. Also, the mold parts must fit together perfectly so the liquid resin only goes where it should.
The rubber mold is liquid silicone rubber that is applied in four or five layers, starting very thinly and getting thicker with each layer following. A clay wall is built on the original sculpture to contain the rubber as it is applied and create the separate sections of the mold. After a section of the rubber mold is complete, the clay wall is removed and the next area of rubber is applied directly to the mold wall created by the clay before. The rubber mold on this sculpture was in 3 pieces; 2 on the front and one on the back. This part takes about 2 or 3 days to complete.

After the rubber mold is completed, the hard-shell mold is applied over it in stages. Again a clay shim wall is used to keep the hard-shell sections separate. There are 3 pieces to the hard-shell mold. This part of the process takes about one day and with that, the mold is complete.

The mold is then carefully taken apart, and the original sculpture is removed. The original has no other use now and I can reuse the clay for another sculpture. The mold is cleaned up and checked for fit, then reassembled and held together with bungee cords, turned upside down in a bucket and the resin is poured in through the sculptures base (feet) area. The resin hardens in about 30 minutes, then the mold is removed and the cast piece is cleaned up as needed. At this point the resin is still very warm, but after a few hours it is cool enough to prime and paint. The casting and painting process takes about a day and a half to complete.

What is cast resin? Resin is liquid plastic. Two separate liquids that when mixed together react to create a quick hardening solid peice. The type used for casting sculpture is capable of reproducing the smallest details and is extremely hard when cured (dry) and it's paintable.

Why resin? Cost. The artist can make the mold and cast small pieces in the studio. Resin is not cheap, but compared to casting bronze, and paying a foundry to do all the work involved with that process, resin is less costly and allows the artist to sell the pieces at more affordable prices than similar sized bronze sculpture.