playing with plastics

Toronto artist, Terry McGlade approached me to reproduce his "Hear The World" sculpture. The original had been made by Heavy Industries in Calgary, but they were no longer doing this kind of work. I got the moulds, nicely made silicone rubber and fibreglass, and started work. I had a stainless steel interior made to create a strong frame.

Here's the partially laid up mould, steel in place, epoxy/chopped glass surface showing. 

I mixed up a gooey mix of epoxy and glass bubbles and squeezed the whole thing together. When it hardened, I opened up the pour holes in the top of the mould. I hooked a vacuum to a hole to help draw in the liquid foam. I was able to pour a pail of two part foam into the cavity in a few seconds, filling the whole cavity as it swelled up.

Here's how the mould looked with the top pulled off:

this is the first copy, ready for its coat of red automotive paint. I poured the second one today, always an adventure, foam making the mould creak a little as it moves about. I'll get these both to a paint shop once they are both done.