#68 Plaster cast reliefs

I have sculpted and molded (using urethane rubber) around 20 relief sculptures in the last year. These reliefs were originally designed to be cast in aluminum. However, in the last 2 months I have been evaluating the casting quality of aluminum and it pains me to think that I cannot continue casting aluminum. The last several reliefs that were returned to me were of poor quality! They were either short poured or filled with air bubbles that I could normally be able to fix on a three-dimensional sculpture, but on a relatively flat surface it is very difficult. So, in my free time I have been spending time trying to find another option for casting.

For the 10 years I have become familiar with casting in resin. I have used resin for casting models for public art competitions, trophies, even for mother mold making. More recently I began experimenting with adding powders such as bronze, stone, sand, terracotta, cement, etc. to see what kind of look resin offers. Most of the time these experiments were eye opening. Sometimes they were discouraging and made me want to give up. In the last month I've been focusing my free time in developing a look for casting the reliefs in resin and I believe I have found a beautiful look for these mid-relief sculptures. I'm calling it "bonded sand and oxides". Although it's much more than that, I'm leaving out my formula so as not to bore anyone. However, to get these castings means that I have to remold around 20 or so of my reliefs. They are almost all molded with a urethane resin. The problem is the "bonded sand and oxides" formula uses urethane resin which will bond to anything urethane including urethane rubber. The four reliefs above are plaster casts that I will seal with acrylic spray and johnsons paste wax so that I can remold, this time using tin cured silicone.