Moldmaking Begins on Linux-tan
I've put the first coat of silicone rubber on my 18-inch tall clay maquette of Linux-tan. An online community in Japan designs anime representations of operating systems, and decided to draw this jellybean-shaped cartoon character as a surreal cross between a penguin and a gnu, emblazoned with a Gnome footprint logo and sporting a mohawk made of a gear to represent K Desktop Environment. (In order to be a family-friendly sculptor I left off the triply-redundant gigantic naughty bits that the original creators draw him with.) I built him on an armature of a huge sawn-off cardboard packaging tube and twisted copper wire. He's so jaunty, fearsome and wizened! I wish I had a camera!
I'm frustrated with myself for not planning this stage better. I wish I had been more patient and stopped to remember everything Tomak tried to teach me while he let me assist in small ways and observe the creation of his fountain. Excitement, adventure, a sculptor seeks not these things. I was so thoughtless I almost forgot to change into disposable clothes. I'm not sure the improvised paint mixing stick I sawed off a balsa plank was sufficient to really thoroughly mix parts A and B-- I might need an electric mixer. The mixing bowl needed to be four times bigger, and finding the right one took up some of the precious time window, so the rubber was already setting up by the time I was finishing. I mixed way too much and threw out most of this batch of rubber, but at least I covered the whole sculpture. It was probably too hot today for this process, which softened the clay and may result in brushstroke impressions on the finished casting. The heat probably accelerated curing as well. But I've been prepared for this for more than ten years, ever since I read Thurston James in his work The Prop Builder's Molding and Casting Handbook: "If your personality is one that cannot run the risk of failure, you may be in for some psychological trauma."
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