notes i took while doing the first part of the kent cast:
rubber mold step 1.

process notes:

• shim first, then shellack
• when shimming, do it like roofs when going down the side of the piece so that if wet rubber runs down the site of the shim, it won’t cross to the other side (i.e. overlap the shims top over bottom)
• use kleen clay (klay?), which is what the originally used for claymation, to build walls and make little key molds and stuff
• e edges of the clay using a tool so that they clay hugs the edge of the shim wall. when you stick in the shims, they’ll push the clay out a bit. this step is to push the clay right against the shims again
• we poured a rubber plug into the bottom to fill in between kent’s legs. brett put the sculpture on a vibrating table to vibrate the rubber and encourage it to release the bubbles up to the top
• brett keeps different size key molds just lying around his studio so that he can quickly make keys of any size he wants.
• key tip: put liquid rubber in the mold. then wrap some kind of fabric around your finger and stick it into the mold too, so that it’s enclosed and surrounded by the liquid. it will fill with liquid too and be encase in it. then when the rubber for the key is dry, the fabric will be sticking out, like a badminton birdie. then when you stick this key to the rubber of the real mold, spread the skirt out like a woman doing the splits in a skirt and coat the edges of the skirt with rubber too. this key will last a lot longer and be less likely to pull off the mold.

Materials:

• smooth-on mold-max 20 (comes with part A and part B; A is white in a big yellow bucket, and B is in a pink jug)
• fast cat 20 – this is a cure accelerator in a blue bottle
• thi vex II – this is a thickener, in a blue bottle
• shims, scissors, shellac (spray can), small buckets, 2-5 small brushes, mold release (spray can), mixing sticks, some clay (kleen clay) for keys and blocking up holes and making walls, something to mold keys out of (e.g. nice pen cap).