Just in time

Even though I did 'just' get it done, it was perhaps because i set my self a rather ambitious task. I'm pleased with the result.

Assessment day Nov 2010

Ok, this might be blurry but it does show the movement in the work

the day before

Asessment day...a long day to be sure. Last 3 pieces came out of the kiln, attached ball transfers to table finished table,

A sign of things to come

Here's an idea of how it is coming together, imagine 3 more pieces and a centre.

Bright light and hot metal

Marcus (with the beginnings of a bad cold) made the support table while I passed the salt (tape measure, clamp, screws etc)

I love the sparkles

I watched behind a mask but my skin got red like bad sunburn

more sparkles

the spiderweb aka maze support

At bloody last

The final 2 maze pieces are in kiln 11

this is the last time

I'll make a sheet of wax this size,
cut it into strips
make a model
mix plaster and silica
steam out the mold
clean the mould
clean the glass
mix the fire clay and grog
put the molds in the kiln

Maze pieces done! Due to come out Monday(the day before assessment)

centre piece goes in

I made a mistake, fixed with fibre paper

My test piece is back in here

I need to go here...soon

Hooper Bearings Pty Ltd - 690 Botany Road, Mascot NSW Australia 2020

Maze support

After a chat with Marcus on Friday (or was it Thursday?), he is going to weld me some support for the maze a kind of cartwheel affair that we will attach to the table base..it will be, after all about 60kg or so...

This morning Dougie drove me to Mascot Steel for the primed SHS 25mm x 25mm 3mm. Cubular steel I call it. Nicole was very helpful..and told me about Hooper Bearings.

Maze section E and the centre

It took a while to melt and remove the wax from the centre piece. My poll on whether to paint the model people or not resulted in mainly 'unpainted', a few 'painted' and one 'mixed'.

my improvised steamer (and apple)

The centre piece (mark 2) mould ready for the Kiln (and glass) on Monday

Section E  model ready

What colour shall I wear?

One wrong dab of the paintbrush can make a big difference

I'm trying to make the decision about whether to paint the people or not. Left white they look more dream like, with colour more real....hmmm

Kiln 11, we have lift off

I'm pretty tried now..and I only have to do this 3 more times..

2 down

swap?

Rob..in some trepidation asked me if I had thought of water jet cutting the maze. It would be quicker he said..all I would need to do is draw it up on a computer program. I seriously entertained that idea for a while as I am pressed for time since the centre had to be chucked.

A long day

Pieces A and B...

I wish I had that pattern tracer thing I had in pattern making

bearings

Allied bearings and seals
sales@alliedbearingsandseals.com.au
ph 07 - 3277 1444

Small parts and bearings
fax 07 3349 1003
sales@smallparts.com.au

Hobby parts
sales@hobbyparts.com.au

SKF

Any shape plastics 
info@anyshapeplastice.com.au

Time to give up

Ok I've had to abandon my first mould. I'll pour it differently next time..not in layers. The force of me pulling the softened wax out started pulling the first plaster layer off in parts and by Friday afternoon it was really messy. We tried to patch it up and air hose some of the bits out but it just made it worse. So my question is...To make it easier to steam out..do I make this section smaller?

Wax removal

This is quite time consuming...as you may have realised..this thing is quite big..I can't pick it up by myself. In the test piece I worked out that I could steam the wax out without having to turn it over. I would point the steamer hose down on the 'hedges' and scoop and peel the wax out of the cavities. It took all evening to get this far and I've broken a few bits.