Letting off steam!

[valiant]

Hi Guys,

Just want to vent my spleen regarding a certain bust which I have been commissioned to clean up for a club member. Im not sure who the manufacturer is but it is a double bust of two Russian infantrymen, with one carrying a flag.

Firstly, not any criticism of the sculpt itself, but more of the way this has been moulded. A huge lump of resin, which, inevitably due to it's complexity, has a really nasty seam running all the way up the coat tails and up some quite complex creases which are visible on the rear of the bust and some awful complex seams under the base of the bust. Coupled with displaced seams, this has been a nightmare. The guy whose figure it is also showed me that the flag was broken in the packaging. This in itself was not a problem, as I was to change the flag for a musket, anyway, but had it been my money, I wouldnt have been pleased.

Why on earth this bust wasnt broken down into more manageable sections, heaven only knows! The clean up and resculpting of parts of this figure has taken two complete evenings to do and were I to charge an hourly rate, this would be far more than the figure cost! Had there been more though given to the breakdown and engineering of the figure, this would have resulted in ultimately more parts, but with much smaller seams which could be hidden.

I know that this is a bone of contention with me, but having worked in the ceramics industry for 20 years, making workable moulds is a skill and not merely pouring silicon over a master and hoping for the best.

OK - rant over and thanks for looking in!

 

[Tecumsea]

Any pictures of the bust Steve?

 

[polyphemus]

OK I guess that many here will recognise the piece and in view of another thread this manufacturer is having a pretty bad press at the moment. Is there a point beyond which a subject is over animated or over sculpted to the point where it becomes unmanageable to produce as a commercial piece? Are some pieces being sculpted in too large a scale?

Any thoughts?

Geoff

 

[valiant]

I dont think that scale is an issue, but thought must be given to how the piece will be produced. If this were broken down into smaller components and had the two figures separated, then the size of the moulds would be much easier to handle and fill. Inevitably, with moulds this size, there is a substantial amount of resin poured and this weight will push seams apart or distort the mould, unless there is something rigid around the mould to prevent it from occurring.

Here are some pics of some of the large items and large scale figures we produced, around 200mm scale and larger. The jardiniere stands some 4 feet tall. All are cast from smaller components, assembled then fired, decorated, then fired again, several times. Bear in mind that these are ceramic figures and were cast from multiple part Plaster of Paris moulds, not silicon rubber!

 

[Nap]

Hi Guys

My thoughts ......this is all about Quality control from the cincept of an idea to the engineering of tge pieces , positioning of casting blocks , the packaging and then the presentation ....and finally customer service should there be any issues .

Geoff

...can pieces be over animated ....in historical possibly but the end result needs to be practical for casting and pleasing to the modeller otherwise they don't purchase .

I feel that the mere fact of it being a fantasy piece encompasses tge sculptor to really push the boundry's in animation .

Just my thoughts!

Steve..do share the end result if you can

Nap

 

[polyphemus]

I was suggesting that over animation can present challenges to the mouldmakers. It's not impossible to produce such pieces but obviously it requires greater expertise and effort, and cost.
Again this was a piece I'd thought of buying but maybe not now. There are just too many other pieces in what is still a competitive market place.

Geoff

 

[1969]

Casting complex figures is something that cannot be taught overnight, it involves two important components. The first is the sculptor, he/she needs to have a knowledge of how figures are cast so they can make the necessary engineering to allow for a successful casting.
The second is the person casting, they need to firstly know the best way to sprue each part to avoid air entrapment within the mould, another important aspect is knowing the limits of the size of the sprues, the secret is to go as small as possible without compromising the casting quality. The mould maker also needs to work out if needed where the seam needs to be on the part for when the mould is split. If the engineering is done really well a lot of the seams can be eliminated and the parts just pulled straight out of the mould without cutting the mould which produce the cleanest castings of all with virtually no clean up required.

All these things come with practice and experience and it is something I learned through doing thousands of castings and even now sometimes I do not get it right first time, I can understand a lot of manufacturers who might have had their work cast commercially by a thrird party are now doing it themselves to save money, and that can effect the quality of their initial work but chances are they will get better with each piece as they learn the process.

I believe just about anything can be cast with good results if you have the experience, I have had some parts sent that initially I looked at and thought that is impossible to cast but after looking at it over and over I have come up with a solution and cast it successfully but that is down to experience.

Steve

 

[valiant]

Well put, Steve - I agree 100%

 

[Blind Pew]

There must be something in what you say. Consider this, over 90% of figures we see are static, standing poses. Very few indeed are seated, or in anything like a dynamic pose.
Two things, maybe 'straight-up-and-down' figure sell better and/or they're simply easier to produce.

I really do like this thread, it's been interesting and thought provoking. Great stuff guys

 

[valiant]

Hi guys - some (not brilliant!) pics of the work so far on this one - to say Im sick of the sight of it is an understatement!! Every time I look at it I find another problemmatic seam or blemish that needs to be dealt with. I am now on day 3 of this cleanup and, as Ive said, the hourly rate is creeping up!

Look at the rear figures left arm - why on earth is the seam on the OUTSIDE of the arm..?! This is proving a b***h to remove. If this had been properly engineered, then most, if not all, of the seams would be placed where they could not be seen, or even eliminated altogether. I have had to sand and file displaced seams and then even add a smear of Miliput to get the blend right, as well as rebuilding areas, as on the right elbow of the front figure. This started life as what appeared to be a small air bubble, but when I started to open it up for filler, it was most of the elbow!

As you will see, I have replaced the flag with a musket, as per the customers request, which was a good call, as the flag was broken in the box, anyway!

I sincerely hope that the manufacturer will see this and address the quality control issue, as any more problems like these will surely result in loss of business.

Thanks for looking in and taking the time to comment