Another Bust - Napleonic British Guardsman

Earlier in the summer I recovered a mold for a Parliamentarian Infantryman, and casts of a Royalist and Napoleonic Infantryman. Pieces which my grandfather sculpted, molded and cast decades ago. The day after I first posted about that I went back to my grandparents and discovered that he thought there was another mold in the bin... so back to the garage I went.

After a half hours of digging (not pleasant), I found another mold. This one for a British Napoleonic Guardsman - though I've not got around to a better identification then that yet. This mold was in far worse state, as well as the customary gunk it had several holes and having warped in storage.

I cleaned it up as before using a mild detergent. The holes meanwhile, I was able to largely patch up with the aid of some rubber silicon, the deformation was more of a problem. The picture of the cleaned up mold giving a pretty good idea about it.

The first cast attempt (top) did'nt work out too well, I used a different plaster this time, and despite following the instructions discovered that it dried out far too quickly. By the time I had finished pouring it was already setting, perhaps because of the large quantity. I mixed up a new batch and increased the water content. My grandfather felt well enough to watch this pull as well, so I was very pleased when it came out successfully.

The piece still suffers a little deformation, the right cheek is to prominent, the busby on the same side above the ear, and the left cheek meanwhile are both sunken - the nose also needs some work. My plan for this one is to re-sculpt it a little, before creating a new mold from this master. Hopefully I'll get to this next week.