Thursday 11 August 2011

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.

3 comments:

Honey Beeginnings said...

Looks good. I can't wait to see the new sculpt. There is a lot of talent in your family.

Admiral Drax said...

You must be proud: these have been fab to see (to the point whereby I was even telling Mrs. Drax about them t'other day)!

By the way, I'll probably be in Exeter tomorrow...

Col.Gravis said...

Cheers guys, and yeah I think I am pretty proud. More importantly for me though, its been nice to put a bit of a smile on my grandfathers face as hes having a tough time of it.

Alas though Admiral Drax, I shall shortly be heading to Oxford for a wedding unfortunately. Every time your in Exeter I seem to be stuck with other commitments! We will get in that game sooner or later though.