Current Plan

Base

The shape of the base is still undecided. A building decision needs to be made so the basic shape may be decided. Currently Foam experiments have been produced…

-Hand carved from blue foam

-Coated in poly filler

-Then painted with plaster Shellac

The idea is to make the base from foam because of it light weight. But unsure if the spider should crawl along stone or wood. (below are some samples made)

Original sculpt (Scale 20:1)

Note- Armature will be built tomorrow.

The majority of the spider will be sculpted from Sculpey firm. This will give me plenty of time to accurately modify sculpts. Once baked this will be sprayed with a cellulose lacquer and polished. The lacquering process fill in any micro cracks for repair fracture and even out textures. But more specifically it will give a shiny near wet look to the spider.

Casting and moulding

The final model will be cast in ‘Opticlear 31’, this material was used throughout my last project and its clarity will be very useful on creating the spiders overall translucent opacities ‘especially on the legs’…

-Polyurethane pigments will be used to remove the complete transparency, but they need to be heavily diluted. A solution of ‘Opticlear 31 part B’ and pigment will be used at a ratio of 50:1.Tests are required

The final moulds will be made from Tinsel 40, to prevent the Sculpey leaching oils into the mould surface (which can inhibit the opticlear’s reaction) the original sculpt will first be moulding using a condensation curing silicone. Fast cast version will be made, cleaned and then moulded in the Tinsel.

Notes

-Spider body and jaws can be sculpted, as base will not modify there shaped.

-Need to source some synthetic hair.

-Have produced tests mould from above shape. Will be used to test resin colour solutions.