For the last 2 years, I've been plodding my way through mold making and home resin casting. Most of my recent sculptures have been crafted with reproduction in mind. After all, isn't reproduction the missing piece to my little business plan?

        For those who haven't seen me in action, I have 2 sculpting modes. With Muse and Without Muse.

        With Muse mode is a fulfilling, blindingly productive experience. I lose myself completely in my work and become possessed in the sculpt. The piece is often an inch from my nose and interactions with others suffer (my roommate once asked "would you like some ice cream?" "I don't know" was my response. I always want ice cream.) A piece can come to life in just a few hours, and appears to have always been there, hiding behind a stack of books probably.

        Without Muse is an angry, forced endeavor with many casualties. Several times in my life I have sat down and forced myself to sculpt when inspiration was nowhere to be found. Since I firmly believe my craft is strong enough to follow as a business, obviously I should increase output as much as possible. So I sat down to sculpt an African Elephant, one of my favorite animals. I always admired so many beautiful lines on their bodies and faces, next time you get a chance, look at one. So considering the respect I hold for these well known creatures it was a great option. After grumbling and clawing at the armature for 4 hours I screamed and tore all of the clay off. The butchered skeleton is still in my craft room. Other attempts have not turned out better.

        So if inspiration is a finite resource, obviously I must increase my output by turning one successful sculpture into many purchases. Hence, we turned to resin casting to make copies.

        I have to say, I do love resin casting. I use a fabulous website smooth-on.com and they have more information and tutorials (pictures and video) than you could ever ask for. It feels like magic and chemistry all at once. There is a moment when the resin is curing when the clear compound changes. It rapidly turns bright white, starting at the thickest deepest part of the casting. It spreads like a tiny thunderstorm and fills the whole piece. It's really fun to watch, even after 2 years of working with the stuff.

        After all of our work (my husband started casting before I did to help out so he got to save me from a lot of mistakes) we've got quite a knack for resin casting. We've got a number of castings available in my store.

        But a couple of nights ago, after watching my husband play the video game Ni Nu Kuni, I was struck by my muse and sat down and sculpted one of the characters from the show. A silly little fairy named Mr. Drippy. And it was lovely! Just sculpting without worrying about mold construction or undercuts or anythign considering resin casting, I was able to just play with clay again. Within a few hours the little fairy was complete and resting happily in my hands.
 

        He's under 2 inches tall and will be for sale in a local video game store. If noone snatches him up, he'll be with me at MAGFest (such a great convention!) It was so freeing to just play again. I have a lot of work ahead of me with the Kickstarter campaign in 2 months, and I have some resin casting to do. But I'll have to remember to set aside some play time :)