Casting Crouch

I sculpted a wittie bottie out of modeling clay and coated it with Vaseline to smooth out the surface as glass like as possible.

I mixed up a small batch of regular plaster of paris and made a mold in a paper cup. I sawed it in (nearly) half before it was all the way cured because I had second thoughts about making this a one-off pour mold from the bottom.

I banded the halves together, brushed in more Vaseline as a hopeful release agent (I read where If you're using Plaster of Paris no release agent is needed? mX) and encouraged the gummy Sculpey in along with a green bead at the center to act as "ink" in the bottle's finished form.

It dawned on me around dawn that rather than try to build up bottle shapes for props I could theoretically sculpt a bottle and cast it in translucent Liquid Sculpey (or other even more transparent poly resins, if I thought it worth going tox). I plan to bake this test up with some others in the big oven on Wednesday when no one else is around** Between trying to cook up the polymer at just the right temp so nasty chems aren't released and residue doesn't build up in my food oven, I'm actually thinking using a little two-part resin mixed at the window while wearing a respirator might be safer in the end?

From an informative tutorial from Karen and Ann Mitchell on using the product :

• Overheating polymer clays will result in blackening and the release of irritating gases including hydrogen chloride**. Use an oven thermometer and timer to assure that your creation is not overheated. • Polymer clay can be baked in a home oven, however many polymer clay enthusiasts use a separate toaster or convection oven dedicated to polymer clay baking. • Another option is to use a dedicated, inexpensive roaster pan (speckled enamelware) with a lid to bake clay inside your home oven. Another, even cheaper option is to take two aluminum foil baking pans: invert one over the other, and clothespin them shut. Voila, a baking container! • Liquid Sculpey has more of an odor when baking than solid Sculpey clays. Although polymer clay is not toxic, it is important to always bake clay in a well-ventilated area. • In thin layers Liquid Sculpey bakes to a translucent finish. TLS can be applied in layers and be re-baked after each layer.