Mother mold in wax - An innovative method

[olivier]

I have been perfecting a new method of constructing the mother mold using wax insted of plaster.

I found it much faster to build, much lighter than plaster, very strong and rigid, very easy to apply, adhering perfectly to the alginate (no gaps), not requiring any preparation time (no need to precut plaster gauze or cheese cloth) and also much much cheaper than plaster by virtue of being reusable.(Tired of filling landfills with my cash) It is also perfectly safe.

I have added a new section in the "Body Casting Manual" and the method is also described here:
http://www.bodyscape.net.nz/articles0000013.htm

I have a sense that as people start experimenting, it will become the only way of making a mother mold.

Cheers,

[Jayetee]

Hi Olivier.
Your info on the mother mold in wax looks very interesting, and I liked the video on YouTube! I have one question though, can you suggest any other alternative other than using the fibreglass mesh with this...as apart from being difficult to get out here, I'm not sure that fibreglass is a good thing for people with respiratory problems? Do you think normal scrim would work? Presumably, when the mold is done, it is still strong enough to hold plaster? Would it still be ok to rest it on a pile of old clothes too,as with the plaster bandage, or is it more fragile? Could you also fill the mold & cast with wax? Would it be stable enough with the wax mold?
Thanks a lot...Jayetee

[olivier]

I'll try to answers all your questions...

"any other alternative other than using the fibreglass mesh.."
This is what I have experimented with and it works well... I have not tried anything else. Let us know of the results if you do try something else...

"respiratory problems.."
The mesh is always contained in wax so there are very few opportunity for fiber dust to become airborne, except perhaps when you first cut the mesh for your first wax mold.

"difficult to get out here.."
This is found at ship shandlers, surf shops, boat shops, most hardware stores should stock it too... It is a bit dear but you do not need much and you can reuse it many many times.

"it is still strong enough to hold plaster?"
I have only cast Forton in such molds and it is definitively strong enough, stronger than plaster gauze mold I feel. Even though I have never cast plaster in such molds, I think it will be strong enough for plaster... Again, report back with your findings If you do cast in plaster..

"ok to rest it on a pile of old clothes too.."
Absolutely OK. I do it as amatter of fact, an old habit, because "I have always done it that way" but I suspect that the mother mold is strong enough not to require any support. If in doubt of its strenght, you can always reinforce it with more wax before casting anything it it.

"fill the mold & cast with wax? "
Casting wax in Alginate is perfectly fine. I have done it many times... If the mother mold is made of plaster bandages, the wax will not stick to it (because the plaster is full of water, water and wax repel each other.) If the mother mold is made of wax, It is possibe that the cast wax will stick to the mold's parraffin. Again I have not tried this yet with a wax mother mold but I suspect that it should not present too much of a problem; No more of a problem that cast plaster sticking to plaster bandages.

I have just completed a large pregnant belly mold with the wax technique, in half the time it would have taken me with plaster bandages.

The only problem with this method is that you need to spend some time to recycle your wax mother mold. A plaster bandages mold is simply discarded in the bin. You must remelt your parraffin mold, pick up and drain the fibreglass mesh (I pick them up and dip them in a bucket of cold water to cool them quickly) and then filter all bits of alginate and cotton wool out of your batch... Then it is ready to use for your next mold.

I am keen for people to try it and see how we can improve the method... Two things to watch for:
1- make absolutely certain of your wax temperature... anything above 50 Celsius and the model will sue you for attempted murder... I use a shallow frying pan for constant and consistent temperature, not a deep crockpot as the wax can be cold at the surface but hot at the bottom.
2- Hairs get trapped in wax but that is not different from plaster...

Cheers,

Olivier

[B Immortal]

Hi Olivier,

I like your wax mother mold idea and am going to do some experiments with it.

Can you be more specific about the fibreglass mesh you use.

Thanks
Ray
B Immortal Body Casting
http://www.bimmortal.com

[olivier]

I use a fine mesh fiberglass fabric, not strands, a 200gm/6oz cloth

I cut rectangles of various sizes, dip then in molten paraffin and apply them over the alginate (after having painted a first layer of wax.) You can quickly cover large areas...
It makes a bit of a mess with wax drips but with practice I can now work fairly cleanly.

At first I was over doing it... Applying several layers... But then the thick mold takes a long time to cool down to a rigid state, and becomes heavier. I have discovered that a single layers makes a strong mold... well, stronger than plaster bandages anyway and also much lighter, thus reducing the risk of distortion. (the weight of thick alginate layer covered with water logged plaster sometimes distort soft tissues...)

I am keen for others to try the technique and hopefully improve on it.

[B Immortal]

Thanks for your quick reply. I'll see if I can pick some up this weekend and experiment with a little casting.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Have you tried Soy wax? I was just looking at low temperature waxes and found Soy wax.

http://aussiecandlesupplies.com.au/shop ... hp?cat=284

I might get some and experiment.