Next step after plaster

The head piece has suvived the weekend! (I thought the former was going to fall apart because of the weight of the piece!)
Now im just going to fill in any gaps and lightly sand the surface to get a perfect finish.

More plaster

Have put on most of the plaster. The former works quite well though would probably scrape the dry plaster better if it was made from metal and could do with feeling more secure but the form doesn't move out of place so its fine for now.
The best way to stop the plaster shape from moving along the pole is to fill out the ends first. As the plaster dries it expands and so the form has to be rotated constantly for a while.

Plastered start

Have put the former together, cut the polystyrene contors and started the first lot of plaster with a hessium layer as well.

Head former

Have laser cut the head shape. Now im just going to build the former. Its going to work like a spit roaster with the plaster form on the pole that will rotate and the former shape will be fixed.

Head Start

Now the plaster work is done for the body I can make a start on the head.

The head shape doesn't have a flat edge like the body and the former will have to have an undercut. This makes the process difficult.

This time I am going to use a former that is static and rotate the actual head instead. By doing this I should be able to remove the bar holding the head to clean the former if I need to.



Once again I will be using polystyrene to bulk out the main shape.

I have a egg!

After the initial plaster layer yesterday I have built the plaster up more and have a smooth egg shape that will become EVEs body. I found the best way to use the former was to take it off and clean it and the base after each batch of plaster had been put on and turned. Idealy the process would have been easier with a team of people, one to mix plaster, one to apply it, one to rotate the former and another to scrape fallen plaster off the base.

The plaster that ran off the form kept on going under the former base, if I didnt clean it regularly the plaster would have built up and raised the former up.

The rotating former technique worked really well. The plaster was easily built up quickly and gave a good smooth result that will only need a small amount of hand finishing.

First layer of plaster was to make sure the hessium was well covered.

Bulk shape starts to form, the former shape wasnt touching the plaster yet.

Former starts to scrape the plaster into a smoother shape.

Just the last few gaps to fill.

Finished shape. Once fully dry I will sand it lightly to get a really smooth finish.

Layers

Yesterday I used layers of hessium and plaster to bulk out the form. Today I have put on one last single layer of hessium and am about to start putting the outer layer of plaster on using the former.