Self Portrait 2018, Step One

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Nothing says Happy Birthday like covering your face with liquid rubber goo that solidifies in eight minutes, an alginate. As written in a post week past [https://steemit.com/blog/@ghostfish/getting-older-one-day-at-a-time], I’ve annually created a self portrait since early 2000’s to commemorate each year I’ve successfully survived another year on this planet.

This year I went 3D, as I have started to do in my other creative endeavors. I think I’ve lost some significant level of attention span and discipline required for the details of my 2D work. Who knows, maybe it’ll return, if I don’t have a million other things I need to do. Right.

As if time will slow down. Each year speeding up: months moving like weeks, days flying past like hours. I blink, and the movie is over. It’s hard to remember what happened last Tuesday. I don’t have time to wash these dishes. I wonder how many hours or days I’ve spent washing dishes. Time as a commodity: fluid, and never accumulating. It is so easy to spend. With the mundane stealing a huge portion. I should stop using dishes. Solve that problem. But, this post is not about that, or dirty dishes. It’s about my face.

Step One:

Buy an alginate product like Dick Blick Art Store’s MOLDGel. $15.99

Get everything prepared. Once water is added to the dry powder of the MOLDGel, work time is under 8 minutes. Read the instructions. Then mix and get smearing.

Molds can be made for all sorts of objects and body parts, not only faces, which if the individual has any bit of claustrophobia face molds can cause significant discomfort. Like not seeing or speaking for about thirty minutes. Also, never cover the nostril opening. For obvious reasons, you know, breathing. Straws can be inserted for an extra level of safety.

Once enough of the individual is covered in the goopy rubber alginate substance and it has solidified, it will need a structural support to hold its shape. Plaster bandage strips are commonly used and easy to apply. ($6.95 a pack) Pre-cut the strips and have a bowl of water ready. Dip the strips in the water and spread them across the surface. Build a nice solid thick foundation. Wait twenty long ass minutes and then ‘pop’ off time.

The part not in the video is the actual pouring of the mold. It isn’t that exciting. Support the negative mold of the alginate like a cup, mix enough Plaster of Paris (find at a craft/art store for about $6 a 4lb). Mixy-mix and pour into the mold. Wait another 30 minutes. (A lot of hurry-hurry and wait process). Peel or break the mold to reveal the results! Also important: the alginate negative mold will begin to shrink and lose detail, so it is best to pour the mold within the first two hours of casting.

Next step: Color. I’m thinking dip technique:
https://steemit.com/art/@ghostfish/nns8rd6o

Thanks for reading.

Music by: Arms and Sleepers, “A Mission To Prague”

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