Take your time naming it. And make it distinguished - think what that poor skull has had to go through during it's existence. It deserves a distinguished name.
Ben, if you add 10% wood glue to your water to make the plaster it will reach working time slightly faster, stay at the working stage longer, make your piece stronger (less brittle and prone to cracking for larger pieces), and more water resistant
Okay I strongly recommend that instead of plaster of paris that you get some jewelers wax to carve and shape as it is easier and takes details better. I don't know if you have thought about it but if you made those out of meerschaum they would patina really well to match the guitar over time.
I recently saw an English Tv show called Salvage Hunters: The Restorers. One of the restorers was restoring a large plaster wall piece from a famous French artist. One big tip he said was if you are adding new plaster to an existing piece to wet it down first as the dry plaster will suck all the moisture out of the new plaster instantly and by wetting it down first it gives you more working time and does not harm the existing piece.
Love the creative thought process, the execution and the perfect analysis of the the challenge of finding fulfillment from an activity that you have mastered... Always keep pushing that extra few %
Why didn't you make a mould of the original flower, cast it in plaster, add the necessary amount of plaster to the middle part where the skull's supposed to be, carve the skull out, make a template mould and cast the skulled flower thereoutof?
Being watching for years. I enjoyed this one, just got to work and no weird faces at the camera or corny puns. Felt like you were back to the old videos just making stuff and giving commentry along the way. I also liked the one with your son yesterday. The flower skulls came out amazing, really makes that guitar
These skull flowers are gorgeous. I would definitely be interested in getting one. And if I win the Elm Descendant I think matching skull flower knobs would be killer!
There are some resins that shrink proportionately. You can sculpt 3 times the size, get more detail. Then cast it once and it shrinks, make new mould, cast new mould, shrinks further, etc. you can get a lot of detail in small pieces like those. But I don't recommend making a mould directly out of Skully McBonehead.
I find Monster Maker Clay (available from Amazon) much better than plaster for modelling and carving. It's wax based and sets hard enough to carve and can be melted in the microwave (or on a coffeecup warmer) and re-used many times.
As a trained potter, I would have moulded the original in plasticine. Then made a silicon mould to cast the items in plaster. Incidentally, have you come across a type of filler called “Toupret”. It’s made from marble bust and extremely hard. I got a box from Screwfix..
Dude - you have a snake in your shop - too cool! If you make the silver and bronze flower skulls, I'd buy one - maybe one of each. I was surprised how grey the aluminum was at first - it cleaned up quite nicely. The final look is perfect for that build - maybe make it a little shinier next time. Keep pushing the envelope! See you in the next one...
Looking great. This will really lift that guitar to another level IMHO. I'm going to have to check DGD and see if there's still tickets available! (Incidentally, very happy to see the marking knife getting some use. Hope you're still happy with it!)
Those would go AWESOME on leather straps. Make a flange about 4-5 mm around the edge. Cut holes in thin colored leather to push the flower thru. Sew that to an actual heavier black leather strap.
For the last couple of years I have been learning to use Blender to fashion designs, it is a digital modelling tool and is so much fun, one of my guitar related successes was some skull and crossbones knobs which I 3D printed and ended up putting on my white Les Paul Custom. I could turn the file into a mold or a boss and make them from clay or plaster, I very well may do that!
If your ever in Edinburgh then you should visit Surgeons hall museum.. old medical tools as well as thousands of jars of medical specimens and unusual skeltal deformities. Amazing way to spend a day and my daughter loved it
i really like that Ben. i would like to use some elm for a project myself, i've made furniture with it but never an instrument. do you think it would be stable enough for use as a neck?
Hi Ben, i hope you managed to watch some of Ford Hallam's Tsuba carving videos. If not this is another reminder to check out his tiger one. It is stunning and I think you'll get a kick out of it.
I'm thinking "matching knobs" ? :D Anyway, you said that is only fancy and not necessary. Yes, of course, like a fancy headstock, the curve on a LP body, an over polished fret... but it's part of the instrument anyway.
Just something for you to think about Ben. For the "you can win this guitar" where people can win a guitar that you've made why not offer to build a guitar for the winner letting the winner decide which type they want? The winner gets to choose if they want a guitar or a bass, whether they want a single cut a la Les Paul or Tele or do they want a double cut like a Strat or PRS. Given this basic information you pick the wood used, the actual design, colour and finish and the hardware. You're not building the winner a custom guitar as such just letting them decide the type the rest is all you so it's more or less like the guitars you build now which people can win. If you like you can also let the winner decide what type of fret markers they want.
Yes, it's been done. There's a vid on it - maybe stu mac. Supposedly bright with lots of sustain - just what you'd expect from a very stiff hard material.
