TOM'S EAGLE
TOM'S EAGLE
The sculpture on the left was carved by my dear friend Tom Yagiela. He asked me one day if I wanted to make a mold of this Polish Eagle in order to cast it in bronze. I wanted to do this for my friend because he had been so kind to me over the years. Tom is 83.
It became a monumental project for me first because of its size, and second, because I had to leave the wood model intact. I began by making a polyurethane rubber mold which I applied in many, many coats over the fall and winter. Once the rubber was done, I had to decide on the mother mold. At first I used plaster--150 lbs of it. It proved to cumbersome and too heavy, so I chose to work with fiberglass resins.
Despite its messiness and working time constraints, I soon realized it was the best material under the circumstances. I had developed a rhythmic pattern for mixing the resin and hardener, and applying the fiberglass strips to the rubber. It took about a 30 hours to finish the mold.
Below left is a shot of the head molded in three pieces. Look closely and you can see the fiberglass has been removed from the left (top) side of the head.
Once mother mold was finished--about 12 individually mated pieces--the demolding process began. I thought a long time about how to divide the pieces,
because there were many complicated undercuts. In the end I split the rubber
along the outside seams of the wings and head, and where the eagle body joined
the legs. The tail was probably the most difficult piece to negotiate because of
its orientation. There was little room to work. I can honestly say that
between the fiberglass and the demolding of the rubber with countless exacto
blades, I left a trail of blood. But once I was able to pull the rubber back and
reveal the original wood surface, I was greatly inspired to free the eagle.
Below left is the finished fiberglass mother mold. Next to it, a close-up of the rubber peeled back from the wing. To the right,
the bare wood of the eagle's wings is contrasted to the head, legs and base
still covered in rubber.
After the eagle was demolded, the rubber, which held the detailed negative of
the wooden model was laid back into the fiberglass mother mold, and the waxing
began. I painted the first coat of wax on all of the surfaces in order to insure
good detail in the wax casting 
Afterwards, I applied heavier coats of wax, filling the undercuts, and building up weaker areas. I had to keep the surfaces constantly warm so that a proper bond between successive coats of wax was possible.
The head was the first piece to slush. I poured melted wax into the head cavity, fitted with the fiberglass mother mold and clamped at the edges. The wax was built up to between an eighth and quarter of an inch.
.
I used machine
screws and nuts to clamp the mold shut during slushing. Where I encountered
leaks, I filled in the gap with rtv gasket sealer.
The most exciting part was peeling the rubber off of the wax, revealing wonderful detail. Here is the head.
Much remains to be included in the story of this project. These preliminary shots and comments are but a rough draft. Check back for further details on the story of Tom's eagle.