Extended Project Week 4:

Extended Project Week 4:

04/04/2022

• ear casting (add pics) check notes

• Finishing project proposal & filling out 10 week plan sheet

• Get presentation idea

Today I got started on my ear casts. Whilst I was waiting for my model to arrive, I got the

instructions/materials sheet and began sorting out the area I will be working at by laying down

bedroll, cutting off any bottoms of cups necessary, washing out my mixing bowl as well as adding

the water and getting the cotton balls ready. Once my model got here, I began mixing the alginate in with the cold water. However, the mixture seemed to cure quicker than expected and

so I had to hurry to get it into the models ear. Before this, I made sure the cotton ball was securely

in their ear before proceeding to place the cup around the ear and put the mixture in. Usually it

would be a more watery consistency to be able to get into every little crevice however this one had

started curing, therefore it was more mushy and more difficult to fill the cup with. 

The image above shows the first mixture created once I had piled most of it into the cup. I used this

to figure out how much longer we would need to wait before taking the cup off of the models ear.

However, after some time, it was obvious that it wasn’t properly setting as it was too moist.

We sat there for approximately 10 minutes, checking up on the mould regularly. However, it does

not seem to have cured any more than before. We decided to check the mixture that was left in the

bowl and it had the wrong kind of texture: more clumpy, mushy and wet rather than smooth and

drier. It also seemed to crumble easily. Therefore, we had come to the conclusion that I had used

too much water and not enough mixture as well as leaving it too late to put it in the cup. 

The image above shows the first attempt at making the first mould for the ear cast. When it was

taken out of the cup, it was crumbly and unusable.

Therefore, I got straight to work cleaning out the bowl and trying for a second attempt at making

the correct mixture. This time, I only used a small amount of water and plenty of alginate powder to

make it more of a runny/smooth consistency. This time, I had my model lying down on the floor as

apparently this was much more comfortable for her. Then, I repeated the same steps as I had done

before, only this time the mould came out a lot stronger and actually got in the crevices of the ear. 

The images above show the second attempt at creating the first part of the ear mould using

alginate powder and cold water. 

Once I had the first mould, I placed that in a cup and began mixing the fine plaster with the water,

and poured it over the mould until it covered the whole ear.

 

The image above shows the covered mould.

This was then left until Wednesday so that it had time to fully dry.

Then, I finished off my project proposal as well as my ten week plan in order to keep me on track.

06/04/2022

• went to take off ear casting, didn’t work

• Watched a few YouTube tutorials on different ways to make elf ears (add vids and explain

• what ur gonna do)

I started today off by taking out my ear cast to see if everything went well. It did not. When I

(carefully) removed the cup around the cast, the ear came out in one piece (both moulds stuck

together). Then, once I had flipped it over and carefully removed the first mould from the cast, part

of the ear cast fell off. It appeared as though it was already broken beforehand, as there was no

snapping, just falling. Therefore, I decided to take a look at some YouTube videos to see if there

were any other methods I could use to create elf ears.

The image above shows the completed, broken mould.

These helped me come to the conclusion of making an elf ear out of plasticine, then dipping it in

latex to create thick, layered elf ears. 

19/04/2022

During this time, it was the Easter holidays. However, I decided to pop into college to make a start

on some work. This included: my presentation and the elf ears.

For the presentation, I used a large A2 piece of paper, and rounded off the edges as well as added

a title. Then, I went to the LRC to print off a few images to include.

Once I had done this, I decided to make a start on the elf ears. I grabbed the board I had used

when pouring the casting into the cup of my other ear cast, grabbed a bowl, latex, some plasticine

and a hair grip.

I began by measuring my models ear and creating a triangular shape out of the plasticine. I then

created a small stand of plasticine to keep the ear elevated, and pierced the ear with the open hair

grip. Then, I filled the bowl up with latex and dipped the ear in to create a layer of latex over the

plasticine. I ended up using about 10-12 layers of latex in total. Then, once it dried I had peeled the

latex off of the plasticine. However, I wasn’t too fond of this ear shape as it was much too small.

The image above shows my first attempt at the latex elf ears.

I then remade the plasticine ear tip by adding more on, and stretching it out, still keeping the same

thickness and width at the bottom to ensure it would still fit on the models ear. I left the first couple

layers of latex to dry in college.

The image above shows the new elf ear mould covered in latex.