(As mentioned in “Hair finished – but I need clay,” I decided to mold the mermaid’s hair ahead of the rest of the figure, so I could reclaim the clay for use elsewhere on the sculpture. I describe the entire process of molding the hair using nearly two dozen photos over several posts.)

I start with carefully removing as many of the difficult-to-mold hair pieces as possible — 29 individual bits, plus the main mass! Again, this is shocking; typically there may be two to five additional pieces. I carefully number both each bit and its connection point.

More pictures after the jump.

The main mass with all the extra hair gone.

I divide the hair into two very large mold halves. Here are the initial 1/16-inch steel wire pins placed along the parting line.

Just as before, I use cellophane tape to make a mold wall. It is fast, thin, easy, and cheap. True, it does leave these pinholes everywhere, but this mold is intended for hand layup (finishing), so it doesn’t matter.

I’ve drawn a black line on the mold wall about an inch and a half above the clay. This ensures I coat the rubber to the right thickness in that area.

The cellophane mold wall

More in the next several posts!