I’ve already illustrated the molding process with the hair (see Moldmaking: the hair one, two, three, four), so I’ll just touch on the high points.

It is very rare today for a sculptor to do monumental work like the Red Silk Mermaid. An artist may sculpt only four or five such pieces in her whole career. The opportunity to make molds at this scale is equally rare, and it offers a terrific learning experience. A team of helpers can accomplish weeks of work in a matter of days. Their assistance is enormously valuable.

To find volunteers, I simply email all my friends in the industry and ask them if they know of anyone who would benefit from this study. In return for the volunteers’ assistance and labor, I introduce them to this work and show how it’s done in a professional studio. True, this is an informal atmosphere and not a standard lecture, but I require the volunteers to get their hands dirty in the process — often for the first time.

Photos of the volunteers in action after the jump.

Day 1 with volunteers: Ten people showed up, a good mix of artists and makers. Everyone was really enthusiastic about the chance to get some hands-on experience. A number of them had seen demonstrations, but only two had actually used these materials. It is my experience that if you give people the opportunity to work on something really grand, they will get it right. And they all did!

They placed the pin and tape walls on everything and finished a first coat of rubber by 4pm, six hours after we started. An astounding amount of work! It was all pretty fun, laid back with great conversations.

Day 2 with volunteers. Ten people showed up again. Some brought some show-and-tell; others brought their friends; still others brought some food. Everyone worked carefully with the materials and did a really good job.

All the rubber is done, including registration.

Day 3 with volunteers: Eight people showed up. Pretty tricky material, but together we worked out a system to keep the hot and quickly curing material moving.

It was a bit fast, but we finished a tremendous amount of work — all the new pin and tape walls and half the mother molds.