Production Process- Chains & Roses

The first collection I will be creating is the chain collection. This will probably be the most challenging of collections as they need to be delicate but sturdy enough to not break when applied.

To begin I printed off some templates for the pieces, and got an a4 sheet of acrylic to make the pieces on.I chose a 2mm acrylic as I previously used a thinner sheet in my proposal and found that when I glued the borders on the hot glue melted the plastic, resulting in an uneven mold.

 I then got my Plasteline and began to create a pattern, blending the edges into the acrylic.

Once the designs were made in plasteline and the edges were smoothed down and blended into the acetone I wiped over them with 99% isopropyl alcohol before gluing down a border using plastic packaging offcuts and a hot glue gun.

 I then sprayes the molds evenly with Fixier spray and mold release spray, before mixing up silicone parts A and B with a 1:1 ratio and pouring this over the mold, ensuring that there are no air bubbles and the whole area is covered evenly.

 After leaving the hard silicone mix to set overnight I peeled it out of the mold to get this negative mold of the pieces. This is what all the further pieces will be made from.

I then made the pieces. To do this I mixed 60% super baldiez to 40% IPA and, after spraying with mold spray, brushed this evenly over the molds, ensuring there were no bubbles in this. I did three layers of this, leaving each to dry completely before the next. Then I mixed 15g silicone part A with 15g part B, and added 22g part C and a few drops of the "flesh" colour silicone pigment. I ensured this was all mixed and poured this into the mold, again ensuring there were no air bubbles. I then scraped off the excess silicone and left to set overnight.

 Before removing the pieces from the molds I coated the back with talcum powder and brushed it over evenly. I then picked up an edge of the super baldiez and began peeling the pieces off. I had painted the whole sheet with Super Baldiez which meant they all came off in one piece which was actually quite difficult as I had to be really careful to not rip them. In Future I won't join the super baldiez between the pieces so that they can be easily separated.

As I peeled the pieces off I ensured that the underside was powdered to make sure that they didn't stick to themselves, as they can be quite sticky.

I am really happy with how these pieces came out and cannot wait to see them in the shoot! I am glad i used a thicker mix of super baldiez than last time as this ensured there were no rips and the pieces had more structure to them