View Out The Front

This is what we see out the front of the new location, looking south across the street and green area. You can't really see them on this panoramic image, but the low mountains of the coastal range are off to the right, and to the left are the more distant and rugged mountains of the Sierra Nevada range.

Location: Tracy, California

Fragments of the Berlin Wall

A friend who was in Berlin in the last months of 1989 collected several fragments from the Berlin Wall; he liked to gift little packets of the concrete chips, including that printed note. Ysengrin has kept this packet, given to him about fifteen years ago, on display in the workshop.

Location: Somewhere in California

Citric Acid and Latex

A how-to tip for this week! Running latex in plaster molds will often result in a powdery surface to the latex, as you can see on the paw to the left. A brisk rubbing with a fairly strong citric acid solution will improve the latex surface, as you can see on the right paw. Both paws were cast at the same time with the same latex, and the cleaning effect of the citric acid is quite evident with this metallic bronze latex.

Citric acid is available as a powder for food canning.

Location: Somewhere in California

Aquarena Springs Tchotchke

This is a little desk flip-calender that Ysengrin picked up at Aquarena Springs back in 1968 or so, back when it was a thriving and popular amusement park in San Marcos, Texas. In 1996 the new owners, Texas State University, closed the park and converted it to a learning center, in part to conserve the area and its natural springs.

Location: 29° 53' 35.5" N, 97° 55' 51.8" W

What Big Teeth!

Here's an example of detailing on teeth. The jawset was originally sculpted by DarkFang, and here has been reproduced in dental acrylic. The lower jaw has been detailed by hand with water-soluble inks and sealed in a clear varnish to both protect the detailing and to give it that wet look. The upper jaw is plain, just as it comes out of the silicone mold, and will be given a similar detailing.

Location: Somewhere in California

Where Old Molds Go To Die

All molds eventually wear out; after dozens of pulls the fine detail gets fuzzy, and sometimes molds crack (and are patched, repeatedly). In any case, you wind up with molds that can no longer be used. Rather than drag these weighty concrete doorstops to the new shop, we converted them to gravel and mixed the result in with the existing gravel parking. Recycling!

It should be noted that we have masters that were pulled when the molds were fresh, so that new molds can be made as needed.

Location: somewhere in California

Mr. Toad Reads

Toad's Book Club, a sculpture by Albert Guibara located in Pioneer Park just outside the Mountain View library (in Mountain View, California).

Location: 37° 23' 24.2" N, 122° 05' 00.3" W

Maker Faire 2010

Maker Faire, San Mateo 2010. Yeah, it was like that. This is the Raygun Gothic Rocketship, first seen at Burning Man 2009 and created by its crew. The rocketship will be on display at Pier 14 in San Francisco, beginning 06 August 2010, and ending 07 Oct 2011.

Location: 37° 32' 52" N, 122° 18' 07"W

Maker Faire 2010

Maker Faire, San Mateo 2010. Yeah, it was like that. This is Soma, first seen at Burning Man 2009 and created by the Flaming Lotus Girls, as it was being set up on Saturday.

Location: 37° 32' 52" N, 122° 18' 07"W

Maker Faire 2010

Maker Faire, San Mateo 2010. Yeah, it was like that.

Location: 37° 32' 52" N, 122° 18' 07"W

Bigger Wolf Paws

Finally, here are the paws pulled from the molds, cleaned up with the flashing removed and claws added.

Location: Somewhere in California

First Good Pull

Now, let's skip forward a bit. The bottoms of the molds have been done, the molds opened up and the clay removed. Colored latex is first painted in the molds while the two halves are open, then the molds are assembled. A couple of pours later, and the molds are opened to reveal the cast latex paw.

Location: Somewhere in California

Now the bottoms

The top half of the molds have been done and the shims pulled out. The sculptures are flipped over, damage from the shims is touched up, and the bottoms are detailed.

Location: Somewhere in California

Dividing the Mold

Here, metal shims have been inserted into the sculptures to define how the molds will split into two parts for each paw. Clay keys and screwdriver slots -- in reverse -- are added to the shims, and the non-sculpture surfaces are given a coating of vaseline so the ultracal will not adhere to them.

The upper surface wil be molded first, then the whole assembly flipped over and the bottoms of the paws finished up.

Location: Somewhere in California

Smoothing

Using brushes, sponges and isopropyl alcohol the surface is worked and smoothed. All the rough edges of the wrinkles are softened, and fingerprints are wiped away. Wrinkles are re-cut and deepened as needed, and the smoothing process is repeated. Finally, texture stamps are used to add the finer wrinkles and pores.

Location: Somewhere in California

Volcanic Ash Tchotchke

This is a little tchotchke wolf sculpture by Kathy Parker of Mount St. Helens Sculptures. It's made of stabilized ash from the 18 May 1980 eruption of Mount St Helens (30 years ago this week).

Location: Somewhere in California

Wrinkles and Folds

Ysengrin now carves major wrinkles and folds into the roughly-shaped paws. A wire loop is also used to shave the clay down into shape. Claws have been added so their sockets will be correct in the mold; the claws will be removed before molding. A small amount of clay is used to build up the cuticle around the claws, but otherwise this step is about removing clay from the sculptures.

On the right is one of DarkFang's hindpaws for comparison. The new sculptures were envisioned as wolf paws to fit larger feet, and are fairly similar to the smaller wolf paws.

Location: Somewhere in California

Roughing in the Knuckles

The paw sculptures are flipped back over and the knuckles and tendons are roughed in. The bottoms are left rough -- fine detail wouldn't survive resting on a surface.

Location: Somewhere in California

Roughing in the Pads

Now the rough forms of toes and pads have been added. It's best to keep the footpaws close to mirror symmetry as you go; Ysengrin places a toe on one paw then places the equivalent toe on the other paw.

Ysengrin also comments that the main pad and heel pad were both shaved down in the final sculpture.

Location: Somewhere in California

Buildup

Here the base footcasts (feetcast?) have been covered by Roma roughly a half-inch thick, then roughly shaped into their future form. The casts themselves are marked left & right, as are the bottom of the sculptures. The side with the dewclaw and innermost toe are also marked as it's easy to confuse the two feet at this point.

Ysengrin likes to build up a form then sculpt into it, thus the thickness. The casts were taken with the foot someone extended, so the buildup on the calf was adjusted to make them more upright.

Location: Somewhere in California

Ready to Sculpt

The scraps of Roma from last week's photo have been worked into cylinders and are ready for use. The bases for the sculptures are lifecasts of Ysengrin's (big) feet in dive booties.

Location: Somewhere in California

How It Starts

Here's a bowl full of Roma Plastilina scraps. They used to be bits of various sculptures (you can see a single toe pawpad in there), and now will be re-used to make a new sculpture. They're heated until quite soft, then worked by hand to homogenize the clay and to get the chips of plaster out.

Location: Somewhere in California

Bear in the Air

A plush polar bear as the pilot of an ultralight. Seen hanging from the ceiling at the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos, California.

Location: 37° 30' 44.6" N, 122° 15' 11.8" W

Spring

A sure sign that spring has arrived.

Location: somewhere in the Santa Cruz Mountains

Electric Light Tower

This is a half-scale reconstruction of the electric light tower that graced San Jose from 1881 until 1915. The original straddled the intersection of Market and Santa Clara, stood 237 feet high, and housed six carbon arc lamps at the top. Intended to replace the city's gas street lights -- it was found inadequate for the task -- the tower was only lit on weekends, holidays and festivals for most of its life.

The reconstruction was built in 1977 and stands in San Jose's Kelly Park.

Location: 37° 19' 13.6" N, 121° 51' 27.8 "W

Ten Years Ago

This was the "Verdun pack" back in 2000. From left to right they are Loon A. Tik, Snort, Silvermane (Ysengrin), DarkFang, and Kanis. The sixth werewolf that year, Bloodfang, didn't make the photo. Lance Pope (AKA Baron Michael Verdun, AKA YellowFang) didn't suit up that season. It should be noted that the werewolves were a subset of the 100+ actors that took part in Verdun Manor's sixteenth season.

All these werewolves performed as their own original characters, maintained their own suits, and generally had a ball running around terrorizing patrons. Sadly, we've lost touch with many of them. Both Ysengrin and DarkFang fondly remember the companionship of those years, and look forward to the continuing growth of the Blackpaw pack.

Location: Verdun Manor / Thrillvania

Wild Thing reading Wild Things

Ysengrin relaxes with a little light reading (Dave Eggers' The Wild Things, based on the classic Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak).

Location: somewhere in California

End of the Night

Silvermane and Ysengrin Blackpaw after a long Sunday night of roaming the halls at Further Confusion 2010.

Location: 37° 19' 58.5"N, 121° 53' 21.1"W

Marti Gras -- King Cake

Ysengrin Blackpaw cooked up a king cake for Marti Gras. The day for PotW was also adjusted to fall on Marti Gras this week. Happy Fat Tuesday, y'all!

Location: Standing in California, but his spirit is in New Orleans

Piano Bar

Silvermane and Ysengrin Blackpaw goofing off with a piano at Further Confusion 2010.

Location: 37° 19' 58.5"N, 121° 53' 21.1"W

'Yena and Werewolf

Johnny Blanco and Ysengrin Blackpaw posing in the lobby at Further Confusion 2010.

Location: 37° 19' 58.5"N, 121° 53' 21.1"W

Wash & Werewolf

Ysengrin gives his fursuit a good washing after Further Confusion 2010.

Location: 37° 08' 06"N, 122° 08' 25"W

DarkFang's New Badge

The second of two badges created by Chris B. Critter -- DarkFang as a Wild Thing.

Location: somewhere in California

Ysengrin's New Badge

A most excellent gift from Chris B. Critter -- Ysengrin as a Wild Thing.

Location: somewhere in California

Boulder Creek Sunrise

The sun just peeks over the ridge to the east of our shop on a foggy morning.

Location: 37° 08' 06"N, 122° 08' 25"W