Making Moulds.

 Bit of a gap since my last post, but I've got a few things that I'm working on. I'm aiming to have some new things available to buy on my Ebay shop, and hopefully also on an Etsy shop too. I tried Etsy a few years ago but had zero sales. What I had listed wasn't even getting any views so I gave up. But I'm now thinking of giving it another shot. I guess it can't hurt. 

The weather here is turning cold now so admittedly it's not the best time to be making moulds and producing resin casts. It's slows the setting times terribly for both the resin and the silicone. 

 

THE EVIL DEAD. NECRONOMICON BOOK. DIARY. 2021.

 After doing the evil dead inspired fridge magnet, I really fancied doing another version of it that was closer to how it looked in the films. I though it would be cool to have one that was an actual diary that you could write in. So I bought a hard-back diary and then textured over it with latex and cotton wool, sculpting and shaping it as I did so. It's a very simple technique but one in which you can create some lovely textures. 

Once dried, I then painted it, and added the stitches. I loved how this turned out and was really happy with the results.

The paint that I used for this was just normal acrylic, but I did mix in a little bit of latex so that it would not crack once dried upon the diary.

And the finished piece.

CTHULHU. WALL PLAQUE/RELIEF.

This one was also from 2018. As a fan of Lovecraft, Cthulhu is a pretty appealing character to sculpt. However, I opted to sculpt it as if it were some sort of primitive carving. Well, I thought it was a good idea at the time... 

I thought my wife would let me hang it up somewhere at home, but sadly she wasn't too keen.

  

HELLRAISER. CHATTERER.

Another one from the years 2014 - 2018. Having done two previous Hellraiser characters, I was thinking of gradually doing the rest of the Cenobites. So here we have the Chatterer. The photos below are of the clay sculpture. Once I'd made the mould of this piece, I never got around to doing a resin casting of it. 

I never did sculpt any of the other Cenobites.

HELLRAISER. PINHEAD.

This is another one from 2014 - 2018. After making The Engineer, I decided to sculpt Pinhead. I never did get around to painting one and sticking the nails into it. I really should do soon as I still have a couple of blank castings of this. 

These photos are of a blank resin casting from the mould. The edges haven't been trimmed, so they look a little rough. Again, this is the same size as the Engineer, 15.5 inches by 13.5 inches.

HELLRAISER. ENGINEER.

I'm not sure when I sculpted this piece. During the years 2014 - 2018, I sculpted a few pieces, this being one of them, but not much. It's safe to say that I was in quite a creative slump. I had a busy family life with two children, and was now also a full time carer for my elderly father. But there were times when I'd just need to do something creative so I'd grab some clay and sculpt.

I've always been a fan of the Hellraiser films, mainly the first two, (not so much the rest). One of the strangest creations in that first film, for me, was The Engineer. So I sculpted him/it, and decided to have it on a background of a puzzle box panel.

The photos below are of the resin piece once reproduced from the mould. This is a pretty large piece measuring 15.5 inches by 13.5 inches. 

This painted version was done using a combination of acrylic and oil paints. I like to hand paint things with paint brushes. 

PREDATOR FACEHUGGER.

This is another old piece that I sculpted in around 2007, possibly. It had been quite a while since I gotten my hands on some clay, and I really just had an urge to make something. So I chose this. It was a very big piece, life size. I sculpted it on the kitchen work-top, much to the dismay of my wife. I moulded it there too, but after the mess and smell of doing this, it was around a year or so later before I reproduced one from the mould. By then I had the use of a small shed in my father's garden. These photos are of the only one that I reproduced from the mould, but I never got around to painting it.

THE 1ST WISH. SHORT FILM. 2006.

The 1st Wish. Short film. 2006.

A few years had passed, during which my creative output had been pretty much zero, other than scribbling down occasional ideas for stories/scripts. It was 2006 and I was still working full time at the cinema as a Projectionist and taking care of my father. My girl friend and I were set to be married later in the year, so I decided to have one last hurrah as a film maker to see if I could actually get something finished. And wouldn't you know it, I did get it finished, though not without some issues afterwards. 

I'd learned from my previous ill-fated attempts, so this one was to be shot over one weekend, in the flat were I lived with my girl friend, Emma. I didn't work on the make-up FX. These were done by my friends Juliette and Paul.

Although there was a part of me that wanted to make more films, this was the last time that I did. I was glad that I finally got something completed, but I must admit that at that time my confidence had taken a knock. Some were quick to judge my motivations and choices etc. I felt so nervous the day before the shoot, that I made myself quite ill and almost pulled the plug on the whole thing. As I write this now, in 2024, it's hard to believe that so much time has passed. But it has. I got married, had a family, and continued to work my job as a projectionist. There was one occasion, some time afterwards, maybe a year or two, when I thought I was going to make something else, but it went no further than an initial meeting. From time to time I still get that 'itch', even now. But I feel too old, and really lacking in confidence. However, I do regret not doing any more... 

Greg having a plaster cast taken of his stomach and chest, on my kitchen floor. Ain't movie makin' grand!