I've been working on creating the model for the trumpet project I mentioned before. I've also been doing a few tests on materials. I wanted to find a concrete casting product that was fiber reinforced, as strong as possible, and as resistant to freezing and thawing as possible. I wound up choosing NeoMix D, a two part polymerized cement system. I was able to create a very strong casting at less than one quarter of an inch thick. That's pretty sufficient for what I need.
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| concrete mixture test |
Then I needed to see how the cement accepted colorants. I'm going with a sienna color for the trumpet. I think it will compliment the blue of the figure very well. I will still do a few more tests on this.
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| Concrete Color Test |
So I began building my model. My first step was to create the center portion since that holds everything together. I first tried creating it in foam, but i need it to be much stronger so I went with wood.
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| drilling middle section Holes need to be drilled for the pipes to fit through. I used PVC pipe for the pipes of the trumpet. I figured it would be strong and that it would be easy to assemble. The curves in PVC and the connection points weren't exactly what i needed so I improvised. |
 I epoxied all the joints so that it would be a very solid model. The model needs to survive a two part mold making process, but I wanted it to be able to remain intact just in case I would need to make another mold of it. you never know, and it's sometimes best to make it much stronger than you need. Here is the whole structure coming together.  I then added 1/2 round fluting to create the valves of the trumpet.  |
| adding 1/2 round elements |
Once that all came together I added the prototype bell created in glass. Still a little tweaking will need to be done.
I roughed in the glass inserts that will act somewhat as a sun catcher, and add a bit of a glimmer to the piece.
I still have a lot of fine tuning and cleaning up of the model and adding a bit of detail here and there before prepping the model for moldmaking.
