Assignment #3 and #4 Mold Making

For this assignment, I chose to make a mold of an ear plug. I hadn’t considered a meaning related to ear plugs but I knew I needed to find a small object that wasn’t going to give me a hard time to recreate, considering my lack of enthusiasm for the project. Now thinking about my relationship with them, we are actually very close. I live in a single dorm with very thin walls, and although I’m alone, I have very loud company on either side of me. I use ear plugs to block out noise, anxiety, and stress. They help me find quiet. Although only two are needed at a time, mine came in a large pack of multiple pairs, and it's interesting that I have made multiple duplicates of them versus a single one. 

With this project, I think the most interesting facet was the material as opposed to the object I was replicating. The silicone caulk used to make the mold oozed out of the bottle in a satisfying way. The actual reliefs from the mold also have a unique texture. They are made from a two part magic sculpt mixture that was pushed into the mold. When the reliefs dried, the ear plug part had a matte powdery finish while the excess magic sculpt hardened with a slightly glossier and smoother surface. I think it's interesting how some of the residual clay in the mold clung to the magic sculpt reliefs, just like ear wax. 

One other aspect of these reliefs that intrigued me was the excess magic sculpt overhang on the edge of the ear plug relief. I liked the way the uneven, disc-like shapes felt in the hand. I like how they took away the uniformity of the reliefs which are typically expected to be exact duplicates of each other.