My bulb may be dysfunctional, but it is still hands-down, the best looking light bulb I've ever seen.
I started with putting a layer of petroleum jelly on an actual light bulb, and then I basically spent about two hours making a wax mold by putting melted paraffin wax with a brush onto the bulb. This is actually a pain staking process. First of all, the wax is hot, and there is a chance you will get hot wax on your hands, on your face and in your hair, many times. Also, there is apparently a perfect balance of how to put the wax on the object. You have to put a layer of wax, wait for it to cool down enough to where the wax is not liquid or subsequent wax will not stay on the object and all the wax will become a bit of a gooey mess. It also cannot be too cooled otherwise the mold is likely to break off. So for artists with minimal tolerance, this project can really test your patience. I would literally sometimes get so frustrated that the wax took so long to cool, that I would take this melted wax bulb structure and walk outside the classroom like an idiot, playing hot potato, or rather hot bulb, by myself.
Basically this entire process takes so much patience that I bet some artists refuse to molds in their career. After you are done making your wax mold, you have to wait for it to be super cool down, and then you have to carve the structure to release the bulb. And then you have to put it back together- which by-the-way is a real pain, especially if you did not have the patience to let your mold cool enough, and now the mold is deforming in your hands as you try to put it together slowly with melted wax.
You need to make sure to cut a hole so you can pour your plaster of paris liquid through the hole. The problem with plaster of paris is that you have to have patience once again. You need to have patience when mixing the plaster powder with the water, where you have to sprinkle the powder in the water, slowly. However, you have to be mindful of time because after seven minutes, and sometimes, if the plaster hates you, maybe five minutes, the plaster starts to cure and harden. The problem with curing is not that it slowly becomes harder and harder. What I experienced, and of course I had the privilege to experience this, was that the mixture is fine until a certain point, where all of a sudden, it becomes like three times as viscous. I remember being super confused because I was pouring my mixture in my mold, and the structure was a third of the way filled when all of a sudden, my mixture decided to cure, and it would not pass through the hole at the top of my mold.
Either way, in the end, I made an awesome plaster of paris bulb, with lots of errors. So of course, the used the errors to my advantage by transforming the errors to make them look like vines and leaves. I will have to upload that picture later. That's all I have for now.
The picture above is my wax mold
This picture is when I cut off half my wax mold to remove my plaster. Can you spot all the beautiful errors?
I started with putting a layer of petroleum jelly on an actual light bulb, and then I basically spent about two hours making a wax mold by putting melted paraffin wax with a brush onto the bulb. This is actually a pain staking process. First of all, the wax is hot, and there is a chance you will get hot wax on your hands, on your face and in your hair, many times. Also, there is apparently a perfect balance of how to put the wax on the object. You have to put a layer of wax, wait for it to cool down enough to where the wax is not liquid or subsequent wax will not stay on the object and all the wax will become a bit of a gooey mess. It also cannot be too cooled otherwise the mold is likely to break off. So for artists with minimal tolerance, this project can really test your patience. I would literally sometimes get so frustrated that the wax took so long to cool, that I would take this melted wax bulb structure and walk outside the classroom like an idiot, playing hot potato, or rather hot bulb, by myself.
Basically this entire process takes so much patience that I bet some artists refuse to molds in their career. After you are done making your wax mold, you have to wait for it to be super cool down, and then you have to carve the structure to release the bulb. And then you have to put it back together- which by-the-way is a real pain, especially if you did not have the patience to let your mold cool enough, and now the mold is deforming in your hands as you try to put it together slowly with melted wax.
You need to make sure to cut a hole so you can pour your plaster of paris liquid through the hole. The problem with plaster of paris is that you have to have patience once again. You need to have patience when mixing the plaster powder with the water, where you have to sprinkle the powder in the water, slowly. However, you have to be mindful of time because after seven minutes, and sometimes, if the plaster hates you, maybe five minutes, the plaster starts to cure and harden. The problem with curing is not that it slowly becomes harder and harder. What I experienced, and of course I had the privilege to experience this, was that the mixture is fine until a certain point, where all of a sudden, it becomes like three times as viscous. I remember being super confused because I was pouring my mixture in my mold, and the structure was a third of the way filled when all of a sudden, my mixture decided to cure, and it would not pass through the hole at the top of my mold.
Either way, in the end, I made an awesome plaster of paris bulb, with lots of errors. So of course, the used the errors to my advantage by transforming the errors to make them look like vines and leaves. I will have to upload that picture later. That's all I have for now.
This picture is when I cut off half my wax mold to remove my plaster. Can you spot all the beautiful errors?
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