Baby Calaveras are Finally Here- Molding Tutorial Part One

Mold making can look like a scary process before you jump in. I researched mold making compounds online, then went to a few art stores and asked lots of questions. Basically, it took me jumping into the process, cold feet and all, to really start to learn it. All the research just insured I didn't make a huge mess of my kitchen in the process.

First you need your materials. I decided to go with silicone molds because I needed the flexibility based off of what I planned on casting (the skull in the photo.) I chose OOMOO 30 by Smooth-On because the directions were the easiest, and turns out it's great to work with. It has a fast shore A hardness time, and you can remove the original object from the mold after it cures after only 6 hours. Works great for over ancy artists who just want the project started.


You also need some type of container that is larger than the object you want to mold. It's best to hand build these cointainers our of plastic board, which is what I did with the first mold I made. But to make this go a little faster, I found a box that was the right size and lined it with tin foil. These supplies were also easier to come by than plastic board :] The resulting mold still works great, it's just not as pretty.


Rounding up your materials is often the toughest part. You can find plastic board and Smooth-On materials at most art stores, and creating the object you want to mold takes the most creativity and time. What's cool though is when you are finished you can replicate your art many times, and get creative with it in many different ways. Next week I'll continue the process with mixing the silicone components, removing your object from the cured mold, and casting replicas.

Check back!

Baby Calaveras and OOAK Statues

The baby calaveras are on their way! It's taking longer than we had hoped because of work and school, but we are making progress and the tutorial posts will be up so soon (yeah yeah, that was said before, but this time it's true...). Also, found some great antique statues that we are going to dress up Day of the Dead. They will be available in our Etsy store shortly.

Working on some new ideas for fine art fines, and some new silkscreen projects. We will post pictures when they hit the shop. If you have found any great Dia de los Muertos items that you would like to share with us, or blogs with similar sentiments, feel free to leave us a comment telling us about them! We would like to link out to some other great Day of the Dead sites/photos/items/blogs.

Custom Muertos Mary and Etsy Finds

Calaveras received its first custom order for a Muertos Mary Tealight. We are extremely excited about the project because it combines our customers ideas with our own. The idea is based off of our Muertos Mary statues like this one, only it's customized depending on the ideas of the customer, making an original collaboration that the customer can call his/her own.


If you are interested in ordering a custom Muertos Mary, please visit our Etsy store at CalaverasApparel.etsy.com.

Also, we are a big fan of our fellow Etsians and the time and craft they put into their work. Here are a few of our favorite artists on Etsy when it comes to tiny calaveras pieces.

The SkullQueen makes some beautiful traditional Dia de los muertos cake toppers.


When looking at well crafted figurines, I can't leave out RRMexicoSupply



And, the promised baby calaveras project is underway this weekend. Molding, painting, taking some photos of the process. I'll start the process journal on the project within the next week.

Our Lady of Guadalupe- Day of the Dead Style

A Virgin Mary bust that I created a mold for from an old statue I found at the thrift store. I then made several castings out of plaster, sanded them, then painted them and voila, you have the finished project.






She is a tealight holder as well as a wall hanging. You can check out more photos of her at the Calaveras Apparel shop on Etsy by clicking here.

Please check back soon! The next post will be about my process when it comes to the Virgin Mary busts- I'll let you in on some newbie insider secrets that I learned from scouring the internet and talking with art store employees.

Also, keep an eye out for my new project: painted baby calaveras. Not real skulls, of course, but hand molded and hand-casted like the Marys. Hopefully I can document the mold making process when I start that project.

If you enjoy our Etsy store, please let your friends know about us! We would love to hear from you or them about what you think. Talk soon...!

Process

Here are a few photos from the week that was Calaveras Apparel learning how to screen print. Lots of materials, lots of mistake, but in the end we produced great results. A photo of our first successful screen.




The screen for the shirts that we burned. Took us a few tries to get the emulsion right and took us more than a few tries to figure out the right kind of pressure used when flooding the screen and then pulling it but we finally got it down.



Here is a picture of the few tshirt prints we ran with the new design.



We have been using Speedball screen printing inks. We like the results they produce and since we are a small start up company, we like the fact they are water-based and easier to clean up.

Calaveras Apparel Launch

Hey Everyone!

We just launched the Calaveras Apparel store on Etsy. You can check us out here. Right now we are using Hanes and Faded Glory products while we get things rolling, but we will be hand screen printing on American Apparel products very soon, so check back often. All artwork is original, hand drawn pieces which adds uniqueness to the brand. Here is one of the shirts.

A little about Calaveras, we hold Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, and tattoo art close to our hearts, so if you support those things too, check out our store and support us as well. We have roots in Albuquerque, NM and Denver, CO so if you are local and like our work, let us know. Show off our shirts, tell your friends, link to our page. Whatever you feel like :]

We will be updating again very soon with our screen printing and creative process, as well as hopefully showing off a new blog design...

Until then,

Calaveras