Rookwood Abel Bear: Block and Case

Re-design and Block & Case for a Bear Sculpture

   In 1934, Rookwood designer Louise Abel designed a  paperweight-size sculpture of a seated bear. (I believe it was in production then, and subsequently re-issued in the 1990's.)

    About 2015, Rookwood wanted to produce a much larger version of this piece. Someone (?) made an enlarged model, probably using a 3-D scan and print.  Molds and fired samples were made, but there was a problem: this figure, like the smaller original, had to be made in two parts. (The bear's right leg was cast as a separate piece and joined to the body each time.) This  caused some production issues.  Rookwood asked me to improve the sculpting, and to alter the bear so it could be cast in one piece. Then I was to make the master tooling (block and case) for production. 

   Here are the steps I took :

- Lay out seam Iines on sample, to design a seven-part mold (seen here painted with different colors, to visualize the mold sections)

- Reconfigure leg area with plasticine, to adjust draft angles.

- Make plaster waste mold (negative). Make modifications in the mold.

- Cast a plaster model (positive)  from the waste mold. Refine the sculpting, details, and finish of the model.

- Make seven-section block mold (negative). Slipcast one ceramic sample in the mold, as a test. 

- Build seven plywood frames. Prepare mold sections. Pour rubber cases.  ["case" = a mold used to make production molds]

- Pour a plaster working mold in the cases, to check the fit. (Success!)

You can see the process below:

   

Click the images below to enlarge