Some of the new molds were ready while others will take some more dry time, and at least one needs another coat. I ended up making a wire frame for that last tricky multi section mold of wall pieces, which should lend extra support for what is really some pretty thin sections of latex considering how many coats I’ve given that one…
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But, it’s the d20 mold I’ve been particularly curious about, and with just a wee bit of prodding with an exacto blade, I was able to remove the copper tape insert, and create the flap/pore hole for the dice mold. The latex rubber stretches quite wonderfully while always returning back to its original shape, so I was able to pop the die right out, and the little divet at the flap’s tip will actually keep it closed shut, with just the littlest gaps to allow excess resin to run off.
Then it was on to more work on the wand. I measured out dots placed one inch apart along each of the wand’s four sides, but placed them a quarter inch apart further along down the side which is next to it. This creates a clockwise spiral of holes running up the entire length of the wand which I will eventually fill with copper nails dipped in epoxy, essentially creating an orgonite caduceus within the wand. The upper most nail will cross the nail I intend to drive down the wand’s center, thereby essentially connecting the orgonite “ladder” with the orgonite headpiece via two fairly strong magnets. This options is in lieu of an actual copper or magnetized core running the entire wand’s length, which the drilling of would be impossible for me, even if the wood were perfectly straight and symmetrical (which it certainly isn’t, it’s kinda what I like most about it). I actually like my caduceus and magnet set up, and I do feel kind of led to have designed everything this way, regardless…
Anyway, to create the hole for the lower magnet, I first drilled the depth of the magnet into the wand’s tip with my widest drill bit, the intention being I’ll then use the Dremel to sand out the edges wider as needed. Also, the wand’s tip doesn’t have a lot of extra material to spare, so drilling a bigger hole initially would likely have been a riskier prospect anyway. I put a clamp about the tip to keep the wood nice and compressed as I drilled regardless.
I then took the sanding drum attachment on the Dremel and sanded the hole wider until it just crossed into the path of the three support holes. I then drilled an additional hole in the very center, and the passage does cross with the uppermost “rung” of the spiral of nails below, as planned.
The lower magnet does fit snugly in the wand and lays flush with the surface, but at this point I didn’t want to risk jamming it (and the nail glued to the bottom) all the way down the hole yet and have it become stuck, but from this pic I think you can see how everything aligns.
Atop the upper magnet I placed a triangle of copper tape off center between the two nails on the wand’s top edge, so I can always tell which end is “up” and this will be crucial when it comes time to cast the orgonite headpiece with the magnet inside, as I definitely don’t want to be second guessing alignment during the first crucial minutes of resin curing time.
It was then time to crack open my copy of Modern Magick and inscribe the angelic sigils appropriate for the Fire Wand. I will do the eight suggested symbols on each of the four sides, also running clockwise along the surface in between the nails.
I’m still debating whether to carve, etch, or wood burn the sigils onto the wand’s surface, as it’ll depend on what color I ultimately want to stain the wood with, and also whether I’ll want to paint over the sigils (likely in red) after the wand has been stained. We’ll see…
This evening though, we went to our friends Esti and Andy for a BBQ at their place. They’re good people and always have a bunch of cool friends we’ve never met before each time we go to one of their get-togethers… and today was no exception. Over a few beers we had some very good talks with all sorts of folks (including some old friends too), and I in particular had the chance to talk a bit about my graphic novel Serial Artist with a total book-phile we met, which of course is always fun for me…
Sunday 5/29/16-
Sun: Gemini-
Moon: Pisces-
For my disclosure on this or any of my post or pages… please visit my Disclosure page.