Posted by: Watership

Hi Julia, For Xin’s pics, you have to zoom in as far as possible, then you will see the faint lines. Yes, as you say, there are little holes present. 

Hi Mark, Thanks so much for taking the time to explain. I don’t have a UV light. I should get one, can’t be very expensive I presume. But something else you mentioned is probably definitive for resin. When I look with a loupe, I see very small bubbles, quite prevalent, in the grooves. They are visible to the naked eye, but just barely. This would identify it as resin, correct?  I don’t see evidence of glue. I have another piece like this, in which the glue is abundantly clear. 

I said I think it is hand carved, but I have very little experience with it, so perhaps I am just fooled by it. I have seen molded items that are modern, in which the hands look nothing like this, very blobby. There must be very different levels of quality in resin statues.

Hi Short, Thanks for the examples. I can see that resin can be made to look quite good. That is helpful.

All in all, I do really like it. Quite a nice reproduction for my taste.  Too bad about the damage, but I got in on the cheap, so can’t complain.

Todd

My Point is that even if it is resin does not mean it is cheap and tacky as Resin can be mixed with other materials and this can lend to an even better form of sculpture. Also even if it is an expensive resin does not guarantee it is hand sculpted, however the same can be said that just because it is resin does not mean it is not hand sculpted. 

Yours appears to be hand sculpted. As for the Resin it seems to be of good quality. 

Hi Todd,

If you see bubbles it is resin, full stop.

Hi SD,

I have been in the jewellery trade for over 30 years.

The post that you blogged mentions the term 'marble cast'.

Are you aware of what the term cast actually means?

Moulded casting of jewellery and other simply means that that the item is cast from a mould. It is not hand carved.

The terms mentioned by your reference are utter rubbish. Posted to fool the untrained.

After an item whether it is a statue made of resin, constituted marble or even a simple  gold ring had been casted from a mould it will then have to be polished and other techniques to get the end result.

In order for same to be hand carved suggests that the mould would have to be a block of resin or reconstituted marble that would be cast and then carved out by hand. The process would be totally uneconomically feasible to do so.

Hand carved is done by hand from a raw block of material. Casting/mould are not hand made. It is polished by hand using electric hand tools.

Mark

Posted by: imperialfinegems

Hi Todd,

If you see bubbles it is resin, full stop.

Hi SD,

I have been in the jewellery trade for over 30 years.

The post that you blogged mentions the term 'marble cast'.

Are you aware of what the term cast actually means?

Moulded casting of jewellery and other simply means that that the item is cast from a mould. It is not hand carved.

The terms mentioned by your reference are utter rubbish. Posted to fool the untrained.

After an item whether it is a statue made of resin, constituted marble or even a simple  gold ring had been casted from a mould it will then have to be polished and other techniques to get the end result.

In order for same to be hand carved suggests that the mould would have to be a block of resin or reconstituted marble that would be cast and then carved out by hand. The process would be totally uneconomically feasible to do so.

Hand carved is done by hand from a raw block of material. Casting/mould are not hand made. It is polished by hand using electric hand tools.

Mark

 

 

The A.Santini lamps as end products are perhaps shaped in a Mould. I mean there are so many re productions i would imagine they would have to be, as you say for the business to profit. 

However what you are saying to me is that it is not possible for an object of Art to be hand sculpted from a block of reconstituted Marble. If that is not what your saying then your mixing up what i was trying to say.

I personally see manual handwork in Todd's Japanese Statue and I also think that you must never rule this out based soley on the economic viability. That Manual handwork may well be the Polishing and  tool work on the Moulded Resin. However the extent of that work versus the detail in the actual Mould is the question, If the mould was a very rough block then it was practicably hand sculpted, if the mould was very percise then it need only be polished and refined.  

Maybe the Italian Painter Caravaggio used Camera Obscura  to make his Master pieces  and maybe he didn't but they are still Master pieces. 

I do not expect to find Hand sculpted Marble in great quantities, and even if you did..so what without an artist name it may not have the value it deserves whereas a Moulded work of art may have a greater value. 

The School of Sculpture of the Academy of Carrara is at the same time place of ancient tradition and innovation. Carrara is where many of the Worlds Sculptures go because of it's huge Mines of pure white Marble. Japan only has granite for example, and India and many other countries were in awe of the technologically advanced methods used by the Italians in the excavation  of Marble from Carrara.

Todds Asian Sculpture is likely at least vintage. You can see it has some age to it. 

So logically  by comparing the Italians skill at casting Sculptures using some of the finest resin in the world then you have to wonder how China or Japan has more advanced Moulding techniques than the Italians more than 50 years ago. This level of Mould is not apparant in Santini's work. 

I also can see alot of handwork in Todds Sculpture. An expert in Casting from 50 years ago could look at Todds Statue and say  that some aspects could not have been moulded and were Sculpted.

I think it is more than possible alot of hand work went into that statue and China and Japan are famous for intricate and detailed hand work. 

If it is Modern then it is a appealing statue but nothing special. The base is quite crude. 

If it is vintage or older again then it is possible that it has much more meaning as this would not have been so easily cast in 1935 for example.

Perhaps Mark you have some way of dating these resin Statues. 

Hi there,

All cast sculptures, regardless of material, should only need polishing once removed from the mould? The prime purpose of using a mould is to create replicas with all the intricacies of the original without the need for carving? The polishing serves to give the item a smooth, glossy finish (if required) and/or to remove any traces of the mould casting.

Most reconstituted marble is dry cast. Here is a dry cast marble sculpture of mine. It is dry cast with 90% marble. 

This is a modern copy of The Dying Gaul. It has the appearance of marble but is cast. It will have been ‘finished’ by hand I.e. polished but not sculpted as such.  The grooves in the detailing may have been cleaned to remove mould debris but the detailing itself will be courtesy of the mould. The quality of the sculpture is determined by the quality of the original from which the mould was taken and the quality of the mould. New moulds must be made from time to time because they lose detail and quality the more they’re used. 

Resin is a polymer. As such, it too can be polished and even ground, but I don’t think it can be sculpted. I don’t think it would need to be sculpted because the mould would have transferred all the fine detail, including the carving marks, from the original? I also believe it does not take to being manipulated when wet.  If one tried to sculpt it with tools it is likely to splinter. Polymer resins have been used to make sculptures for around 60 years, I believe?

Marble sculptures are very heavy and cold to the touch. Resin polymer will be lighter and of ambient temperature. 

Nic

Posted by: NicDan

Hi there,

All cast sculptures, regardless of material, should only need polishing once removed from the mould? The prime purpose of using a mould is to create replicas with all the intricacies of the original without the need for carving? The polishing serves to give the item a smooth, glossy finish (if required) and/or to remove any traces of the mould casting.

Most reconstituted marble is dry cast. Here is a dry cast marble sculpture of mine. It is dry cast with 90% marble. 

This is a modern copy of The Dying Gaul. It has the appearance of marble but is cast. It will have been ‘finished’ by hand I.e. polished but not sculpted as such.  The grooves in the detailing may have been cleaned to remove mould debris but the detailing itself will be courtesy of the mould. The quality of the sculpture is determined by the quality of the original from which the mould was taken and the quality of the mould. New moulds must be made from time to time because they lose detail and quality the more they’re used. 

Resin is a polymer. As such, it too can be polished and even ground, but I don’t think it can be sculpted. I don’t think it would need to be sculpted because the mould would have transferred all the fine detail, including the carving marks, from the original? I also believe it does not take to being manipulated when wet.  If one tried to sculpt it with tools it is likely to splinter. Polymer resins have been used to make sculptures for around 60 years, I believe?

Marble sculptures are very heavy and cold to the touch. Resin polymer will be lighter and of ambient temperature. 

Nic

Then it is not possible for an object of Art to be hand sculpted from a block of reconstituted Marble? 

In that case I withdraw all my thoughts on this subject and leave it with what Mark (Imperialfinegems)  said. I was thinking along the lines of process and technological advancements and comparing them to the date of manufacture to determine if such detailed casting even existed in  Japan. 

However if we can neatly say that Resin can only be cast then that is certainly the end of my adventure here. 

I dare say reconstituted marble could be sculpted, but I’m not so sure about resin? I did do some searching on forums for sculptors and they acknowledge it can be ground or polished but that chipping with a tool causes it to splinter. I guess it depends what we class as sculpting? I guess any manipulation to amaterial could be classed as sculpting?

I am only throwing my lot in here in order to learn. The question for me would be why bother to sculpt from a block of reconstituted marble when a dry casting would be so much more economical? The only reason I can think of is that a lone sculptor wished to make a one-off sculpture? In which case, he/she may as well sculpt rather than go to the trouble of making a cast?

I believe casting has existed for centuries? The materials used to cast have changed? Synthetic resins have been around for 100 years. The first being Bakelite, I believe?

Nic

Interesting, Thank you Nic. 

Chipping with a tool level is what i thought was possible on Reconstituted Marble but Japan doesn't have Marble dust to use, like Italy has,  so if you cannot hand sculpt Re constituted Marble or any kind of resin for that matter then for me this tangent is closed. 

I was actually a little misled into thinking one could hand sculpt Re constituted marble, but i was perfectly aware of casting resin. 

I felt Mark was a little sharp on the matter. I was initially only bringing attention to the different qualities of Resin. I would be surprised if there is not a resin that can not be hand sculpted. Not that it is economically viable.  

In the age of 3D printers I think most things are going to be possible. Maybe resin can be sculpted, even carved, only the techniques employed would need to be different from, say, carving stone or marble?

I’m mainly going on what I’ve read and what I’ve observed personally. I see a lot of resin in my line of work and it is true that in all sculpture - resin, marble, bronze - the quality varies a lot. I’d always put this down to the quality of the master copy used to make the mould, the quality of the moulding itself and the mastery of the finisher?

I’m happy to always be learning from others. Every bit of information helps when I’m out buying to resell. 

Everything you and others have contributed is banked for possible future use. I didn’t mean to sound that I knew the facts categorically, I tried to use a lot of question marks and conditional phrases like ‘as I understand it’ to show that I was testing my own knowledge on this. 

I hope I didn’t cause any offence,

Nic