The best seats in a pizza place are those on street facing window booths. Why? Because they’re the ideal place to take it all in… People watching is and has been a passion of mine. Kids participate with a little more abandon than older folk, not yet being conditioned to know it is rude to stare. I would offer, it is not. Obviously, I advise you use your best judgement and listen to your moral compass when evaluating the ethicality of your stare, but don’t be shy. People are boundlessly interesting and dramatic and varied, and their micro expressions, details and idiosyncrasies are a pool of inspiration for my work. Gargoyles have always seemed to me an extension of this sentiment, bearing witness to the human experience with stoney, grinning faces. They are flies on the wall to countless histories, stories, lives, comedies, and tragedies. They’re a personified symbol of people watching. I wanted to make this figure as proxy and an invitation to enjoy people watching as a leisure alternative to doomscrolling and the like. I think the pure range of faces and expressions and clothes and smells and attitudes and bodies and lives are awe-inspiring. So, take it in like my little friend. The fabrication of the action figure is an exploration into iterative product design as well as prototyping with plastics. First, I sculpt the figure with modeling clay, then measure, mix, and pour silicone around the model. Immediately after, placing the solidifying mold in a degassing chamber to expel air bubbles in the rubber. With my silicone mold: the negative of my original model, I can then begin the resin pouring process for my first prototypes. Because a key feature of the figure are the nails in its feet, facilitating a perch on the wall, I insert the spikes in the silicone and pour the mixed, dyed resin around them. I degas the drying resin as well under 300psi. Because I did not successfully degas my silicone mold, each finished iteration requires a fair bit of sanding with a power sander and/or dremel. After the prototype is cleaned, I apply acrylic paint to its eyes, tattoos, fingernails, the joint in its hands, etc. Finally, I apply clear varnish finish to seal the paint and protect the figurine. To create the packaging for my product I design a graphic front and backing on photoshop to be printed on heavyweight cardstock. The clear plastic blister packaging is a little more complex. To achieve an accurate form with the correct draft angles, I cast the gargoyle in plaster and build up the form with a second round of mixed, drying plaster. Using the cured, sanded, plaster mummy I create a thin PVC shelling using heat to serve as the base for the clear blister shell. Then with only a razon blade and superglue, my packaged figure is complete.
