Props for the Seagul

For my schools production of the Seagul, we were required to make the fancy detail that would add to a wrought-iron frame background and portals. The overall look was to give the audience a sense of the turn of the 19th century period, the play itself was written in 1896. Have included an example of wrought iron fencing with detail left.
Firstly we had to consider durability. We needed to make 50 of the details to adorn all the frames and it was possible that the performance would be touring outside the Academy, therefore they would have to withstand storage and transporting.

So, following the design given, we made a replica from clay then covered it with layers of latex to create a mould. We would have to reuse the moulds and since latex doesn't provide a sturdy casing and can tend to warp, we decided to cover the latex with a plaster jacket.
Resin was poured into the latex mould and left to set for 10mins. The latex allowed movement enough not to worry about undercuts on the clay and the resin details could be popped out with ease.
Unfortunately though, since the detail comprised of thin strips, they were breaking as we popped them out. We had to find a way of toughening the resin up. So, we added iron powder. Which also meant I had to increase the catalyst as it would take longer to go off.
This improved to durability!! -although they were still quite fragile.
We used the moulds to make 50 copies. Once the details were out of the moulds and left to dry they were shellac'd as a primer for the next painting step.
The wrought iron frames were to have an aged look, so layers of paint/sawdust and paper were applied.
On the whole I think they were quite successful although the durability wasn't 100%. As the show progressed we kept recieving reports that yet another detail had broken. Perhaps there is a different material to use to make the resin stronger - perhaps laying a wire in with the resin although that would have been very time consuming.

Finnally -the finished detail with paint effect.