New Project. Fertility Idol

Drones33

New member
Picked this up on ebay. Hollow resin cast. The plan is to clean and sand it, weight it, fill in any little flaws etc, then rather than paint it I`m going to try some gold leaf. Then if all goes well I may attempt a plinth.
idol_1_by_00177840-damar6t.jpg
 
Excellent find. Im going to gold leaf mine and then laquer it to stop it from rubbing off. Are you going to add eyes or leave them filled in gold. I'm doing several, some with and some without. I look forward to seeing how yours goes. Are you thinking the whole plinth or just the section the idol sits on?
 

Drones33

New member
I'm planning to leave the eyes gold I think. And just do the top section of plinth so it can sit on my Indy shelf. I'll be interested to see how your gold leaf turns out. I've not used it before so gonna practice on an ornament of some kind first.
 
I havent done it before either.....lol. apparently its all down to getting the right glue. The proper stuff takes 24 hours to tack off before you apply the gold leaf. I have the gold leaf and glue so I'll take a deep breath and give it a go soon.
 

Drones33

New member
doppelganger said:
I havent done it before either.....lol. apparently its all down to getting the right glue. The proper stuff takes 24 hours to tack off before you apply the gold leaf. I have the gold leaf and glue so I'll take a deep breath and give it a go soon.
Where did you get yours from? I've been looking online, seems quite easy to get hold of, don't want to get a crap one though.
 
I got both gold leaf and glue from ebay. Was quite a while ago so I'll have to have a scour if you want the link or I'll get the glue out and see what make it is which will probably be easier.
 

Ramsey

New member
Idol question

I'd love to know where you got the idol itself...I've been having a terrible time tracking one down (that I can afford, at least)...the one prop I desperately need for my display.
 

Drones33

New member
Ramsey said:
I'd love to know where you got the idol itself...I've been having a terrible time tracking one down (that I can afford, at least)...the one prop I desperately need for my display.

Got it on eBay. There's someone who regularly sells resin casts just like the one I have. £25 each. His name is "staffbult". Just search ' fertility idol'. His are the only ones that are not £500!(y)
 

Ramsey

New member
idol

Great, thank you! I found his Ebay page....this is what I'm telling my wife I want for Christmas this year. *lol* :whip:
 

Drones33

New member
Finished Idol...

Ready to go on my Indy shelf, need to start work on the plinth.
throw_me_the_idol_1_by_00177840-daotqvb.jpg


Ended up using "Liquid Leaf". Came across it whilst researching how best to apply gold leaf; its basically tiny fragments of the stuff suspended in a liquid that evaporates after a few seconds on contact with air. Paint it on with soft brush, leave it to dry then gently buff with a soft cloth or cotton wool. Works really well.
 
That has worked really well. Might look into myself if the gold leaf doesnt go too well. Did you need to laquer it afterwards to stop it from wiping off?

Well done indeed.(y)
 

Drones33

New member
Thanks. :hat:
Nope, no lacquer required, although I have used a soft cloth to move it around. Just to avoid any fingerprints.
 

inky_skin

Active member
Nice work Drones33 ! I have the coin bank that your cast was created from but the finish it very dull. I may have to give "Liquid Leaf" a go in the New Year. Out of interest, do you have pics of the back / bottom of your idol - I'm curious to see how good a job they did of sculpting over the coin slot / stopper hole.
 

Drones33

New member
Thanks. The bottom is a little rough to be honest, but the back is fine; where the slot was is all but invisible. I`ll post some pics.
 
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