Hi Wet Canvas Crew,
I’ve written before and gotten good advice, so I’m back for more.

I recently applied to an outdoor sculpture festival, and my submission of a 7′ toy Giraffe was accepted. I have a 3D model and am able to cut it out of foam on a CNC mill, but am looking for suggestions on strategy for finishing and one piece vs molding:

To lay up enough fiberglass on the surface of my foam model to make it self standing and strong (if someone climbs up on it I don’t want it to break), I fear loosing detail in my sculpt.

If I make molds of the outside, and do the ‘gel coat / layup’ into the molds, I will keep perfect detail but double my material investment (ie. lots of silicone, mother molds etc.

Any strategies on:

– just how many layers of fiberglass I will need for strength

– single part coating vs molding layup

– alternate materials or approaches etc

Would all be greatly appreciated..

~As