There is an urban legend in central Taiwan that says, “Don't mess with people you shouldn't, or you'll be turned into a tetrapod.” According to the legend, local gangs would dispose of bodies by encasing them in concrete, turning them into tetrapods, and placing them along the shore.
While pondering what I should make a mold of, I suddenly remembered this legend, and thus began my journey of creating tetrapods.
I created a tetrapod model using Blender and reversed it to make a mold. (Blender is really difficult…)
At the same time, since candles become transparent when they burn, I wanted to take advantage of this feature. I also added mini skull and bone models and placed them inside the candles, so that when the candle burns down, the tiny skulls will appear.
Huge thanks to Rin Kim for helping me print out the 3D mold!
We used the microwave to heat our soy wax. And filling in the wax into the mold.
Demolding was the beginning of a disaster... I realized that since I had made 2-part molds when creating the model, the structure of the tetrapod, pointing in three different directions, made the demolding process very difficult.
I even tried putting it in the freezer or pouring hot water over it... but nothing helped.
The result of demolding the candle was unfortunate—it broke into three pieces. However, thanks to the meltable nature of wax, I was able to heat the broken parts with fire and successfully reassemble the candle back to its original shape.
