Making a Harbor Seal for a Great Cause

I love creating sculptures for awesome non-profit groups like SR3. SR3, which stands for Sealife Response, Rehabilitation, and Research, is located on the Puget Sound in Washington State and works hard year round to care for injured or abandoned marine mammals.
This build represents a standard "patient" as staff refer to them, which is a pup harbor seal. SR3 can receive more than a dozen seal pups from around the region that are abandoned on the beach. They also rehabilitate cetaceans (dolphins, whales, and porpoises), as well as other marine mammals such as sea lions and sea otters.
This sculpture is a functional one, acting as not only an educational representative model of a typical pup, but also acts as a donation station at events. Simply insert your donation into the seals mouth and you've help the team with their essential work!
Created from standard blue foam from the hardware store, slathered in two-part epoxy clay, and painted to the final detail, this little fell (dubbed Flubber by my kids) will hopefully help inspire others to keep a distance from a stranded pup and call SR3 to ensure it gets the care it needs.
#SR3 #harborseal #foamcarving

[@markderyckere9725]

Wasn't sure how the little guy would turn out. But you've managed to turn another block of foam into a masterpiece! I hope Flubber helps brings in lots of donations to help fund the SR3's work . Thanks again for your time and effort in helping out non-profits like these!

[@RiverbendWoodworks]

It’s always a blast to create something that can teach others or at least help in some way. So many good causes out there and SR3 is an essential one for wildlife up in our beautiful corner of the world.

[@nobletarabas1]

Oh my God!!! 😳😲 What a cutie! 👍🏻 I'm in love 😻

[@CaptRich-bi3gp]

Love your attention to detail. Another fabulous project!

[@RiverbendWoodworks]

Thank you so much!

[@tangtaster]

Great Work

[@RiverbendWoodworks]

Thanks! Much appreciated!

[@oltaci]

Love your works man. Great!...

[@RiverbendWoodworks]

Thank you!

[@davidcook5560]

Beautiful work 👏 👍🇬🇧

[@RiverbendWoodworks]

Thank you! Much appreciated.

[@mike1261]

I've been wanting to make something out of foam. So you're an inspiration. I need to assess the costs involved for materials because it won't be a commissioned piece. Your children are adorable, by the way.

[@RiverbendWoodworks]

Honestly, you can’t get much cheaper material wise when building something to-scale. The tools needed are simple: a few wire brushes of various textures; a $10 clay tool kit; and hardcoat epoxy. The epoxy for this runs about $50, but there are cheaper options to explore. Totally worth it!

[@a__hendy]

Really nice work! I have a question about coating a large bird sculpture I'm thinking of making. This would need to hang in the air similar to the shark you made. Would you recommend using magic sculpt or roscoe foam coat? One thought it had was to use a mixture of both, foam coat most of it and use magic sculpt in areas that need a bit more sculpting and detail, like the head. Let me know if you have a suggestion. Thanks!

[@RiverbendWoodworks]

I absolutely think blending the two would be a great combo. The foam coat offers a good “primer” for the piece and any area not needing a ton of detail. The sculpting epoxy would blend a lot easier with the foam coat as a base, too. You should realistically be able to make it appear seamless because both products are similar in color. The sculpt epoxy will do great for the fine details. Good luck! It’ll turn out awesome.