Leave it to the last possible moment they say!

Well its the day before and considering my printer is broken this is probably the last possible day!

As of this message, I have 11 toys fully painted and ready to be displayed. The past couple of days have been spent doing touch ups and thinking of ways to present my work at the gallery. The evaluation is done, and I'm just finishing up my sketchbooks and research work.

Overall, the project has been a success and pretty rewarding! I can now make custom toys whenever i please :)

Mass production

Now that the toy making is in full swing, I think its time for a little bit of reflection on the whole process - the rights and wrongs, and what id do differently:

• The clay model that was used as the basis for the figures was probably to complex and not smoothed down enough. Most vinyl/resin toys are very 'boxy or curved in nature; there are no over hangs, and normally no gaps in the same piece. My clay model had an over hang for the mouth area, as well as gaps for the cheeks. The silicone mould as a result has taken an absolute battering over the course of the project. A small gap equals a small piece of silicone and as it gets used more and more, it begins to break apart. With regards to the simplicity of the head I think i should have stuck with the more square shapes I sketched in my work book as opposed to the more detailed sculpt I went with. However I have been quite fortunate that the mould came out as well as it did, so it's probably a more stylistic choice.

• I wouldnt have used the Daz clay for the ultimate sculpt. Although I found a more malleable version of the stuff, it still didnt react too pleasingly with water and it actually totally broke apart during the making of the mould. Whether this was a chemical reaction or just a matter of dampness I'm not sure. What i am sure of, is that my first 7 or 8 toys to come out of the mould had clay residue on them! Not fun to pick and sand off!

• If money and time werent issues I would have stuck with my resin plaster mix as opposed to the plaster/sculpty crap I've ended up using. Its just far stronger and less volatile aaaand takes paint far better. However it also takes an hour to dry at a time and did more damage to the mould. Oh and its about two pounds more expensive then the stuff ive used for the last batch of toys per kilo which works out to quite a bit in the long run

Considering this is my first venture into 3-d work of any kind let alone making a mould and toys, Id say im extremely happy with the outcome. Yes, the toys could be smoother in appearance and probably a wee bit more professional looking. If you would have asked me 2 weeks ago how I was feeling, the response would have been " like death". When my mould was setting it would have been " sh*****ng myself".

Now, im pretty darn pleased :)



However there were casualties along the way ( thanks Geoff!!)

Heres a quick video of the de-moulding of one of my toys and a picture of the seven made so far

Angry day :)

Today I sculpted my final model ! HURRAAAAHHHH!
I popped to a cool art shop in highbury, whose name escapes me right now, and bought a variation on the air hardening clay. It was softer and moulded together far easier with a little water added. So well in fact, I didnt even need the sculpting tools I'd bought. Using both my drawings and vinyl toys I created this monster :

The imperfections can be sanded out of the final resin casts although im considering keeping them to go against the standard look of the models ( though it could look shoddy so we'll see). Hopefully the silicone mould will be finished tomorrow and if im lucky, even a final model! Look for a photographic step by step

Oh and there will be a (hopefully) cool video posted tomorrow of me doing some work!

Excelsior!!

wax never again!

Quick update today, got to keep it basic because im busy busy busy!

• Bought some candles to sculpt from after speaking to the product/spacial tutor
• Awful stuff to work with - i heated up my tools to cut into it, melted it, shaped moulds to try and get it to bend to my will
• Judging by the negative tone I think you can tell that it just didnt go all too well!

In the end I only managed to wrangle two rough shapes out of my candle ( ill post the pics up later)

On a lighter note, my resin plaster and silicone were delivered this afternoon meaning I can finally start my prototypes for the final piece! After talking to geoff and the product guy, Ive decided to go small and make a little army. Saying that, as of right now I havent even started the making so that could all change once again.

Whoever said toys were fun?!





( On a side note, heres an amazing Tim Sale cover for The Incredible Hulk 600)

Today

wasnt quite as productive as Id hoped. Instead of designing logos etc, I ended up with a single work sheet of how the seperate pieces of the figure could possibly interact.

The majority of the day was spent phoning around for supplies with this resin malarky and speaking to a few pro's about my project and the positives and negatives. Turns out vinyl is a definate no-no as its apparently pretty dangerous and I'd need a rotocaster ( big hunk of machinery). So, after being told that my plans suck by industry experts, I decided to hit the big world of internet forums finding a GEM! www.vinylabuse.com has forums dedicated to vinyl toy making and RESIN toy making. After looking through some conversations it was time to take the plunge and buy the stuff to make my toys.

Silicon with a liquid colour for my mould, and the resin clay to create the pieces. All should be delivered in 2 days!

To wind down this evening, I decided to take part in a ten ton sketch challege . This weeks being Star Trek ( the new film is incredibly good fun ). In a total of 45 minuten I ended up with this :

Things are getting a little tough now with only two weeks to go, and no final toy close to being made. Ive experimented with wood, styrophome, clay and now plastecine so get a look and shape that im happy with.

At the crit yesterday there was no avoiding my failings which I actually appreciated. The general gist was that im fully capable of two dimensional renderings on paper, but there was clearly something lacking when it came to the 3-d work. Not laziness per se, but it was clear I didnt enjoy it and it seemed I was fighting a losing battle.

See, one of the things I stated at the beginning of the project was to NOT overlook the obvious, or just throw it to the side for being too easy. So why the hell I didnt bust out the plasticine in the first place!!? It doesnt dry super quick, and I have total control throughout the whole process.

So whilst watching the exploits of Jack Bauer last night I created this little maquette :



its got the beer belly that i couldnt get with the clay and it is far more poseable. Great success really! Today shall be spent on graphic and logo designs for the toy and packaging

Getting a little closer now to the final shape, which ive decided at this point i will probably cast in resin. Wumi sent me a link showing how to make vinyl toys yourself: http://www.mnartists.org/article.do?rid=117339

Because of budget and time contraints, I'll probably only be able to make resin replicas of my final shape, but that isnt a bad compromise at all. The resin shiz will take place at the weekend so look for pics then