I followed some advice from a friends wife who works with prosthetic make-up appliances. Who suggested I make a rig to really hold the mold closed. It’s really cut down on the running looking like an idiot while white plastic gets stuck in all my finger hairs. The models do come out cleaner, but they are a little bent from the wood putting pressure on different parts of the mold. But I think I can fix that with some sanding and a little Epoxy clay.
Also, utility knives are sharp.
Round three in the epoxy clay testing. I’m really getting the hang of this stuff. Like any material there are things that I love and things that I have to work around. I still don’t like how soft it is when it’s first rolled out. But I really like how you can sand it and carve it later. After making the diving helmet and space helmet I got inspired to make a more simple project. That and I realized that I was never going to finish the other sculpts without buying more clay.
a Dremel with rotary wheel cuts this stuff pretty great and sanding with 100 grit will really burn through big sections of it. Which is good becasue it’s hard to get it right the first time.
see more in progress pictures after the break.
I’ve decided to test out one of the best aspects of the epoxy clay, the ability to sand it and make thinner shapes than with traditional clay. I sculpted this space helmet over one of the plastic bubble inserts, I did it in two steps this time. First I just made a think dome then sanded that smooth. then I cut the hole for the plastic to show through. Then I went pack and added the outer visor and sides. What is cool about this stuff is that I was able to sand off a LOT of it with a sanding wheel and was able to get it looking very symetrical. Which is something I have trouble with.
I think I’m getting the hang of this. I get that you have to be pretty methodical with the planning to get it just right. and it helps to be patient. I’m not sure what I’m going to do for the body section of this? I might have to do some more planning. The bottom image is from another sculpt that I’m doing currently. I get why Jason Freeny is constantly working on more than one thing at a time.
I ordered some mold making materials that should be here today. I’m really excited to get into epoxy casting and then start with the painting on these guys.
more pictures after the break.
expoy clay helmet